The Photo Lab Discussion Thread...Let's See What Developes

[Guest Slide On The Ice]

Since me and Pod got into an off-topic chat about photo labs in another thread, and he indicated he had wanted to pick my brain about running labs (not that he'd find much...my brain is like a nose freshly blown, nothing left to pick ;D )

Slide On The Ice:

I used to manage photo labs and all we did all day long was deal with negatives. We didn't process slides so there were no positives in the work place. :

groan...

hehe on the contrary when I did time in a lab it was mostly E6 and digital.

/former lightjet tech

//former frontier 370 tech

///spoiled me, all inkjets suck in comparison.

Well, I'm a dinosaur. My lab days go back before digital began taking off.

But I did get to use some wicket digital even with negatives. The Fuji Frontier for one, the Noritsu 3311 and 2611, Noritsu 2301, ect.

I printed shit out all the time when I ran a 370. I had just switched from shooting film to digital so it was grand. Only thing was shoehorning a color management system into the works was quite frustrating.

Never worked with Noritsus but we have some stuff on our wall here at the HQ off of a 3311 and it holds up well.

On that note, constant negativity really irks me.

I feel you Lula. I used to manage photo labs and all we did all day long was deal with negatives. We didn't process slides so there were no positives in the work place. :

how much joke material did the word "negative" give you while you worked there?

On that note, constant negativity really irks me.

I feel you Lula. I used to manage photo labs and all we did all day long was deal with negatives. We didn't process slides so there were no positives in the work place. :

how much joke material did the word "negative" give you while you worked there?

Do you remember the Simpson's episode in the old age home when somebody said a joke and all the old people cracked up...5 seconds later he said it again and they cracked up again...and 5 seconds later...? Constantly. And every customer I siad it too laughed because it was the first time they'd heard it. Just like almost every single day some guy came in and asked me if I saw the movie One Hour Photo, thinking they were the first person who ever asked me that. But you know, that's how things develope when you work in an environment like that. ;D

[Guest Slide On The Ice]

I'm a Fuji whore all the way. When I shot film, I bought Fuji in bulk. Usually a mix so I wasn't scrambling if I needed something specific. NPC, NPZ made up the bulk of what I had. If I needed prints it was Crystal Archive all the way. Last time I touched a Frontier, they just intro'd a new emulsion. I remember having to install some new lookup tables for it. I remember when I took the course in Edison and my favorite part was when they showed us that there was no mixing needed under normal circumstances.

Me being the technically curious sort, I pretty much became my own tech support for the machine since I hated waiting on hold.

The new 500-series ones are great. They print 12" wide, which would have been a godsend when I was doing this. A lot of pros wanted 11" x 14" prints for their books, and we had to farm it out to someone with a LightJet to do it. A LightJet is overkill for 12" prints unless you're printing in bulk.

I vaguely remember Slide mentioning something about running a lab at one point, always meant to pick his brain.

I had the 350. I remember that dryer assembly all to well, with all the times I had to take it apart to fix paper jams.

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/photofinishing/dmlab_frontier370.html

It's been a few years since I've worked with it, and I have yet to see the 500 series.

BTW, I was an Eckerd photo manager for 10 years, then for CVS for over a year, and I left the business last year. My business (non-photo) is on hiatus and I just submitted my resume to Walgreens to get a store management position. I won't go back to CVS. Walgreens was always a bigger and better company, but Eckerd had the best photo operation in the drug store industry and when CVS bought Eckerd they ran it into the ground, IMO. Just last night somebody asked me why I didn't (I think it was Coach who asked me, my memory is almost as foggy as his) go back to photo finishing, but run a professional lab rather than one in a drug store where photo is treated as a secondary, not-as-important part of the store (in italics added by me), and I told him I had honestly not even considered it until he mentioned it. Walgreens doesn't have photo managers per se, so my plan is to get into store management itself rather than the photo department.

