> > So the other day, in my quest for large prints at a reasonable price, I > walked into the "Ultra" Ritz down the street from where I work. They > advertised poster sized printing on-site. I told them I had a digital file > on a CF card that I'd like printed 20x30 (inches) "no problem", they said. > "we'll just need to print a 4x6 so we can scan it and then print it on our > wiz-bang printer." > > WHAT! stupid people....
Is anybody surprised by this? Those places are set up to deal with the mass photography market - folks who will walk in with just about anything. Reducing it to a single 6x4 is easy - either the customer provides it, or they stuff whatever else is provided into their automatic minilab and a 6x4 print comes out. Then there's no need to set up the high-end printer and it's associated scanner; everything is pre-set so that a monkey (or even a fairly smart shop assistant) can operate it by pressing buttons in response to the messages displayed on-screen. If you want somebody who actually understands what is going on, and can work directly from a high-resolution digital input file, then you would probably have to go somewhere that charges more than a high street one hour photo shop, and which employs assistants who can think. (Or you could get lucky; there *are* some smart people who are working at some of the mass-market places, who would be able to do custom work)
