do any of you get the feeling you have a 'dud' roll
and don't want to pay top dollar to have it processed? Or should I, despite
the cost, always go to my trusted photofinisher?
Regards,
Brad Dobo
Print film goes to Walmart, slides go to photo-express (a chain, I think). Walmart does ok on the prints most of the time and the cost is minimal and you don't have to pay for the ones you don't want (which I don't abuse). But for slides, Walmart's paper mount start shedding little fibers on to the transparency almost immediately. Photo-express uses plastic mounts for a dollar or two more than Walmart. photo-express's print service is roughly 2x Walmart's and, although the print quality is better, it isn't 2x better. I haven't tried enlargements from Walmart, but I had photo-express print a slide at 8x10 and then put the same slide on a self-serve Kodak Imagemaker at the grocery store to compare the prints. I got a better looking print from the Imagemaker for 2/3s the price.
Usually, my ancient flatbed (300ppi) gives me a scan from Walmart's prints that I can print at 200dpi on my Epson 1270 and get images that "appear" sharper and have better color than the original print (tanstasfl however, they only look better, every time you tweak an image you lose real detail).
Before my film scanner died, I got color prints from my printer that were head and sholders better than any print I have ever received from a photolab.
