Wolf Camera processing woes

I recently needed a batch of 20 5x7 prints from a digital file. I

would normally do it myself but my printer is on the blitz so I took

it to Wolf Camera in Greensboro NC.

 

Long story short, they printed a sample for me, and I gave the

go-ahead to do 19 other 5x7's. When I returned to pick them up, they

were done at the wrong size (4x6). So I left them another couple of

days and returned to find they had only printed one, and not the full

order of 19. By this time I'm ready to give up but the clerk at the

front counter was helpful, and suggested they could whip them off in

10 minutes if I'd wait. But the operating crew nixed that and said

come back at closing four hours later.

 

I have a co-worker who has had similar problems with Wolf botching

orders and she refuses to go back. I am similarly inclined to avoid

them after my recent experience. Anybody else have similar

experience or can recommend a competent processor either local in

Greensboro, or by mail?

I went to one of their stores in Atlanta area. I asked if they do E6. They don't do E6 in house but they will send them out. SO I left.

I hear you. I would never expect them to do a more involved developing process or even purchase equipment there because frankly the staff I have interacted with have little or no knowledge of the equipment, the selection is minimal, and the prices are too high.

 

What frustrates me in this instance isnt lack of technical expertise, or photographic knowledge, its just plain incompetence to not get a dimension or quantity correct on a reprint correct. And they didnt seem to care--come back at closing!

Go get the yellow pages and look for a pro lab under photography. If you're willing to drive to Raleigh, I go to JW Photo Lab. Wolf is better than Wal-mart but the quality will vary so much even at the same location depending on who is operating the machine.

Several years ago I used to take C-41 to my local Wolfe store. They tried as hard as they could as they'd seen my work and were aware of my expectations. They would just develop my film and give me the sleeved negs for dirt cheap.

 

My final view was that in spite of their dilligent efforts, their lack of skill, corporate methodology and lack of QC prevented me from getting the quality negs I wanted.

 

Amazingly, I've developed a relationship with the lab manager at my local Sam's Club. He's a photographer and has seen my work. I get very good unscratched negs back along with good proofs from him for my 35mm C-41 and dirt cheap. Unfortunately he's not set up for 120 processing although a few Sam's Clubs are. But his 35mm C-41 proofs are better overall than my local pro lab's 120, and for a whole lot less.

 

I'm not saying tha Sam's Club is better than Wolfe. The point is that individual labs vary based on who works there and if they recognize your name. You can get good c-41 for cheap. You just have to work at it.

I worked at Wolf for one day. I left for many of the reasons listed. I was the only knowledgeable person there, and the pay sucked. I was sure glad to have been offered two jobs at the same time.

 

Also, from what I've heard from friends, Wolf went sour after Ritz bought them out. Apparently before that, they were pretty good.

I usually avoid places like Wolf/Ritz like the plague, but I've discovered that the Wolf store in Cary NC (near Wal-Mart and Harris-Teeter) does very good C-41 processing and prints. They've got the latest Frontier machine and people that seem to know what they're doing; and mostly the same faces, so the turnover seems low. They've never screwed up an order for me. The walls display 10x15 prints made there of the staff's photographs, in both color and B&W. The manager was a very personal young woman named Devon. Ritz moved her to the downtown Raleigh Wolf store, where she has also created a nice environment, including doing E-6 development. As for the recommendation on JW Photo in downtown Raleigh, you bet, they are top notch, doing everything including high quality B&W fiber work and digital anything.

I live in Greensboro, NC. I've used "Wolfe Camera" at Friendly, "Costco" on Wendover, "Carolina Camera" at West Market, "Mastercolor" on Church St and "Chromex" at Battleground Ct. I left Wolfe Camera because several times they didn't have my order ready on time. However, I have to admit the results were fine. For cheap Advantix film processing and prints from digital files, Costco if okay. My only complain with them is that the pictures from their Noritsu machine look undersaturated for my tastes. Carolina Camera does a nice job for a moderate price, and I like the prints I get from them. I've been told that their technicians adjust each picture individually, and I believe it. For the most professional results Mastercolor is probably the best and the most expensive. Since they are only 2 miles from my house, I have them they do all my C-41 developing. My negatives come back very clean (better than anywhere else), and they even put my negatives in archival pages at my request for no extra charge. By the way, I mostly scan my 35 mm film on a DSE 5400, and then I print the ones I like on my Canon i960 printer. Finally, for excellent E-6 processing I use Chromex. Their standard wait time is 3 hours; but if you are in a hurry, they will do it for you in an hour. By the way, I can't say enough about Chromex. When I get my slides back from them, they come back absolutely perfect so I never have to use ICE or Photoshop. In conclusion, these are my top picks in no particular order:

 

Carolina Camera

Chromex

Mastercolor