BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: To Be Categorized

Results of D&P tests

Just thought I'd give you the update on the tests I ran on 4 local labs in Australia. (see question from about 3 weeks ago) Prices are for 24 exposure films, I used consumer grade Fuji 100.

Big W - $8.95 (Agfa machine)
- Colour Excellent
- Resolution Poor

K-Mart - $10.95 (Kodak machine)
- Colour Below average
- Resolution Acceptable

Fletchers Fotographics ($12.95) (Fuji)
- Colour Excellent
- Resolution Excellent

Colour Control Centre ($16.95) (Unknown)
(they call them proofs, since they are a professional lab)

- Colour Excellent
- Resolution Excellent

I guess the bottom line is that you get what you pay for... Except sometimes you pay too much. I'd love to put the photos up, but unfortunately, you can't tell the difference unless I scan at a very high res. Then you can see the resolution drop off in most the cheaper prints.

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April 08, 2001

Your experience near the antipodes (at least much, much closer than I am) is similar to mine. Somehow I'm not too surprised. I get consistently superb work from a pro imaging house in "The Big City" about 60 miles away. All the consumer labs around me are spotty. If you quoted $AU, even the last one listed is a good price compared to what I've paid. If you converted it to $US, it's about the same.

Many consumer labs get away with inconsistent work, spotty equipment maintenance, and slipshod color balancing. The overwhelming majority of their customers let them. IMO most consumers either don't know what can be extracted from good negatives or it doesn't matter to them. It's why I switched to "chromes" for almost everything and have selected slides printed by a pro imaging house.

BTW, I've seen your work posted on the main page. If you're not entering some large prints of your best work into local judged/juried photo shows, you should be.

-- John

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April 08, 2001

Thanks for your very positive comments - it really encourages me to continue with my hobby.

Just to add a little bit to my first postings - yes, the prices are in AUD. The way the australian dollar (or should I say peso!) going is, it really translates to chicken feed over in USD. $16.95 is considered "a lot" to be paid for photo processing by most people, but I think it is worth it.

Your suggestions about local competitions is encouraging. I've never thought of that. Photography is an emotional art to me, it's quite personal. I only uploaded that image as an example to someone wanting to photograph the moon. Jim moved it to the photo discussion area, but I am glad he did. (Thanks Jim!) I just bought a 20 pack of NPH and I'm feeling inspired, so maybe I will go out and join some competitions.

Cheers!

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April 10, 2001