Poor Photo Processing

[Julio]

Hi all

I had my films developed last month at a well known camera chain and couldn't believe how bad they turned out. They were totally under exposed, it looked like the Sahara was overcast.

When I looked at the CD the pictures where so much better. I took them back and showed the uninterested shop assistant the difference, who agreed they were naff.


On getting they reprinted, these are still not 100% compared with the CD images.

Am I expecting too much and is it easier to just have them put onto CD and Print them off from photoshop?

Cheers

julio

[A.B.]

You’re not expecting too much. If the pictures look good on CD, they should look good in print too. Your photo lab should redo them for free.

If the pictures were scanned from the negatives onto the CD (usually) they will loose a bit of sharpness when printed but the exposure should be pretty close.

Printing from Photoshop will produce much better results (if you have a good photo quality printer) since you’ll be able to correct the picture to your hearts’ content. But it’s time consuming and more expensive than having a photo lab print them for you.

Hope this helps

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A.B.
www.ShortWheelbase.com

[Jeremy Andrews]

I don't know if these were negatives that were scanned, or if you have a digital camera, but whatever, I certainly would do the following :

1- Don't go back to that place unless you want to ask for a refund

2 - Find an Minilab with a machine instore, the machine should be an Agfa d-Lab, or a Fuji frontier. Both of these machines are the new generation of minilabs which scan the negative and print to normal photo paper using a laser exposure method. The Agfa lab ( I am biased of course ), has very smart picture enhancement qualities, particularly when it comes to underexposed negs, scatches, and contrasty negs...

3- After you 've done this, and have nice photo's in hand, go and rub them in the noses of the unforendly chain, and then demand that refund !

Cheers

Jeremy
Ps, these labs also print directly from most digital media as well.