Walmart Fuji Processing

[john_shaeffer]

OK--my cheap processing travels took me to my neighborhood Walmart

(Maryland City, MD) store where I dropped the C41 film for processing

by their regular service (not 1 hour service).

When last I commented, I had just been subjected to Kodak "Perfect

Touch" from Fairlawn NJ which rendered bizarre colors on my prints

and left them generally not sharp.

 

I got the prints back from Walmart. They are generally sharper than

Kodak's and the colors of primary subjects are more accurate (what

wouldn't be?--Imperfect Touch rendered some folks on fire). I used

mostly Fuji Press 800, with some Konica 400 and 100 consumer film.

Some of the prints from a couple of rolls seemed washed out, with

absolutely no sky. I mean, it was like someone substituted white for

the sky. When the sky did show on other rolls, the colors were washed

out. This is with different cameras, mind you. So do I just get my

crayons out for the sky, or what?

 

By the way, before you tell me that Fuji Press will not render an

accurate sky color, I have used the film a lot in all conditions and

know that it will. Kodak processing before P Touch was capable of

this and I have broken down and spent more for A&I mailers, when I've

had something meaningful.

 

I am assuming that places like Ritz (Fuji) have their film processed

at the same place as Walmart for non-one hour service, so do I try

one hour service or what?

[danielneal]

<p>The Dixon, CA Walmart just had its grand opening last week, so I decided to try their Aladdin/Frontier 370 one-hour service with some shots from my Canon G1. I did my color correction and sharpening in Photoshop, then uploaded the images to the Frontier via the Aladdin interface.

 

<p>Major complaints:

 

<p>1. They *only* print on luster paper. No glossy or matte, because, according to the manager of the photo department, customers will complain about fingerprints from the employees. Of course, neither the manager nor any of the employees were wearing gloves and were quite cavalier with their negative-handling.

 

<p>2. The same color correction and sharpening were applied to both of the (very different) images that I uploaded via the Aladdin. The prints are awful. I'm not sure if there's an option for NO CORRECTION on the Aladdin, and I didn't specifically request no correction from the employees, but the prints were truly horrible.

 

<p>3. They won't scan or print rollfilm. This was a longshot, but of course they don't have the appropriate neg carriers and masks even though the manager says that there are "tons" of requests for 120 services. They do have the equipment to handle 110 though, of course. :-\

 

<p>I know that I shouldn't expect much for $0.26 a print, but I feel like I got ripped off.

 

<p>I can't imagine that Walmart's one-hour photo service will be much better. They probably won't destroy your negs during the processing, but none of the employees were wearing gloves (and they had their hands all over the negatives), they don't give you the option of any paper other than luster, and they "corrected" my two images to death.

 

<p>Your mileage may vary, but my local Walmart's one-hour service was ridiculous. The fellows at my local Longs Drugs are much more proficient with their Frontier, and do a great job even with one-hour jobs.

[phule]

<<I am assuming that places like Ritz (Fuji) have their film processed at the same place as Walmart for non-one hour service>>

 

From my experience, the Wolf/Ritz camera shops, unless you get the little kiosk-type in small malls or small shopping areas, do all their own processing and printing with their Frontier machines in-house. If you request non-one hour they do it there, just at a later time. Maybe I'm mistaken about this, but I don't think they send C41 film out.

[canon_eos_rules]

I've had mixed results with Wal-Mart/Fuji processing. The send-out (2-day) service to

Fuji's lab in Ft. Wayne is HORRIBLE-even Qualex's lab in Elgin does a better job! The

colors from a roll I sent them a while back were horrible and washed-out-yecch! (I

used Agfa Vista 400.) Well, at least the negs were unscratched (but unsleeved).

 

On the other hand, Fuji's 1-hour Frontier labs inside Wal-Mart (my local Wal-Mart has

a Frontier 390) do a great job at an unbeatable price (S5.57 for single prints, at least

in my area). Try your local Wal-Mart or Sam's Club 1-hour lab sometime-you'll be

pleasantly surprised by the quality of the prints. BTW, they even give you a nice little

pouch for your prints, too!

 

Oh, and one more thing, John: I also hate Kodak Perfect Touch-too pixely with bad

colors!

