printing from film: is it true?

[pai]

just wondering... nowadays when you go to minilabs to print from film, do they just develop your negs, then scan them and print as if it were a digital picture?

and does this mean they also do auto-adjust for the pix?

i'm thinking if liddat maybe it's better to just get them to develop and scan, i do my own white balance and exposure adjustments then get them to print. my exposure control is still not perfect, but i find the adjustment the machine does often quite different from what i would have done myself.

sigh. good film scanner so ex. :cry:

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

just wondering... nowadays when you go to minilabs to print from film, do they just develop your negs, then scan them and print as if it were a digital picture?

and does this mean they also do auto-adjust for the pix?

i'm thinking if liddat maybe it's better to just get them to develop and scan, i do my own white balance and exposure adjustments then get them to print. my exposure control is still not perfect, but i find the adjustment the machine does often quite different from what i would have done myself.

sigh. good film scanner so ex. :cry:

iirc, negative, labs do adjustment for ya, tats y u go every developer is different.

nowadays digital, u can opt to not do adjustment by them.

slides wise, iirc most scan then print. since slides is wysiwyg.

just imho.

 

[jsbn]

Nt sure abt film, but for digital prints, I usually calibrate my screen first, adjust all the WBs and den send for print specifically stating no alterations.

 

[pai]

thx guys. yeah for digital i do what jsbn does also, so i know how the result will turn out.

but film is a whole new world for me, and the result very unpredictable leh...

 

[nsalman]

film got many factors that affect the results.... even temperature. best to go to one place you trust so as to minimise the differences..

 

[LENS]

but when we send film to those minilab for developing and print-out photo..do they still use traditional way? i mean to expose and use chemical to develop photo..put photo in wet chemical to make the image appear?

or they just use scanner to scan your film negative and print as from digital format?

which method they use for film nowadays?

 

[Snowcrash]

but when we send film to those minilab for developing and print-out photo..do they still use traditional way? i mean to expose and use chemical to develop photo..put photo in wet chemical to make the image appear?

or they just use scanner to scan your film negative and print as from digital format?

which method they use for film nowadays?

From what I know:-

fuji lab - scan and print as digital format. most use auto adjust in the machine. Some allow you to specify no auto adjust (if you are testing exposure differences on print film).

Better labs might even do individual adjusting, better than auto adjust and they change their chemical frequently compare to low cost neighbourhood labs...

No enough experience with Kodak labs to share.

 

[catchlights]

when the lab scan your neg, will do a color and density correction on the image to make print or burn into CD, will the result satisfactory? that's very much depend on the person doing it.

 

[Tetrode]

but when we send film to those minilab for developing and print-out photo..do they still use traditional way? i mean to expose and use chemical to develop photo..put photo in wet chemical to make the image appear?

or they just use scanner to scan your film negative and print as from digital format?

which method they use for film nowadays?

There are two steps to the process when you hand in a roll of film to a minilab.

1. The roll of neg film is loaded into a film processor which develops the film. The chemicals used are generally wet and have to be kept at a constant temperature.

2. In the case of a digital lab - the processed roll is scanned into the printing machine before it is printed onto paper. Adjustments can be made prior to printing like you would using Photoshop. The output can be in the form of a digital file (onto CD, flash mem) or a print on paper. The paper prints are exposed using lasers or LEDs. I believe Fuji-Frontier labs use a semi-dry chemical process for prints (someone pls correct me if I am wrong abt this).

In the case of an analog lab - the negatives in a processed roll are enlarged onto the paper like it is done with a conventional photo enlarger (condensor or diffusor) - only difference is that it does it a much quicker rate using a strobe and automation. The negatives are not scanned in like in a digital lab. The exposed paper is then run through a wet chemical process in the machine. Some recent machines also use a semi-dry chemical process.

There should be more info on the web about this.

 

[pai]

but when we send film to those minilab for developing and print-out photo..do they still use traditional way? i mean to expose and use chemical to develop photo..put photo in wet chemical to make the image appear?

or they just use scanner to scan your film negative and print as from digital format?

which method they use for film nowadays?

yeah, this was what i wanted to know, asked in a more clear way

thanks to the guys who've answered so far... i've been using labs with frontier machines. guess that means everything is scanned then printed. which i guess means... can somewhat do colour correction for fluorescent lights etc.... heehee...

 

[xray]

Yes, fluorescent casts can be removed, but up to a point. Your pics won't be perfectly white-balanced of course. Everything is scanned, then printed digitally. The analogue system is more rare nowadays.