Re: How minilabs work (was: Re[2]: Gulls photos)
Hello Butch, Thank you very much for that info. It helped me a *lot* to understand why minilabs scratch film. Attila
How minilabs work (was: Re[2]: Gulls photos)
Hi Attila: Negative scratching from minilabs occur primarily in two places. The most common is in the film processor. Minilabs use what is called a leader card processor. The tongue of the film is cut off then the film is taped onto a plastic card especially designed for their model film processor. The film then follows an up and down path guided by racks through the various chemicals, then through a hot air dryer, then comes out the other end. Scratches occur if the film comes across something sharp, or if there is crystallized chemistry somewhere, or if the crossovers are dirty or don't move smoothly. The other common source is the negative carrier. If there is a piece of dirt on the drive roller or a little sharp edge or nick on the mask or film path, that can cause a scratch. It's very difficult to keep everything that clean and functioning, and most places have help that couldn't be bothered and management that pays lip service to quality control but provides neither the time nor the funds to maintain the equipment properly. The good news is that some of the digital minilabs now use ASF's digital ICE (Noritsu's in particular) to help minimize the problem. You might see if any of the labs are using a Noritsu minilab. Though, personally I don't always like their color renditions. My understanding is that rotary tube processing is the best way to process for absolute quality and a lack of scratches, but few places (and no minilabs) offer that service. Butch
Re: Re[2]: Gulls photos
Hi! rant snipped Attila, I have exactly the same problem. Normally, I think the film passes several machines or modules of single machine on its way. So by now I ask the lab just to process the film and nothing more. This way, I get minimal interference from the lab. The rest - scanning, processing and eventually preparing for print I do at home. Now, when I give CD to the lab guy to have it printed, at least they cannot damage the film. This is actually one of the biggest advantages of digital photography for amateurs - lab does not get in a way. It is still a little too expensive but that will change. Let the light be with you... Boris
Re[2]: Gulls photos
Hello Boris, Saturday, March 13, 2004, 3:42:19 PM, you wrote: BL> Attila, wonderful birds. BL> Second one is excellent. "You got seeds" is very, well, human-like. BL> "Cruising" seems like a winner. BL> Have you enlarged any of them? BL> Boris Thanks Boris, didn't enlarged any yet, but hope I will get them soon... But first I *must* find a decent lab to work with. Usually I get my photos printed at 10cm x 15cm, that is fairly cheap, but on some of them I can notice some small scratches... Tried different labs, the scratches remained, only their location changed. I think that they are caused by the "minilab"... I really don't know how those minilabs work, but I will do a google search for that. Unfortunately I know very little about the developing process. I entered several labs in my city, they all have on of those minilabs. Agfa or Fuji. In the place I scanned my negs, they have "Agfa d-lab.2 digital minilab" (written with big letters on one side of it). So I think that's why they call themselves "Professional Digital Photolab" (I wouldn't call scanning from negs into 400dpi jpegs "professional"). Attila
Re: Gulls photos
Hi! Chris, according to your theory , I am starting on the second level then. Attila, wonderful birds. Second one is excellent. "You got seeds" is very, well, human-like. "Cruising" seems like a winner. Have you enlarged any of them? Boris
Re: Gulls photos
I agree. Luck is always a part of it, but patience is the largest part. One of the biggest revelations I ever had a photographer was when I realized that the light was at least as, and often more, important than the subject itself. A snapshooter will take a photo of something that interests them, regardless of what the light is like. Someone more advanced will wait until the light is interesting before finding a subject. A still more advanced photographer will prioritize the subject like the snapshooter, but will have the patience to wait until the light is perfect before photographing it in earnest. I'm still more of the second one, but I'm trying to move to the third level. chris On Fri, 12 Mar 2004, graywolf wrote: > Patience and luck is what is needed to get great photos. It is far more > important than what camera, lens, film, tripod, etc. you use. However, it is > what most of us, and I certainly include myself, lack. When you think of it some > of the great photographers spend days getting that one particular shot. > > -- > > Boros Attila wrote: > > > > It also needs lots of patience and good luck to get a good angle for > > shooting. I was staying on that brigde for 3 hours, and I shot 2 rolls > > of film. > > > -- > graywolf > http://graywolfphoto.com > > "You might as well accept people as they are, > you are not going to be able to change them anyway." > >
Re: Gulls photos
Patience and luck is what is needed to get great photos. It is far more important than what camera, lens, film, tripod, etc. you use. However, it is what most of us, and I certainly include myself, lack. When you think of it some of the great photographers spend days getting that one particular shot. -- Boros Attila wrote: It also needs lots of patience and good luck to get a good angle for shooting. I was staying on that brigde for 3 hours, and I shot 2 rolls of film. -- graywolf http://graywolfphoto.com "You might as well accept people as they are, you are not going to be able to change them anyway."
RE: Gulls photos
Attila, Some interesting photos in that folder, and as you know, I liked the first "The Gull" a lot. However, Gull V2 is an incredible improvement. It should be on a poster, you know, one of those "inspirational" posters, with some sappy saying on it. Okay, I'm joking about the sappy poster part, but really, that's a wonderful image. A real keeper. cheers, frank "The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it is true." -J. Robert Oppenheimer From: Boros Attila <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: PDML <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Gulls photos Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2004 18:27:02 +0200 Hello PDMLers, Finally I finished the work on my photos with the gulls. I don't have time to set up a webpage now, but you can view them at http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=382884 Comments/suggestions are wellcome as usual. Attila _ Add photos to your messages with MSN Premium. Get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-ca&page=byoa/prem&xAPID=1994&DI=1034&SU=http://hotmail.com/enca&HL=Market_MSNIS_Taglines
Re: Gulls photos
Nice shots and layout Attila. My inital favorites are : The Gull v2 Cruising Gull Landing. I'v been trying to do this with geese and ducks.Its hard.:-) Good work Dave > Hello PDMLers, > > Finally I finished the work on my photos with the gulls. I don't have > time to set up a webpage now, but you can view them at > http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=382884 > Comments/suggestions are wellcome as usual. > > Attila > >
Gulls photos
Hello PDMLers, Finally I finished the work on my photos with the gulls. I don't have time to set up a webpage now, but you can view them at http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=382884 Comments/suggestions are wellcome as usual. Attila