[jay ott]

We just had a Walmart grand opening in my town but I haven't tried their 1 hour yet, I shoot mostly slides for color and black and white I process myself. I have used their Kodak Picture Maker dye-sub printer and I must say that whoever calibrated it knew what they were doing. It's right on. We'll see how long it stays that way. The only thing I don't like about Picture Maker is that it doesn't accept Tiff files.

[jay ott]

P.S.

 

Becareful if you decide to use it. The clerk asked me 3 times if I was the one who took the picture. I think I'll dig up some pictures that my deceased grandmother took in the 1930's and see what she says.

[mark_uhde]

ONE HOUR SERVICE! The one-hour at most Wal-Mart's is, in my experience, superior. You can also yell at them about bad prints :) Both places run of full auto. Wal-Mart normally makes no corrections other than the auto "correction". Wal-Mart's one hour is still far better than their send out around here. And get to know the lab manager, that may change your experiences. But most of all - find a nice inexpensive "prosumer" level lab.

[James G. Dainis]

The copyright on pictures taken in the 30s should not have expired yet. The clerk would be justified in refusing to make copies or aiding and abetting you in copyright infringement. I applaud that clerk. If it looks like the photo may have been taken by a pro, not you, (nothing personal) they will be concerned about infringeing.

[john_shaeffer]

Thanks for the replies--I guess we are all going digital, whether we want to or not :).

I've used Walmart.com for reprints of jpegs from digital cameras and they have done a great job. On the other hand, the local Walmart (Fuji) non-one hour developing of film and resulting prints was disappointing. I mean not like I was expecting much, but at about $6 a roll it is more than I have been paying.

 

With Kodak's mailer service (Qualex, Fairlawn, NJ)switching over to Perfect Touch, the last chance for low cost accurate color processing may have been lost, at least from the several rolls I have gotten back since they made the switch. I didn't pay B&H prices for the mailers, but got them on ebay for less.

 

I live near District Photo/Clark in Beltsville, MD. They do the Qualex processing for most of the DC area stores. I've sworn to myself I wouldn't go back there, to their Snapshops outlet, but as things stand now, everything has pretty much been dumbed down to that. You either send you film to A&I, or go to Ritz and expect to pay $12 a roll for 36 exposure developing and prints, or hold your breath and take your non important stuff to District for $3.99. Certainly for the film burning, day to day shots, it is a no brainer.

 

Gee, I'm starting to like the Polaroid Spectra cameras that I'm playing around with lately, more and more :).

[mark_uhde]

"I've used Walmart.com for reprints of jpegs from digital cameras and they have done a great job."

 

As does my local Wal-Mart. I've never tried Wal-Mart.com. It's the same price, same equipment, same prints and takes longer and you can't complain to the local lab manager if they don't turn out well. :)

 

As for 35mm - Wal-Mart no way! Primarily because they print of full auto. I need a place that puts more care into my prints. I go to a high-level consumer lab inside a locally owned camera store. Film developing is a huge portion of their business. $6.79 for a 24exp roll. Prints beautiful. In the very (and I mean VERY) rare case I've had a problem, they reprint no problem.

[john_shriver]

<p>The color correction can be disabled on a Fuji Frontier 370. That's how <a href="http://www.drycreekphoto.com">Dry Creek Photo</a> can provide the service of making ICC profiles for them.</p>

 

<p>But it's the people running the lab who make the difference. My local camera/TV/audio emporium (Cameras Inc.) has a Frontier 370 minilab, and the prints are decent, if a bit hyper-saturated, but I've gotten back too many scratched negatives. I don't know if they have dirty rollers in the processor, or if the negative cutting and sleeving station is dirty. I complained once, and it didn't improve.</p>

 

<p>My last roll went to Zeff Photo's Frontier 370 lab. I got very nice prints (which may have to do with it being my first roll of Fuji NPH), and the negatives are immaculate. But it cost a few dollars more. Competent labor costs money...</p>

 

<p>I will never bring anything to the Waltham, MA Costco store's Frontier 370 lab. They just built it, out on the concrete floor, with no walls, right next to the front door. Once winter snow (and sand) sets in, they won't just ruin all the negatives, they will destroy the machine. But they certainly are the cheapest option!</p>

 

<p><i>There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.</i></p>

[nathan_bialke]

I've always figured that Wal-Marts had roofs, John.

