Mini-labs: How do they work?

[ibcrewin]

I dropped off a roll at the local duane reade and I feel like I don't get the best scans from my negatives. Is this a function of the operator, machine or film? The machine is a Noritsu qss-3311. I almost feel like the flexibility of the film is compromised by bad scans.

As I understand it, the machine processes the film. film drys and gets scanned. the scan is then printed.

Bessa R , 35mm f/2.5 skopar. Portra NC 400, scanned on Noritsu QSS-3311. It looks like the highlights are blownout. But can I be confident that they are totally missing on the negative?

[Scarpia]

Duane Reed uses Noritsu equipment as do several other drugstore chains in NY. In general Fuji Frontier equipment gives better results IMHO so look for a minilab using Fuji equipment, the bigger the model the better all things being equal such as proper fluid replenishment, etc. Good luck.
Kurt M.

[Scarpia]

BTW what look like blown highlights to you look like "glow" to me. I like the picture very much.
Kurt M.

[ibcrewin]

Thanks Kurt! The girl who usually does the film there was out, I didn't recognize her sub.

[Lemures-Ex]

Looks to me like 1 or 2 color channels are blown in the face during the scan. Not bad in the case of this specific photo.

The built-in scanners in Fuji/Noritsu/Agfa machines are designed for speed. If you have ever used a neg/slide scanner such as an Epson or Nikon you know that it takes a minute or two (or more) to scan a neg. These machines take a few seconds. The 2 Agfa D-labs I have worked with took about 8 seconds on the highest resolution. They didn't look nearly as good as the scans I did on the Nikon scanner we had at the lab. While the results are acceptable to the average person you aren't going to get great quality out of thses scans. If you need high quality scans on a regular basis buy your own scanner. If you don't need them often then just pay a little extra for hi-res scans when you do need them.

That said, this photo looks better than the average chain-store scan I have seen.

Jared

[ibcrewin]

The speed thing makes a lot of sense. There are other frames that have so much noise in them.

[arbib]

I use a local Camera shop that can scan in 2 resolutions, If you don't TELL them you want Hi-Res, you will get the standard scan in the mini lab I use. The High Res scans are at 600dpi (their number), and are a little bigger than 2400x3600 Pixels. (8.6mp) Files are from 3.5mp-5mp in size. Anyway, they do quite well in PP. But 400iso + films show noise on the high side. I use 200iso films, and they do all right. The PRO Films scan a bit better though.

[Taqi]

Nice photo. She looks like how I feel when I'm working out whether I can really afford that MP..

[gb hill]

Here's a question I have been wandering about so i'll ask here since the topic is close. I don't at the moment have a neg. scanner, but I have some b&w film , like tri x and T max that I can soup myself. Can I then take those negatives to a mini lab to have them scanned on a cd with their equipment? If so, you think it would be feasible?

[arbib]

Originally Posted by Taqi

Nice photo. She looks like how I feel when I'm working out whether I can really afford that MP..

Love your Avatar

Is there another brand called "S--t"

[Taqi]

I try to keep a tin handy for reference purposes.

[jmi]

Originally Posted by gb hill

Here's a question I have been wandering about so i'll ask here since the topic is close. I don't at the moment have a neg. scanner, but I have some b&w film , like tri x and T max that I can soup myself. Can I then take those negatives to a mini lab to have them scanned on a cd with their equipment? If so, you think it would be feasible?

The machines can typically scan pretty much anything depending on the operator. The lab I use is happy to do this provided they are given the film uncut.

EDIT - of course if I was a bit more awake I would have pointed out that you might have a problem with silver based B+W since the machines usually do digital ICE. I think it can be turned off but the operator would actually need to do that...

[gb hill]

Originally Posted by jmi

The machines can typically scan pretty much anything depending on the operator. The lab I use is happy to do this provided they are given the film uncut.

EDIT - of course if I was a bit more awake I would have pointed out that you might have a problem with silver based B+W since the machines usually do digital ICE. I think it can be turned off but the operator would actually need to do that...

I appreciate your answer. I completely didn't even think about them using digital ICE, but this will make my question much easier to his understanding, and especially mine, when I go to the minilab to ask about scanning my film. I can enquire him on turning the machine off for the ICE.