 BetterPhoto Member |
Processing I'm new to photography and have some questions about processing. What is C41 processing? Is patented and owned by Kodak? Is C41 processing the same from one store to the next? Do they all send the film to the same place for processing? I am definitely a novice/beginner... is it worthwhile to pay the higher processing prices at places like Wolf or Ritz? Any advice will be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
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Romen Vargas |
C41 processing is simply how the process of processing the film. Your average 1 hour processing place uses C41. In fact in Australia most places only do C41. C41 is also the method they use to process colour prints (but I guess you knew that already). Although there are some black and white films that are C41 process (i.e. you get black and white prints even though you process them as colour). The higher processing prices like Wolf and Ritz (we don't have that where I am) most likely just take greater care with their processing. But if you find a place that checks the prints before giving them to you (some places just process, bag and deliver) then just stick with them, IMO they're just as good. The Kodak place where I go process them in an hour is the fastest but most of the time since my shots are not the average snapshots they take longer because they find that they need to correct the colour (hence I know that they check the prints before giving them back). The paper they use is top notch as well. Also most people don't realize that ANY shop can do colour corrections upon request. I did a lot of beach and summer landscape shots and I asked them to process the entire roll slightly warmer than they usually would...
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Romen Vargas |
They showed me a sample of how warm and I would tell them either warmer or cooler and they did it for me (in 1 hour!!!). But that's my experience. US places might be different than here in Aus. Just a small hint: if you do experimental shots (ones which you don't care how the colour saturation is, etc., and basically you just wanna know if it'll turn out correct) then send it to the cheapest place possible and then get good re-prints (which you can also request places to add/lessen colours, warmth etc).
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Morgan W. Bird |
I am currently working full time at MotoPhoto, and I can honestly say that it is definitely worth the extra dollars if you value the quality of your prints, we use Fuji processing and materials (which I personally prefer), but it's the same C-41 process as Kodak. Unlike cheaper drug store-type photo labs that have the photos printed automatically by the computer or sent out to a mystery place overnight, we print all pictures ourselves and color-correct each individual picture by hand. If a customer is unhappy with the prints, we'll redo them at no charge if there's any way to improve them. It may cost as much as twice what some other photo labs do, but I've seen first-hand the quality of places like MotoPhoto or Ritz, and if you're serious about your pictures, they're worth the extra cash.
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