How good is a 1-hour photo service?
November 20, 2004 7:39 AM   Subscribe

Questions about 1-Hour Photo quality inside... [MI]

So, I have some 35mm photos I took on a trip to Mexico. I'd like to get them developed before I go to a party tonight, ideally. I want decent-quality 4x6 prints, with the understanding that I'm going to want some bigger, high-quality prints done of some good shots. I understand that places like CostCo do a good job because they keep their equipment in good shape. There's a brand-new Target by me (Park Slope, Brooklyn), but their equipment has managed to break already and they can't guarantee anything before tomorrow. So, my questions are:

- How good is 1-Hour photo these days? If the equipment looks new, can I be assured at least a decent quality print?

- How much variance is there in the quality of film negatives? Will a corner "One Hour Photo" place at least guarantee me a good negative to work with in the future?

- Will a large-ish, otherwise evil place in Manhattan like K-Mart do a better job than a local place?
posted by mkultra to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)
 
If you get quality paper and a quality process, you should be okay. My best bet would be to find a Kodak One Hour place and let them do it.

But then, its been years since I've done anything with film cameras.
posted by fenriq at 8:08 AM on November 20, 2004


This is actually a pretty huge subject, depending on how you judge 'quality'.

How good is 1-Hour photo these days? If the equipment looks new, can I be assured at least a decent quality print?

It depends how you define 'decent quality'. For sharing vacation snaps of small size, it's pretty difficult to get a bad result, these days. And, yes, try to find somewhere with newer looking equipment. There's been some huge improvements in printing technology in the last few years.

One tip here: Try to use a lab that has the same brand of processing equipment as the film you used. Go to a Kodak lab with Kodak film, Fuji for Fujifilm, etc. It's not critical, but lab machines tend to be slightly better calibrated for their own brand film-type - if you're picky.

The Fuji Frontier processors are worth a special mention. They use a hybrid process where the negs are processed in the standard way, but the prints are digitally exposed to regular photographic paper, using a laser. The print quality is noticably better, in my opinion, especially with Fuji brand film.

How much variance is there in the quality of film negatives?

Between mainstream brands, not a lot, unless you're being very critical at a professional level. Much more important is the film-speed you use. There's a more noticable difference between fast and slow films.

Also worth avoiding the very cheapest that any brand offers. Kodak Max, for example, is pretty horrid, compared to their marginally more expensive films. Kodak, especially, make this harder to keep track of because they seem to change the names of their films weekly.

One Hour Photo" place at least guarantee me a good negative to work with in the future?

The C41 process for developing color 35mm negative film has been standardized and understood by the whole industry for many years. Any variation in negative processing is therefore dependant on human factors like how often machines are calibrated, how often they're cleaned, whether the chemical baths are replenished as often as they should be and whether the operator knows how to handle negs without getting dust and finger grease on them.

Will a large-ish, otherwise evil place in Manhattan like K-Mart do a better job than a local place?

The larger chains often tend to be better, simply because they use newer more automated machines that require less human intervention.
posted by normy at 8:18 AM on November 20, 2004


...Normy pretty much covered it. Ask if they have a Fuji Frontier or a Noritsu digital print processor. NYC can be pretty hit or miss; I've gotten great and terrible results from the same place on different days, and had negs badly damaged at pro places and treated with care at "evil" consumer places like walgreen's, etc. (BTW, Walgreens uses the Fuji Frontier, if I am not mistaken.) At most labs (whether fancy or 1-hr), the quality of the work you'll get back (beyond a reasonable threshold of acceptability) will depend directly on the kind of relationship you have with the people who are actually printing the stuff.
posted by availablelight at 10:26 AM on November 20, 2004


Despite being evil, Walmart does tend to have Fuji Frontier equipment in a lot of their stores. They like them because they can use the same equipment to do 1-hour digital prints from those kiosks.
posted by smackfu at 10:35 AM on November 20, 2004


You could go to B&H in midtown, but I think they might be closed on Saturdays.
posted by riffola at 11:55 AM on November 20, 2004


The main reason I stay away from 1-hr processing is the damage the processor can do if they're not careful. Fingerprints in the wet emulsion, scratches down the whole negative strip, etc. The processing itself is usually par.
posted by still at 12:01 PM on November 20, 2004


still--
most problems with processing are not the result of C-41 [color] processing, where the negative goes in dry and comes dry. If the lab has a "dip and dunk" system, even better (no reels, no scratches). The only time I have had COLOR negatives damaged was post-processing: [veryrespectedprofessional] lab in the Village gouged my negatives with a dirty negative carrier (scratched down the whole strip) on a reprint job so badly the emulsion was actually stripped off in the damaged areas. The worst processing problem that can happen with color is that the equipment fails or the chemicals are poorly mixed. B&W is a whole different story.

B&H is closed on Saturdays, sadly. I still vote for a Walmart or Walgreens (if that's too disturbing to your consumer sensibilities, NYC is full of Wolfe Camera labs that use Fuji Frontiers and will offer reasonable--if more expensive--results....if the paper is balanced. But that's a whole different post).
posted by availablelight at 12:40 PM on November 20, 2004


The only time I have had COLOR negatives damaged was post-processing

At most places you can ask them to leave the negative uncut. It's a bit of a pain to roll up (have to be careful not to crease it), but I know they make negative plastic sleaves at the standard 135x36 roll length. Those Frontiers are the shit, though. If you really wanted to do it in a round about way, you can have them process the film, then scan the shots you like, play around with the levels in Photoshop, go right back to the Walgreens/Sam's Club/Etc. and have them print out the results on the same printer. I used to think their little kiosks were useless, (and they still don't have support for USB drives -- duh), but I have successfully printed from 24-bit BMP's that were about 50 megs. in size. The shots are indestinguishable from photographs.

Of course, you may not have time to do this.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:53 PM on November 20, 2004


I'm a bit late on chiming in, but basically you should be able to get good results anywhere you go. It all depends on how well-calibrated the store keeps their machines. Even older analog machines give excellent results if they're maintained well enough.

Barring something ridiculous happening like a technician adding the wrong chemicals, or a film jam (it happens), your negative quality should be the same no matter where you go. The main concern is, as said above, the handling of your negatives after they've been processed. This is where scratches, etc. can occur if the technician isn't being careful.

To sum up: Attitude of the staff is more important than what equipment they're using, generally speaking.
posted by neckro23 at 2:47 PM on November 20, 2004


Never bring negatives to Walmart - they have scratched my shit up many a time. Also, usually you can expect more at a more expensive place. Good luck.
posted by crazy finger at 11:53 PM on November 20, 2004


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