Why are so many labs incompetent?

[werps]

I've had my own bad luck with so called pro labs. Bought myself a Jobo processor on Ebay and never looked back. Doing it yourself is fun,easy,and if you screw it up, you learn something about photography or at least no one to blame but yourself.

[Gary Frost]

The Imagery Group 28032-J Industrial Blvd. Hayward, CA 94545

(510)887-2040

The same friendly, cheerful, competent 3 folks have been processing my E6 for around 5 years. Never a problem. Everything up to 8X10. Kodak Q-lab. Standard 4 hour turnaround on E6. (not if you have to mail it though)

[John Kasaian]

Matthew, People(I hope) interview their doctors, lawyers, dentists, mechanics, and accountants before they engage their services, why not labs? With LF film,especially color, you've got a lot of money invested in time and materials, not to mention deadlines if you're fortunate enough to get paid for your work. If you plan on being a regular customer I suggest getting to know who your dealing with on a first name basis and learning what sort of commitment they have for their LF customers. This might be difficult if you have to send your film to another town, but would be well worth the effort(LF seems to take a great deal of effort anyway!) Since LF, I believe, isn't really a massed produced assembly line process like 35mm, especially since digital, ask for a tour of their facility and see what the conditions are and see the work they've recently processed as well as talking to the people who do the processing. It couldn't hurt!

[andrey belo]

Having worked in the pro lab business I may enlighten the panel on the "behind the scenes" goings on while your film is processed. We all know that photography is quite an exact science and small mistakes can have terrible repurcussions.Everyone has had problems even with the best labs.There are careless employees to be sure.Nevertheless problems can come from many directions, eg power failures whilst your film is in the first dev,dropped rolls that roll open,carelessness with the sheet numbers in their boxes etc. Scratches are unfortunately easy to make on most emulsions and even photographers cause them. Whilst I aggree that bad service and poor or no excuses usually means a shoddy operation with underpaid, underqualified staff I think most of the old pro photographers I've known over the years understand that little errors occur, just as they make them occasionally themselves no matter how experienced. A good pro lab will do everything possible to minimise such errors and will not give an excuse when something does happen but will come clean. This is wholly dependent on experienced staff who know what their clients need and when. Poor service with no smiles or apologies even for a fingerprint to me would point to an unprofessionally run operation which it would be wise to stay away from. But don't be too hasty to lump all labs in the same basket. Many of them are looking at their client as the most important thing in the world, whether pro or amateur, and operate to very exacting standards. Staff are paid properly and trained. Many of their staff are photographers themselves, and many of those could teach the pros a thing or too. They also need to be very up to date with their knowledge. If you have problems continuously with a lab that couldn't give you the time of day or compensate you for your film/time/job then leave them. If you occasionbally have small issues with them then tell the owner/manager and see what response you get. If film is vitally important then may I suggest exposing back-up rolls/sheets...you never know it may be YOU who will screw it up! In a good lab you will find the best e6/ c41 processing, excellent advice on film materials and their processing, unrivalled knowledge of digital techniques, very experienced printers, and usually a smile. Look around the lab yourself, check it for cleanliness and order; watch the staff at work, see if they work systematically. The best film processors are made by a Danish company called Refrema and are a sign that the lab has invested (considerable) money and values reliability. I have operated one of these which could hold 400 units of film (e6 dip and dunk), was switched off one day a year (x-mas...it is a 24 hour lab) and consistently developped perfect film. That is alot of chemistry to manage, and is monitored by incredibly experienced technicians every 2 hours for colour balance, speed and d-max/ d-min. Labs rely on you to exist and turn a profit...if they are crap then drop them, but don't lump all labs in the same boat. Often you could learn a thing or too from a good technician that you won't learn anywhere else, because they have the experience and knowledge earned through constant repetition and refnemant of technique. Good luck.

[kthompson]

The above is good advice.....having been on both sides of the counter, i.e. the customer and the worker, I'll say that you're not helping yourself with the attitutde that you, the customer is somehow above ever making an error or a mistake in your life...or that all lab workers are low paid slobs who cannot "cut it" in the photography so they must slave away in the lab....now there is some truth that in some pro labs, the occasional LF shooter with one or two sheets, *may* get pushed aside to deal with high-volume commercial clients...I have seen this done, and while I don't exactly approve of unbalanced treatment of cutomers, I understand it from the lab's point of view...

But accidents happen....to every lab, to every person who's ever worked in a darkroom whether at home or in some high-volume, high dollar setting....the good labs in my book, are the ones willing to admit a problem up front and work with you in correcting it, or just admittimg it...but that doesn't include you--the customer--being unrealistic about the business. The best lab we've ever used dropped a rack in an E6 run once, and the film from a very important location interior--that took half a day just to light--was ruined...luckily we shoot 2 of everything important and only run half....so we were okay in the end....they called us...the job was late, but that's better than ruined. Now, we still use this lab every week practically...s*** happens...I've done it on the job--burned film, had it fall off leader cards into the abyss of 25 gallon tanks, had the power go out, the backup batteries poop out, you name it...the fire alarm goes off during a deeptank run--do I stay & die, or get fined by the fire dept.?? This kind of crap happens....but oh no, not ever to any of you.....oh, on that note: these are MY opinions only.

[Roger_235]

Years ago I worked at a pro lab. Now I'm just an occassional customer. As a customer, I've have varying luck with pro labs. I think it depends on who's working there and what the working conditions are like, what their quality control is like, etc. I have had Photobition make 16x20 enlargments from slides that came out backwards (slide upside down). Other times the prints made were stellar. So, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not for a variety of reasons. Don't forget that there are situations when the customer can unknowingly contribute to the problems by not communicating clearly what they want, etc.

I've also encountered clerks behind the counter that were somewhat less than professional. Once I was told "What am I supposed to do with this?" when I gave him some Kodak T-pan to develop, with attitude like "What, are you some kind of idiot, don't you know that we don't process this film?" This happened to me at Photobition in Chicago. Then he told me it would cost over $50 if I really wanted them to do it....per roll. I ended up doing it myself, but still the rudeness with which I was handled as a customer left me with a negative impression that didn't have to happen.