I hear ya about being your own tech support. With Eckerd we had TSR's (tech service reps) who were Eckerd employed, and when we had a problem we called them and they came down. But like you, and always being busy and curious, whenever my TSR was there to fix something, I learned how to do it through him. Then I said to heck with it and I started figuring repairs our myself and doing them on my own. I only called my TSR (though we became friends and I enjoyed when he came to my lab) when it was something I absolutely could not fix on my own. But with Fuji it was a different story. Fuji had a different contract with Eckerd, and though our TSRs did most of the Fuji fix-its, there were some things that we had to call a Fuji tech for. And those guys would take a day to get there, and charge 90 bucks an hour. When I had to have the guy come back twice for the same thing, I said to heck with it and began fixing problems myself. Except for the laser scanner. I don't remember the details of it, but there was a laser sensor that cost a few thousand dollars to replace, so it was a rule I followed not to fuck with it. That was TSR time, and I stood back and had a soda. ;D

You used Crystal Archive?

I'm not familiar with Crystal Archive. I don't recall at the moment which paper we used but I don't think it was that.

[Guest JMT]

The Photo Lab Discussion Thread...Let's See What Developes

punny, very punny.

[Guest Slide On The Ice]

The Photo Lab Discussion Thread...Let's See What Developes

punny, very punny.

"Let's see what developes..." Crowd erupts :D

5 seconds later,

"Let's see what developes..." Crowd erupts :D

5 seconds later,

"Let's see what developes..." Crowd erupts :D

5 seconds later,

It never gets old! ;D

[Guest pod]

We were using Crystal Archive. I stopped working in a lab about a year and a half ago, and it was their mainstay paper that they sold to you. They still do, but with whatever the new emulsion of the year is. You were more than welcome to use Kodak or what-have-you, but at your own risk. Crystal Archive is basically Fuji's archival stock. Processed in their own chemistry (CP-48) and properly framed/stored, they claimed something to the effect of it staying true to color for sixty some-odd years. Of course it didn't matter to the average Joe walking through the door, but to the pros I mainly dealt with, it mattered a lot.

Plus, they all had the profile I went through hell and high water to make, so that kept them happy.

The 370 I dealt with, the only nagging issue was in the distribution section, the little suction cups sometimes wouldn't grab, and the oh-so-familiar alarm would go off. It is funny, if I'm in a Walgreens or any other lab with a Frontier, I involuntarily twitch if the machine is beeping. Even worse, I was at the one around the corner from our office the other day, and they were having problems, and obviously consulting with someone over the phone, and I pretty much had to keep real quiet on how to fix it.

Setting up a photo-only lab these days is tricky though. With internet printing pretty much all the rage, most people, even pros, prefer to do all their work at home, and shoot the images to whichever place suits them the best, since in the end, they're using the same systems and processes. Oddly enough about a month after I left, the company I worked for consolidated all their digital operations to a central facility in New York to do just that.

However, as a local pro lab, you can orient yourself to provide internet printing, as well as the personal touch of local custom service. There's just some things pros and others won't trust to a web form.

A good example is this lab I dealt with out in Vegas. I was out there for a company-related shoot, and they needed prints turned around super fast. Rather than drive around right after the shoot in an unfamiliar city, I went to my hotel, and uploaded all my work to them, and it was ready for pickup the next day bright and early.

[Guest swank]

This is it right here! The X-15F

[Guest michael^heaven]

This is it right here! The X-15F

No way!! I had one of those^. ;D

Remember this?>>>

[Guest swank]

I'll raise you...^ Vintage Polaroid Spectra

[Guest Slide On The Ice]

This is it right here! The X-15F

That's the newest model coming out next year, right? I read it's the wave of the future, the most advanced camera ;D design yet!

[Guest michael^heaven]

I'll raise you...^ Vintage Polaroid Spectra

;D

[Guest pod]

I'll put that little chunk of glass on the front up against any lens by Canon made today.

[Guest saintjohn]

With internet printing pretty much all the rage, most people, even pros, prefer to do all their work at home, and shoot the images to whichever place suits them the best,

Adorama is running a special right now - unlimited 11x14 prints for $1.99 each. Even though I have little use for a physical portfolio, I'm thinking about reprinting my entire book in that format. Of course, a nice Pina Zangaro binder would be more expensive than all of the prints combined, but at least the total cost wouldn't seem so extravagant.

[ryan2772]

i kinda have a photographic memory

[Bling]

fuck all ya.. this is where its at

OLD SKOOL ;D ;D ;D

[Guest Slide On The Ice]

So Pod, you said that you've wanted to pick my brain. What did you want to ask me? Or has it been answered already?