From: cmr@world.std.com (Charles M Richmond)
Newsgroups: ne.general,rec.photo
Subject: Re: Anyone know a cheap, GOOD, place to get photos developed?
Date: 23 Jul 92 01:49:04 GMT
Distribution: ne
Organization: Integrated International Systems Corp. One Longfellow Place, Suite 3309, Boston, Ma.

saldort@jade.tufts.edu (Scott M. Aldort) writes:

>In article <1992Jul20.181836.5859@PA.dec.com> rbhank@wsl.dec.com (Ron
>Bhanukitsiri) writes:

>>   I've been sending my film to Mystic Color Labs recently and have been
>>   very happy with them.  They're also rated very highly by Consumer's
>>   Report.

>I have thoroughly had it with Mystic Color Labs. I used to send my film
>there because they *were* quite good, but when the company grew, the
>quality (at least for me) went straight down the drain. Among the
>problems I've had were:

>	- funny discolorations on the prints that were not on the
>	  negatives
>	- they actually cut my negative strips in the middle of the
>	  frames. they then tried to splice the frame together, leaving
>	  a line in the middle of several of my most beautiful 
>	  pictures from Nice, France
>	- they screwed up an order for two enlargements, doing one and
>	  forgetting the other

>I've been meaning to write them a nasty letter, especially about the
>negative cutting bit, but I never got around to it. Do you know what
>they did? They send me this little "dear customer" slip of paper, told
>me they understand how valuable my pictures were, that they are terribly
>sorry, and gave me a credit of about $1.00. That was the end of it. I
>haven't used them since December, and I'm still looking for a regular
>place for developing. (I tried SBI in Harvard Square but they were
>awfully expensive for the quality of the pictures I got back.)	

>Scott


Let me repeat... The RITZ CAMERA folks in the Galeria in Cambridge do
excellant work. The 4x6 print size is standard, you do not pay for
prints that do not come out, and (best of all) you can get semi-custom
work from them by discussing the color and photo circumstances in advance!

To give an example... I shot some fireworks pictures the Sunday of the
Tall Ships visit. If I had sent these out to Qualux (sp?) or Mystic or
anybody, they would have been processed on a machine that was set for
flesh tone colour renditioning and for a much higher level of illumination.
The result would have been completely washed out WHITE fireworks on a
lavender/purple sky. Probably almost all of you have seen this kind of thing!
At RITZ I was able to discuss my needs with the technician and arrange for
the color and exposure of the prints to be balanced for a BLACK sky. The
results were such that 14 out of 18 shots are suitable for publishing.
I would have got the same results from a true custom lab at a much higher
price and I would not have received the second set free (-: . Mind you
the negatives done by a mail order lab would have been just as good, but
the prints would have been so bad that I probably would have chucked the
lot.

Charlie

P.S. I used to go to the 1 hour place next to Blazing Salads on Washington st.
but their prices went up.... the size of the pictures went to 3.5 x 5 , etc.


-- 
*****************************************************************************
*  Charles Richmond 	Integrated International Systems Corporation        *
*  cmr@world.std.com	(Temporary) crichmond@mr4dec.enet.dec.com           *
*  Specializing in UNIX, X, Image Processing, and Communications.           *