Mismatched paper and minilab?

[mark_uhde]

Hi, I've been wondering why some labs don't use the same paper as their machine... For

example, Costco uses a Noritsu minilab and Fuji CA paper. Smith's (Kroger) uses a Fuji

Frontier minilab and Kodak Edge paper. One Walgreens uses an Agfa d-Lab and Kodak

Edge paper (though the other near me uses a Fuji Frontier with Fuji CA).

 

Is there any disadvantage to using these labs? Print longevity or other issues which could

arise from not matching paper and machine? I've never tried the Walgreens with the d-Lab

and Kodak Edge (because the people were really rude, and Walgreens prices are high

anyways). But Smith's produces really good prints with their Frontier/Edge combo and

Costco's profiled digital prints with their Noritsu/CA combo are also very good. Both are

also inexpensive.

 

I'm especially concerned with Smith's combination of a Fuji minilab and Kodak paper - I

know Noritsu is technically independent of Kodak; but I'm wondering with the Fuji minilab

if it could have longevity issues when used to process Kodak paper (is the chemistry

different?)? Thanks,

 

Mark

[craig_shearman1]

I have to admit I'm not up on the latest in color printing chemistry, but I strongly suspect that the chemistry/process is the same regardless of brand just like all standard color negative film is C-41. Even if the chemistry/process is different, I believe these machines can be set up for different systems just like home processors that have three, four or five modules and be set up for any process just by putting in the appropriate chemicals and setting them for the correct time/temp.

[geoff_samuel]

That's an interesting question. I have worked in mini-labs for quite a while, and that's something I have wondered about. While the C-41 process is pretty standard, chemicals used for paper processing vary slightly. Noritsu machines are either standard RA-4 process or use Kodak SM chamistry which is similar but faster than standard RA-4. You can process any RA-4 paper with SM chemistry. Then there's Fuji which have thier own chemistry, and then there's 3rd party replacement chemistry for just about any machine. You can use any paper with any of these machines, but if it affects the longevity of the print I don't know. My guess is that it would have a minimal effect, if any.

[nullfinder]

I work at Walgreens. We switched to Edge toiletpaper and I've (no one else has, though) noticed a decline in print quality. I remember the vivid, glorious prints that used to come out with FCA... and the nice glossy finish. Edge is a horrid paper, digital prints don't look digital. It tries to lend this slight slight "dreamlike" blur effect to every image that's printed; but I'm thinking that it's because it's not Fuji paper, optimised for digital exposure systems.

 

One good thing about kodak chemistry is that i've noticed our filters are cleaner; the paper "sheds" less. We have 5 inch FCA, 6, 8, and 4in Edge. We've got about 10 cases of 5in that are slowly going bad. The roll that's in the magazine is already losing its brilliant white, it looks slightly yellow (and no one believes me).

[mark_uhde]

Thanks for the info regarding Walgreens? Are all the Walgreens stores going to transition to

Kodak paper? Also is there any hope of seeing matte paper? Thanks,

 

Mark

[nullfinder]

at least in Texas it seem all stores have transferred to kodak chemicals. well truly, it's a big fat botchup.

 

ALL of the stores had a "do by or die" date by when they were supposed to officially be using nothing but kodak. e.g. no fuji paper or chemistry still left over. WELL, stores kept getting fuji chemmies plus kodak paper, or the slow stores still had a lot of fuji stock. well, for some reason we got like 10 cases of 5in FCA, and have a bunch of mismatched Fuji chemmies (for another Frontier).

 

so anyway, long story short, I see an email floating around from our regional supervisor, telling stores to just go ahead and use the remaining fuji stuff until it runs out; to "temporarily" switch back to Fuji. which is what we SHOULD have done in the first place. NOW we have all this nearly-stale Fuji chemicals and paper. no one listens to me when I told them that they need to put the 5in in the freezer, because it's already showing moderate signs of color shifting; it's not a brilliant white anymore, it's more of a white-shirt-after-10-washings kind of white. it's not bad enough to affect image quality (at least not noticeably) but it's gonna get there. the densitometer doesn't seem to notice, though. whenever I have to open, I run the calibration on each magazine, "just because." but esp because they like to forget about it, and then like a week later I see "Paper setup conditions not done in the past 10 days" ....

[celesta_danger]

ive worked in minlabs for 8 years and its does not matter if you use a noritsu machine with fuji paper or fuji machine with kodak paper. that would be like saying you could only use a kodak camera with kodak film or a fuji camera with fuji film. more than likely the stores that use fuji paper also use fuji chemistry, same for kodak. most labs have only one account with a major dealer. and most do not mix match chemistry and paper unless its some specialty paper rarely used, kodak silver. from my expierience, you have nothing to worry about.