Need lab to print senior portrait wallet pics from medium format negs
RedCrown
I have taken color negative shots of a friend's daughter for "senior"
portraits -- on 6x4.5 medium format.
We've picked some poses for "wallet" pics (2.25 by 3.25), but each one
requires cropping, because that's the way I shoot. I've spent two
frustrating days visiting every custom color lab in Des Moines, Iowa
(a total of 4) only to be told by each one that they can do "wallets"
from medium format negatives by machine printing only, and thus they
can NOT do any custom cropping. What cropping gets done appears to be
random or at least unexplainable by lab clerks, depending on the
machine in use. Prices for this user-unfriendly service were quoted
in a range between 18 cents and 55 cents per wallet print. To get
cropping, each of these labs would charge a "custom print" fee for
each wallet pic, ranging from $8 to $12 each.
The agent in the last lab I visited explained that no one in Des
Moines specializes in the senior portrait business and that all the
local portrait studios send their work out-of-town. She gave me the
name of three such places. One of them does not exist in the city she
listed. The other two are apparently able to crop and print wallet
pics from medium format negatives, but both were closed for new
accounts until after January. Both were friendly on the phone, but
clearly not interested in low volume business from some amateur.
Can anybody recommend a color lab that can crop and print wallet pics
from medium format negatives AND is willing to do business with low
volume amateurs, AND has reasonable service and price?
Any other comments on the mysteries of the color lab business would
also be welcome. If I understand the current state of the art I could
buy a medium format film scanner for $2,200 and a high quality printer
for $3,000. Then I could scan, crop, retouch, replicate 6 images per
page, and print wallet pics for about 20 to 25 cents cost per image.
Add a 50% margin and sell for 37 cents per image. Why is it that few
labs are doing this?
zeitgeist
Most pro labs will give some cropping options on machine prints from
medium format negs, they will give you cropping cards, aperture cards,
that you tape your neg to the back of, (note actual print area is
smaller than the openning as they need some 'slop' space to aim the
image on the paper without extreme caution) and with 645 you can use A,
B C, D and sometimes the E card for 5x7's and wallets. A is a 35mm
frame size, and E is the fullest area of the 645 neg and will show black
sides if you order an 8x10. fairly rough crop jumps.
If you need a lot of cropping, but not too specific, order some 4x5's
and use your cutting board.
Most labs will charge the same for custom prints no matter what the size
from 8x10 down, though most that I have dealt with had custom package
prints where you got three or six wallets for an 8x10 rate. still
rather high for givaways.
AS for lab exclusivity, that has come about recently since labs have
learned the hard way. most of the high volume clients are rather steady
in their business, but at the holidays the labs are flooded with people
they have never seen before. Since the business has become more and
more lean, there just isn't time or reason to attempt to train a bunch
of temps to handle the flood, get pissed off cause this or that isn't
just right, bad mouth the place, and worse, their high volume users get
annoyed cause their stuff is late or messed up by a temp.
what I would do is go to a camera store with one of those scan and print
stations and scan and print your own. or have the lab scan the neg or
print and you can fiddle with it and have them print it out, some places
are charging the same to a buck or so more than machine prints for
digital output. but then you get into color management, matching your
monitor to theirs etc. or go to Kinkos and have them print out all the
wallets you need, heck most of my clients do.
few labs are doing what you suggest as you have overhead like rent or
mortage, labor, advertising, etc. if you think about it, paper costs
are about that for chemical/optical prints but they charge much more for
the images. you can have at many labs your negs scanned and digital
proofs posted to a website for you, or sent via internet or CD, have the
order returned internet and prints made from the negs, or retouched from
the scans for the same prices as paper proofs and enlargements.
But I'm in the same boat, my lab closed suddenly, and the others in the
area didn't want my business till january when they will consider
accepting new business.
this reply echoed to the z-prophoto mailing list at egroups.com
David Grabowski
wrote:
Actually you can do justice to the prints with a flatbed in scanning
and printing the smaller sizes, just scan the proofs. For wallets and
on up to 8x10 or even 11x14 ( start to lose a little at this size) you
can do a very nice job at this . Now you knock out the cost of the
$2,200 because any decent flatbed will do, maybe save close to $2000.
For the printer , go with the Epson 2000P for under $800. Be advised
though, that this comes with a learning curve.
There are smaller wedding/portrait/commercial labs that work mail
order with crop cards, this is the actual service you want. It is true
the bigger labs take on new clientel once a year or so but one place
called Darkroom Unlimited in the western part of New York should do
your work for you, they cater to pros and serious ametures alike. I've
never used them, I like a couple of other labs but I have their packet
and its typical of a pro lab that works the wedding/portrait crowd.If
you are interested in this , I'll dig through my file cabinet and see
if I have the number . Let me know.
David Grabowski
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BandHPhoto
Try Burrell Colour in Crown Point, IN.
===============================
regards,
Henry Posner/B&H Photo-Video
http://www.bhphotovideo.com
hen...@bhphotovideo.com
Tom Thackrey
On 1-Dec-2000, RedCrown <red_...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Can anybody recommend a color lab that can crop and print wallet pics
> from medium format negatives AND is willing to do business with low
> volume amateurs, AND has reasonable service and price?
You are asking a lot. Most labs are swamped this time of year. I use Bay
Photo in Soquel, CA. They might be willing to help you as they are very
friendly.(800)435-6686. The will do custom wallets, cropped, dodged and
burned 8 for $11. If you can use an aperture card (mask) it will be about
1/2 the price.
--
Tom Thackrey
tom at creative-light.com
www.creative-light.com
PRO SHOW_SS
American Color Imaging
1-800-728-2722
cheap fast and great work.....they will help you out at low volume