Oly_Man
journeyman
Reged: 27/10/2005
Posts: 57
|
|
Why has the quality of 'non-specialist' high-steet printing from the likes of Click/Supasnaps etc etc got so routinely bad? Prints regularly display poor sharpness, hairs and lack of tonal-range particularly in the primary colours (e.g.: they appear to be only able to print one red with little variance in hue or intensity). This seems consistent regardless of what film/D&P is used.
Thankfully, I'm a slide-film user so I'm rarely affected by this. However my wife shoots pretty-much all of her important shots on print-film (we both use digital for 'disposable' shots) and she is at the mercy of a D&P outlet. It's been very obvious that there has been a gradual downslide in printing-quality pretty much since the turn of the century. Does this date coincide with the mass uptake of fully automated digital printing in the commercial sector?
On one occasion the prints were so bad that I marched them back to the shop and asked for reprints. It was obvious that the (non-enthusiast) clerk wasn't really sure what I was dissatisfied with. I can only presume that 36 prints with a very-pronounced blue tint would not have troubled him. To be fair, he did reprint without any quibble and the results were back 'up' to the usual (sub) standard. However, surely the original prints should have been binned at some kind of proofing-stage? Other customers so affected could well have assumed it was a fault of their camera.
There's hardly any point in using half-decent equipment any more: looking at the prints, my wife's Nikon F65 barely betters the output from a cheap £50 P&S zoom. It's frustrating that so much more detail and gradiation is locked away in the negs that the poor printing-process is not revealing. Sadly to D&P at home is not really an option.
--------------------
Dedicated to the Dark Ages...
Happiness is an Oly OM4Ti, various primes, 35RC, Trip 35, an Imatronic SX2000-C and two Kodak 2050s 
(Oh and I have an Oly E500 too!)
|
Oly_Man
journeyman
Reged: 27/10/2005
Posts: 57
|
|
Just browsing around recent posts shows that I am not alone with my views on high-street D&P.
--------------------
Dedicated to the Dark Ages...
Happiness is an Oly OM4Ti, various primes, 35RC, Trip 35, an Imatronic SX2000-C and two Kodak 2050s
(Oh and I have an Oly E500 too!)
|
beejaybee
Marvin
Reged: 18/07/2007
Posts: 4967
Loc: Really Here In Name Only
|
|
Quote:
Why has the quality of 'non-specialist' high-steet printing from the likes of Click/Supasnaps etc etc got so routinely bad? Prints regularly display poor sharpness, hairs and lack of tonal-range particularly in the primary colours (e.g.: they appear to be only able to print one red with little variance in hue or intensity). This seems consistent regardless of what film/D&P is used.
The cynic mode in me says they're trying to force everyone to use digital, because of the higher profit margin. Not least on those awful digital frames - and I've yet to see a print as bad as the best DF display I've seen.
A slightly less cynical version of myself says it's because customers keep complaining about the "washed out" colours in sunset pictures (taken on digital or printed from film using auto white balance  ); there may be something in this, almost all digital compacts deliver jpegs which are horribly oversaturated, the cheaper cameras are by and large the worst offenders - and we keep seeing posts on this forum from ex-digital compact users who have upgraded to a consumer DSLR and find the images "flat".
|
Photocracy
The Great Pretender
Reged: 18/11/2006
Posts: 625
Loc: Sunny South Coast
|
|
Hmmm, I can understand your frustration. I suppose it's a case of just driving a bit further to find someone who can turn out respectable prints. What area are you in Oly-Man? Perhaps someone will know of a better lab near you.
--------------------
Rob
|
photogeek
Professor Yaffle
Reged: 02/01/2007
Posts: 221
Loc: Londonish
|
|
Found the same thing - but found salvation and cost effective answer by sending off to peak imageing. Ok you may have to wait a few days ( and it often is just 3 days, but they seem to take more care
--------------------
Be yourself you know its true and in the end whats left is you.....
|
Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37849
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
|
|
IMVHO, high street D&P has ALWAYS been shocking, or at least shockingly inconsistent. I've used the likes of Peak and others for years for the few print films I use/d.
