ksmattfish
Now 100% DC - not as cool as I once was, but still
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2003
- Messages
- 7,019
- Reaction score
- 36
- Location
- Lawrence, KS
- Website
- www.henrypeach.com
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
I did a portrait shoot last week where I shot 2 rolls of color, and 1 roll of BW. Normally I do the BW processing and give them back contact sheets. But since I had to go to the lab for C41 dev, I just got them 4"x5" proofs, and to make things extra easy on me, I tossed in the BW too.
It's been a while since I've had any lab processing done, and now I remember why I don't like to deal with it. Now I go to both of the intown "pro" labs, and I have this same problem at both of them.
First of all scratches on the film. I never get scratches on my BW roll film when I develop it at home, but I swear that every color roll and BW machine processed roll has those tiny little scratches that run lengthwise on the film. You can't see it at 4x5, but they are definately there at 8x10. With 35mm at least they can be spotted out pretty good, but it takes a steady hand to make it look good on a MF print.
Second of all, why don't they listen to me? I ordered 4"x5" proof prints because I'm shooting 6x7cm, and they said that was okay with both color and BW. The guy at the counter even puts 4x5 on the labels. So I get back the color in 4x5, and the BW in 4x6 (which is slightly cropped). No biggie, but annoying. Then I order a couple of color 8"x10" prints for my portfolio. It said 8"x10" on the labels, so what did I get back? 8"x12" prints. 6x7cm enlarges to an 8x10!!! They had to crop it to make it an 8x12, and since it's a crop they had to zoom in, and now I can't even cut off the extra 2". Once again, not really a big deal, not even worth complaining and getting it redone. Much easier just to find a new lab; I don't do much color anyway, just as easy to send it off.
Do it yourself; the dignity alone is worth it.
It's been a while since I've had any lab processing done, and now I remember why I don't like to deal with it. Now I go to both of the intown "pro" labs, and I have this same problem at both of them.
First of all scratches on the film. I never get scratches on my BW roll film when I develop it at home, but I swear that every color roll and BW machine processed roll has those tiny little scratches that run lengthwise on the film. You can't see it at 4x5, but they are definately there at 8x10. With 35mm at least they can be spotted out pretty good, but it takes a steady hand to make it look good on a MF print.
Second of all, why don't they listen to me? I ordered 4"x5" proof prints because I'm shooting 6x7cm, and they said that was okay with both color and BW. The guy at the counter even puts 4x5 on the labels. So I get back the color in 4x5, and the BW in 4x6 (which is slightly cropped). No biggie, but annoying. Then I order a couple of color 8"x10" prints for my portfolio. It said 8"x10" on the labels, so what did I get back? 8"x12" prints. 6x7cm enlarges to an 8x10!!! They had to crop it to make it an 8x12, and since it's a crop they had to zoom in, and now I can't even cut off the extra 2". Once again, not really a big deal, not even worth complaining and getting it redone. Much easier just to find a new lab; I don't do much color anyway, just as easy to send it off.
Do it yourself; the dignity alone is worth it.