West Coast Imaging institutes a minimum order fee

[Drew Wiley]

I suspect Ed was just venting, and I'm quite certain that he has zero knowledge of the
demographics of the neighborhood anyway. I had a ranch right across the river, so
know the town rather well. It's basically a gateway town to Yosemite with all kinds
of folks. But if he wants to seek an ideologically pure lab somewhere in North Korea it's his right. Most photographers need to be more practical.

[Preston]

I have had their 'exhibition' prints made for me in the past. They did the scans and PS work for me. I spent hours on the phone (working from a proof in hand) with their printmaker to get the prints the way I wanted, and the prints were gorgeous. I just placed a new order to WCI for some 16x20's from my files, and eagerly await them.

WCI may be a bit more expensive than other shops, but the level of care they take, and customer service is beyond any reproach.

If you are not on their mailing list, it's a good idea to do so. They often have sales, and the newsletter will give you a heads-up. I took advantage of the last one and saved 20% on my order.

--P

[vinny]

Even though I unsubscribed from their mailing list, I still get those emails. Nice when they send you a deal you can't use. I've since used aspencreek and the results were fine.

[Lenny Eiger]

The WCI people are good folks. They do a pretty good job. They gracious enough to spend time on the phone and help me thru a couple of questions when I first started scanning. I don't begrudge them their minimum. I celebrate it. A little story to illustrate....

Years ago, I did a bunch of fine art reproduction. I would shoot the art with a 4x5 and scan it, then correct all the colors, do the masking and start printing. After about three days I would have a print, usually on some very expensive paper like Hahnemuhle (or the finest canvas I could find), where very single color matched every single color in the original.

One artist called me one day and told me it had finally happened. I asked her what she was talking about and she said she saw the print on the table and for a moment there wasn't sure if it was the print or the original.

HOWEVER. All the locals here doing the giclees (sperm prints I like to call them) charged a $250 setup fee. As I said, I got to my first great print in about 3 days. I can't work for 3 days for $250. I'll just go broke. Then, the artists, who are usually poor, like many of us photographers, would order 2 prints. They want to see if things would sell. One person, who wanted me to lower my setup fee, and actually ordered 4, gave two of them away, kept one for herself and actually sold one - for very little. She asked me if I would make another print for her at Costco rates and I just said no.

So I set a minimum fee. Either you pay it as a setup fee, or order enough prints. The local shop still charges their $250, gets all the work. You have to ok for printing by looking at a 4x6 inch print (mostly impossible, or just luck if its right). Despite having some good equipment, in a visit I noticed that a canvas print was so far off from the original that it was ridiculous. I pointed it out to this printer, who I considered a colleague, and asked him what was up. He couldn't tell the difference. They never expected their prints to be more than 80% correct.

As a result, I priced myself out of the market. I am happy, however. Now I work for photographers. Its much better working for people that have some understanding of what you are doing for them. Certainly some more than others, but when you get a real result that matches what someone is looking for, they are generally very happy.

The moral of the story is that their are people that will print for you and some of them know what they are doing and some don't, or maybe don't know what you want, or don't have time to ask. There are plenty of places that just put the file in the machine and hit print. On occasion the color mgmt works - sort of. It's not a very smart system. As they say in Montessori pre-school, you get what you get and you don't have a fit.

Then there are people who will work on your file and try and make sure it matches your aesthetic. That can take a lot of time. Any idea what a roll of Hahnemuhle costs these days? Or Kozo? I just ordered another $1000 worth of ink from Cone, stock is low. Know what a scanner tune-up costs, due every few years? Doing this at a high level is costly.

If WCI feels they need to be compensated more for working on people's images, well, I'm in agreement. Good for them for trying to stay in business.

Lenny

[Rick Floyd]

Check the exemptions to the minimum order. I've used WCI for years and I am astounded at their quality. I see no reason to leave my success with them behind for an unknown lab.

[Joe Forks]

I remember when WCI actually tried to keep their customers happy.
The last two orders from them were WRONG. One on a tight deadline shipped the wrong quantities
of the prints, (reversed), and the last shipped the wrong sizes on embedded files. Oh, the first order was
exhibition prints, where the skilled technician sent me the flatest files I've ever seen.

OK fine, but then I get a call from Rich and he's giving me attitude?? Hey I'm not the one that screwed up
the orders. So I send him some questions about mounting and matting some oversized prints and I get some
more attitude from RICH because I typed a matt board number he couldn't find. lol And he never did provide
a quote or even say if he could do it. LOL

F that, see ya Rich and WCI, ain't nobody got time for that. I suggest you fine folks find a place that really wants and deserves
your business, WCI is obviously too big for their britches.

Joe Forks
210-860-0594

[Leigh]

Try Dodge Chrome in Silver Spring, Maryland at www.dodgechrome.com Top quality work.

In addition to all the modern techniques, they still have a darkroom doing film developing and real printing.

- Leigh

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Zombie thread, 18 mos old revived yesterday... whatever Rick deleted must have been interesting ;^)

[tar4heel2]

I can tell you my experience with these people has been similar. I too thought they were great when I first started dealing with them. They were local to me and I went over and met them and they were very gracious. (This was about 8 years ago). Then, I started ordering prints and the turnaround times got longer and longer. I had one order that was two weeks elapsed with no word at all. I called to ask what was taking so long, and the owner's wife (so I am told) gave me SERIOUS attitude. Then, when the order came in, it was terrible. I had asked for color and contrast adjustments for an extra charge and when the prints came in contrast had not been touched and the colors were very flat. I called to complain, and again, the attitude was very very poor. So, though they are a 1/2 hour drive for me, I use MyPhotoPipe.com or PPR.com both in Atlanta. Attitude, poor quality and now I'm hearing from this thread they charge customers whatever they want any time they want with no notice. One thing is true, though, they give special treatment to certain people, mainly the "resident" photographers in Yosemite. Everybody else can go pound sand.

[bob carnie]

two posts on this Forum and you are dissing a long established printmaking company... troll maybe.