--------------------
Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
|
Oly_Man
journeyman
Reged: 27/10/2005
Posts: 57
|
|
I live in Blackpool. Well, specifically, Cleveleys, about 15mins walk from the Riverdance ferry which, incidentally, is still there.
I'll have a look at what Peak Imaging can do. Perhaps their quality will be 'too" good (ie with a price to match) for many prints which are little more than family snapshots, but i'd like to see an improvement on the dire results from the high-street outlets. Yet another reason why I stick to slides: one less process to cock up!
--------------------
Dedicated to the Dark Ages...
Happiness is an Oly OM4Ti, various primes, 35RC, Trip 35, an Imatronic SX2000-C and two Kodak 2050s
(Oh and I have an Oly E500 too!)
|
Adesw
The phantom flasher
Reged: 07/02/2008
Posts: 715
|
|
How about investing in a decent film scanner.
That way you can selectively make your own prints from the negs
|
apochromatic
newbie
Reged: 06/04/2008
Posts: 9
Loc: UK
|
|
I agree with your remarks with regards to 'non-specialist' high street outlets or supermarkets. These sort of places can't afford to employ skilled technicians and rely on button pressing kids fresh out of college: look at how many truly professional labs have gone out of business in the last few years. There are a few good labs still around and unless you're lucky and live near one then you'll have to deal with them by post - I'd guess you already do that for your slide processing? I use The Darkroom UK but Peak are good too.
As regards reproducing sunsets etc. I had a friend who was complaining his prints looked washed out compared to his monitor. I popped round to look at his monitor and realised why: I practically needed sunglasses to look at it as he had the gamma turned up so high it looked like a stained glass window! No way paper prints can reproduce the same range of tones as a monitor, or slides come to that.
|
NorthernNikon
Bulls Hitter
Reged: 16/12/2005
Posts: 6167
Loc: Harrogate, North Yorks
|
|
Quote:
IMVHO, high street D&P has ALWAYS been shocking, or at least shockingly inconsistent. I've used the likes of Peak and others for years for the few print films I use/d.
It was the inconsistent results I got from film whihc was part of the factor in limiting my enjoyment of photography before digital came along. That and having to (and invariably failing to) finsih a film before processing and then the costs invovled in doing so.
I had briefly though about shooting black and white film with my old F80, but can't see myself ever doing so again. I have a finished roll of Kodak 400TX sitting in it as I type, the last shot I took cFeb 2007. I do like the qualities of B&W film, but the cost and trials of processing are still too much to tempt me.
--------------------
www.BarneyAllen.com the new home of ComicShots.
|
Per
old hand
Reged: 28/11/2005
Posts: 716
Loc: UK Berkshire
|
|
Quote:
It was the inconsistent results I got from film whihc was part of the factor in limiting my enjoyment of photography
The good news is that your negs can be scanned and printed properly - you could have masterpieces just sitting on the shelf!
--------------------
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after
that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.
Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946)
|
NorthernNikon
Bulls Hitter
Reged: 16/12/2005
Posts: 6167
Loc: Harrogate, North Yorks
|
|
Quote:
Quote:
It was the inconsistent results I got from film whihc was part of the factor in limiting my enjoyment of photography
The good news is that your negs can be scanned and printed properly - you could have masterpieces just sitting on the shelf!
And the bad news is, I haven't the time to keep up with porcessing the shots I take nevermind scanning in my old negs! I bought an Epson 4900 for the job and haven't used it in over two years. 
--------------------
www.BarneyAllen.com the new home of ComicShots.
|
andy_m
newbie
Reged: 06/06/2006
Posts: 36
Loc: Chorley, Lancashire
|
|
My frustration is the inconsistency of high street processors. I've took some shots of my sister in laws wedding on Fuji Pro film and had them developed at Jessops in Preston and was distinctly underwhelmed, I might as well have used some cheap film.  And yet, same camera, same lens, same type of film at my local Tesco was great! I've thought about using Peak but even the cost of dev and scan there is not cheap.
--------------------
www.theviewfromthenorth.org
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