[alvaro_buitrago]

I have not tried Walmart one hour, but I can tell you that the four day service at Sam's club Miami is very good. I use them for most of my development. I still use a prolab for reprints, enlargements, and development of really important rolls, but for normal development Sam's club is a real bargain.

[wally_hess1]

You get what you pay for. You want cheap and unreliable, keep going to the superstores and watch the local camera stores fold and dry up for lack of business, just like the mom-and -pop grocery stores did under similar conditions.

[john_shaeffer]

Wally:

 

Getting what you pay for is true but only to a certain point. My experience is there is a wide variety of prices for wildly unpredictible processing. I can pay the following for processing the same 36 exposure roll:

 

Qualex grocery store style processing directly at the processing plant:

about $4

 

Qualex processing when I leave the film at the grocery store or drug store: about $8-9 (same exact processing as above)

 

Walmart non one hour processing: about $6.

 

Kodak mailers for Perfext Touch processing at Fairlawn, NJ: about $9 if you buy them from B&H, half that or less if you get them on ebay.

 

You can pay a lot more for A&I mailers or processing at camera stores--heck, even at Motophoto you'll pay a lot more. Is Motophoto better because you pay more? Is Ritz better because you pay more? Probably not, in my opinion.

 

I don't think you can blame someone for going where the prices are lower, because I don't think paying a higher price always guarantees quality processing. Digital has meant the demise of many film processors and has caused the dumbing down of the remainder. Witness Mystic being bought and basically closed down by District/Clark (although they still operate as Mystic in name to try to take advantage of the higher margin). It is kind of a vicious cycle that drives even more people toward digital, as film processing becomes more inconsistent. Maybe that's what the big companies really want, at the end of the day. Hey along with those digitals, ya need printers and better computers and batteries, etc, etc.

[jeff_drew4]

Just a couple comments: Ritz/Wolf in Milwaukee and Minneapolis areas all did my

film "in-house" no matter the time needed. The Minneapolis store did rollfilm as well,

usually next day. Milwaukee sent my rollfilm to the Minneapolis processor.

Regarding Walmart: if you take pix of your own partially clad kids or the tykes

frolicking in the tub or backyard sprinkler, Walmart employees have been known to

confiscate the photos and report the "offending" parents to the cops for any number

of potential crimes! Beware that Walmart WILL censor your prints at any given time.

This has been reported in national news.

[dano1]

I get all my digital done at Woodman's Food market. It's an Illinois/Wisconson thing. They charge $.18 a print for 4x6, $.89 a 5x7, $1.89 an 8x10 or 8x12, and $4.49 a 10x15. I have not been able to beat their prices anywhere.

 

The digital images most of the time look great. That is, untill they get lazy about changing the tanks. Then I get dim prints.

 

35mm is the same cost. I usually get great prints back on Matte. Unfortunatley, they print everything on auto, so I often get backlit subjects backlit, instead of the proper exposure that I used. Also forget astrophotography with them.

 

Recently I bought a Minolta Dual film scanner for $84 on eBay. I plan on getting my negs done at a prosumer lab, then scanning them myself, then getting the best printed digitaly at Woodman's.

 

Develop only is $3, regardless of roll size. At that price, and at $2.50 a 36 exposure roll, I can get my images for $.18 a piece, the same cost that proccessing cost alone at Woodman's. Now that's my idea of cheap!

[alyn_divine1]

As someone who works at a Ritz Camera, (ProEx actually, but owned by Ritz), I can tell

you that we don't send out any of our film to be processed, we process all C-41 stuff

ourselves, and will print them on one of our two machines ourselves whether it is

one-hour or not. If we do get an express bag, we'll just do that one first, but the

majority of work that we do is next day anyway. There is no difference in what we do

between the two.

 

In fact, usually next day stuff is actually processed and printed within an hour, there's

just no guarantee to the customer...

[mark_uhde]

I just got some film reprints done by Wal-Mart (IN HOUSE, not the send out) and they came out absolutely beautiful, except for one. And the one was a pretty bad negative I can't even get to look right in Photoshop (but the place that printed it the first time got it pretty good)

[mark_uhde]

While I said NO WAY, because of full auto above, looking though some prints - I've came to the conclusion it may not be too bad. The Frontier does have the most intelligent full auto around, and most of my prints from the other lab were NNNN (full auto) anyways. I'm pleasantly surprised by Wal-Mart compared to my past Wal-Mart experiences (send out and pre-Frontier)