Kodak Mailers--Fairlawn NJ Imperfect Touch

[john_shaeffer1]

For a long time I have been buying old Kodak processing mailers for

color print film on ebay and mailing C41 film to the Fairlawn, NJ

processing plant. Results have not always been excellent, but good

enough in the past for me to continue this low priced way of

processing. I found prints to be generally sharp, with true colors

and the prints were made on Duralife paper.

Apparently, Fairlawn has now converted over to Kodak Perfect Touch

Processing. The last two batches of film I sent there were processed

this way and the results were pitiful. The prints are all tinted with

the predominant color on any particular negative and they vary widely

from print to print. The prints are not sharp--it is not the camera,

because I used several cameras for different rolls of film.

 

So I guess my bargain basement days at Fairlawn are over and its on

to Walmart or someplace local to see what they can do.

[tom_s.]

I sent 11 rolls of wedding snapshots through Qualex Fairlawn 3 weeks ago, and I hated the way they came back too. Too much saturation, too "edgy", it seems like Kodak is going for some kind of "modern look." It looked liked every dial on the processing machines was turned up to 11! It's difficult to to quantify what the problems were, in short, I didn't like the look at all.

 

I shot a combination of Kodak High Definition 400 (aka Royal) and Portra 400NC (lower contrast, moderate saturation), in Olympus Stylus Epic cameras.

 

I've shot over 60 rolls through the same Olympus camera since 2000, used Fairlawn since then as well, but I did try a few different films. Sure, results varied somewhat depending on the scenes and film I used, but these recent results are totally "out of this world."

 

The only solution seems to be to switch labs... yet another mis-step by Kodak. *grumbles*

[john_shaeffer]

Interesting comment about edgy prints--almost like a layered look--I think this has something to do with Perfect Touch being digital printing.

 

Yes I agree, the colors were indeed out of this world and had no consistency whatsoever! I used Konica and Fuji Press 800, primarily. Konica can tend to be pink, but not like this. Fuji Press usually renders accurate color until Imperfect Touch, that is.

 

The only prints that came back OK were made from Gold 100. I guess they couldn't totally screw up a sharp film to begin with. I've got a few mailers left, so that is all I'll be sending them.

[tom_s.]

Just to clarify about "edgy" prints -- I mean "edgy" in the sense of "aggressive". The prints in general are "overhyped" in every way imaginable.

 

Layered? Well, the colors do pop way too much, eg, red carpet, red shirts, blue shirts are all unbelievably saturated, far more than they should be. Those solid colors look totally out of place in relation to the rest of the scene. In that way, they are consistent -- consistently neon colors!

 

I know that in photography, the colors do need to be *slightly* brighter and *slightly* more saturated than in reality for people to like them. But a very light touch is needed!

 

Perhaps if I ask for "standard K-Mart prints" instead of Kodak Premium Processing I'll get better results? I think I'll send a test roll through and see what happens. In the meantime, I'm shooting a few rolls of Kodachrome 64 before Kodak takes it away. Considering their recent cuts, I wouldn't be surprised if Kodak announces its demise any week now...

[canon_eos_rules]

I haven't used Kodak mailers, but I used Kodak Perfect Touch processing from

Kodak's Elgin lab for a while and the results were pixely every time I used it-yecch!

 

Nowadays, I just take my film to the local Wal-Mart or Walgreens 1 hour photo, both

using Fuji Frontiers. You get great results for a LOT less than Perfect Touch.