problems at the place i get my film developed

zeppelin390 · Jan 17, 2009

I am taking my film to a local place to get my film developed and am noticing some things and wondering if anybody is having the same problem. When I get my pictures back, they are in some sort of random order that I did not take them in. This seriously screws me up when I get them back home and and want to compare them to my shot record. I may take the same shot 4 or 5 different times, but at different exposures. With the pictures out of order, there is no way for me to tell which picture was at which exposure. I have also noticed that some pictures are just missing. I know I took 24 pictures, but when I only get 22 back, you have to figure something is wrong.
Has this happened to anybody else, and if so, is there something I can do about it? Or just take my film elsewhere?

~Stella~ · Jan 17, 2009

Do they not print the file name on the back? That should clear it up, no?

zeppelin390 · Jan 17, 2009

~Stella~ said:
Do they not print the file name on the back? That should clear it up, no?

file name? I'm not sure what that is. There is some stuff written on the back, but doesn't make any sense to me

gsgary · Jan 17, 2009

If you are shooting film each neg is numbered so they can't be out of order

Katier · Jan 17, 2009

are you saying the prints are shuffled? Shouldn't matter, just go by the negatives.

zeppelin390 · Jan 17, 2009

Katier said:
are you saying the prints are shuffled? Shouldn't matter, just go by the negatives.

k, ill check that out, thanks

Mgw189 · Jan 17, 2009

Katier said:
are you saying the prints are shuffled? Shouldn't matter, just go by the negatives.

What the OP is saying is that he is taking images of the same item at different shutter speeds or Aperture values. It would be hard to tell what the photos would be based on the negative. The missing prints are probably ones that didnt come out so the lab threw them out and didnt charge you for them. The easiest solution to the problem is do it yourself.

tsaraleksi · Jan 17, 2009

The order of the negs should still help-- in fact I think that would probably be pretty clear.

Katier · Jan 17, 2009

tsaraleksi said:
The order of the negs should still help-- in fact I think that would probably be pretty clear.

Agreed, and helps figure out failed shots.

MikeBcos · Jan 17, 2009

Is there any sequence to the numbers on the back of the prints? A lot of machines will print sequential numbers.

Josh66 · Jan 17, 2009

zeppelin390 said:
I have also noticed that some pictures are just missing. I know I took 24 pictures, but when I only get 22 back, you have to figure something is wrong.
Has this happened to anybody else, and if so, is there something I can do about it? Or just take my film elsewhere?

I think that is just the guy at the lab deciding which ones aren't worth printing.

I don't get prints, I just get it developed and scan it at home. Before I got my scanner, I always had the same problem. I hate it when they decide for you what isn't even worth printing... I have a few that they felt weren't good enough to print, but I thought were pretty good. (Usually mostly dark photos, they just think the whole thing is dark and skip it.)

You could tell them that you want prints of all of them, even the "bad" ones.

zeppelin390 said:
file name? I'm not sure what that is. There is some stuff written on the back, but doesn't make any sense to me

The frame number is usually in there somewhere.

~Stella~ · Jan 17, 2009

Oops - sorry, I didn't see that you were dealing with film, not digital files. I retract that comment then.

gsgary · Jan 17, 2009

you can still get prints from bad negs eg. underexposed negs if you know what you are doing

Josh66 · Jan 17, 2009

gsgary said:
you can still get prints from bad negs eg. underexposed negs if you know what you are doing

The people at most 1 hour places will most likely not even bother trying.

I've had more than a few that they didn't feel were worth printing that turned out pretty good.

ksmattfish · Jan 18, 2009

If you ask them to print and charge you for every frame I'm sure they would be glad to do so. Most labs skip severely over or under exposed negs because their experience is that 99.9% of people don't want to pay for them.

Shuffled prints are a good sign. That means a live human being, the lab tech, has actually looked at the prints with their own eyeballs, and probably reprinted a few with corrections. Nice neat, ordered stacks of prints means you're getting them as they came out of the machine the first time, and it may mean no one has bothered to look them over.

Some labs do print film frame numbers on the back of the prints.