----- Original Message ----- From: "Shel Belinkoff"
Subject: Disappointment at the Lab / Questions to Ask of New Lab
I've been using a couple of local labs here for a while for color
processing, and overall their work has been quite good. Lately, however,
the film has been coming back badly spotted, scratched, and with what
appear to be water stains. My camping experience is no longer a happy one.
These labs have been using the dip-n-dunk process, for what that's worth.
I've mentioned the problem and have gotten free processing as a result, but
I'd much rather pay the money and get better results. I'm going to start
looking for a new lab or two. So, to all you lab gurus out there, my plan
is to check out the possibilities and ask a lot of question.
Unfortunately, I don't know much about what questions to ask, and I
wouldn't know what answers to look for. What should I ask about their
processing and equipment? What kind of responses are good? If they tell
me that they use such and such a machine, or that it's calibrated in some
particular way, what the hell do I know?
Sheesh, how do you scratch a film with D&D processing??????
As a lab operator, I am not likely going to allow anyone coming in off the street to see my QC charts, just on general principles.
If you do get to look at their graphs, look for consistency. You don't want to see any spikes, and drifting curves is something I would rather not see.
Where the plots sit relative to the control line isn't terribly important, as long as it is close to it, what you don't want is a lot of spread between the colours.
Note that a good plot is not a guaranteed indicitave of an in control process, it can just as easily be indicitave of an operator that is applying fudge factors to an out of control process to make things look good for his overseers.
Ask them how often they run control strips.
Twice daily is really good, daily is necessary.
Ask how often they dump and fill their stabilizer tanks.
If your lab is getting spots off a D&D, they aren't dumping their rinse tanks often enough.
It should be done every week if the lab is busy, every couple of weeks if the lab is middlin to low volume.
I don't like Fuji minilab film processors, they are prone to scratching film if certain maintenance procedures aren't carried out on schedule, and if their shutdowns aren't done correctly. I also found that their method of bleaching/fixing film was hard to control, although both these issues may have been addressed in machines made since I have used their equipment.
Noritsu film processors are quite gentle on the product, but if you manage to get a Noritsu machine to start scratching, God help you, because the technicians they send out can't.
William Robb
