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In-store develop and print- do they just scan your negatives?


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Hi all, I'm new to the forum and just a have a query that I'm sure many on here will know the answer to but I haven't found it discussed anywhere.

It seems like a pretty basic question, so apologies if this is really naive; When you have 35mm film developed and prints made in a photo shop, do they normally do 'proper' photographic prints (i.e using photographic paper and developing chemicals etc) or do they just scan the negatives and print them as if they were digital photos?

I ask because I've just had some back and the negatives are fine but the prints look like poor-quality digital photo prints.

I've been using film for ages, I develop my own B&W but for colour I almost always go to one of my local shops for their develop and print service. This is the first time I've ever had this problem (and the first time using this particular shop) and the prints really do look pixelated and with really poor colour definition (think cheap digital camera from mid-2000s).

 

Any wisdom or thoughts on this?

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The answer to your either-or question, depending on the lab is "yes" :) .

 

Virtually all labs these days when making prints will feed the uncut strip into a Noritsu or Fuji Frontier machine, which will scan it.

 

From there, it goes one of two ways. Some have moved entirely to making a dye-sub print from the digital file.

 

Others use a laser to "write" the digital file onto RA-4 photo paper that's then developed and printed. I know that's an over-simplification, but in labs that use that type of process you can start with either a film or digital original and get a print on "real" photo paper.

 

10 years ago, virtually every lab from the drug store to the big guys used the RA-4 process. From what I've seen, most small labs have switched to dye sub while the larger guys still use RA-4.

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