Problem with Fotohub Prints

[nottipiglet]

Recently, I had a Fotojournal printed at the Fotohub OUB Branch. When I received the journal, it looked all right, except that some of the pictures looked a bit too pink. When asked, the staff told me that they made adjustments to the prints visually before printing because their printer prints too dark. Since the screen is calibrated to their monitor, they would be able to make the prints look nice.

As I did not like the excessive pink, I told them to transfer the files to the Suntec Branch for printing, and not to make any adjustments. However, when I viewed the prints at the Suntec Branch, they were indeed under exposed. Well, I think it was better than having a pink cast, so I took the journal, but I am not too happy with the results.

Does anyone have such problems before? Perhaps it would be best to leave it to them to do the adjustments? But what if the colour balance becomes off like in my case? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[gohaj]

similar experience. i always have to indicate to them clearly that i do NOT like the skin tone to be too orange. for landscape shots, they are ok.

 

[nottipiglet]

similar experience. i always have to indicate to them clearly that i do NOT like the skin tone to be too orange. for landscape shots, they are ok.

I was wondering why they won't calibrate their monitor first... and then calibrate the printer profile to match the monitor. Apparently, I was told that they do the reverse. They calibrate their monitors to produce the results of the printer. Then, the technician working that thay will manually adjust the digital files they receive such that what appears on their screen is acceptable to that technician. Isn't that a bit too subjective?

 

[lsisaxon]

I was wondering why they won't calibrate their monitor first... and then calibrate the printer profile to match the monitor. Apparently, I was told that they do the reverse. They calibrate their monitors to produce the results of the printer. Then, the technician working that thay will manually adjust the digital files they receive such that what appears on their screen is acceptable to that technician. Isn't that a bit too subjective?

Do they do inkjet prints or chemical prints?

If you're looking for chemical prints, go to ColourLab at Adelphi. I know they calibrate their printer because most of the time I tell them no correction and the result is very close to my calibrated monitor. Many people in this line do not know the correct digital workflow. Go to a lab with a correct workflow if you care about the prints.

 

[Leong23]

For me, my monitor is calibrated, so i will tell them not to do any adjustment at all.
So far so good.

Btw TS, in the first place, is your monitor calibrated?

 

[catchlights]

AFAIK, the photojournal is photographic print, not inkjet.
customers using their template software to design the book, the album pages will upload in PDF format, they can adjust the color and density to a certain limit but should be in overall, not each and individual image, so if all your images have inconsistency on exposure and white balance thru out the whole album, I'm doubt how can they do the adjustment for you.

beside, the whole journal is only cost $50~60, can't demand so much.

 

[nottipiglet]

My monitor is calibrated with Spyder3 Pro... and I am pretty sure that the tone and colour balance of my image files are ok. Take a look at these:

http://www.clubsnap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=541107

The exposure of these images look ok on most monitors I use. The only difference is in the colour balance. But I did not adjust the colour balance of most of the pictures I take under daylight... so how is it that they suddenly have a pinkish cast when printed?

I also doubted that the technician can do much adjustments at the shop... But I was actually surprised at the amount of adjustments they need to do for the prints to look acceptable. Without adjustments, the prints will look under-exposed.

 

[nottipiglet]

AFAIK, the photojournal is photographic print, not inkjet.
customers using their template software to design the book, the album pages will upload in PDF format, they can adjust the color and density to a certain limit but should be in overall, not each and individual image, so if all your images have inconsistency on exposure and white balance thru out the whole album, I'm doubt how can they do the adjustment for you.

beside, the whole journal is only cost $50~60, can't demand so much.

My point is... if the lab's monitor is properly calibrated, and the printer is calibrated to the monitor... and if you take an image that is processed using a calibrated monitor... the results should not be so vastly different. However, when I asked for the lab to make no adjustments, the prints came out completely under-exposed.

As for the cost, I think that's irrelevant.

 

[catchlights]

My point is... if the lab's monitor is properly calibrated, and the printer is calibrated to the monitor... and if you take an image that is processed using a calibrated monitor... the results should not be so vastly different. However, when I asked for the lab to make no adjustments, the prints came out completely under-exposed.

As for the cost, I think that's irrelevant.

if the whole book is completely under-exposed, why don't reject the whole book is ask for full refund? since they can't do a decent job after second attempt?

 

[nottipiglet]

if the whole book is completely under-exposed, why don't reject the whole book is ask for full refund? since they can't do a decent job after second attempt?

I will talk to them again... but I did ask for no adjustments, and they did tell me that their monitor is calibrated to see exactly what the printer prints, and not calibrate the printer to any standard profile. I have concluded that if you ask for no adjustments, and your images are properly exposed, then the prints will inevitably look bad.

But if you let them adjust, then it is subject to the whims and fancy of the technician that day. Tough... :sweat:

 

[lsisaxon]

I will talk to them again... but I did ask for no adjustments, and they did tell me that their monitor is calibrated to see exactly what the printer prints, and not to the 5500K profile. I have concluded that if you ask for no adjustments, and your images are properly exposed, then the prints will inevitably look bad.

But if you let them adjust, then it is subject to the whims and fancy of the technician that day. Tough... :sweat:

Then tell them you'll take your business elsewhere. I will never patronise a printer who doesn't care about following colour standards.

 

[nottipiglet]

Then tell them you'll take your business elsewhere. I will never patronise a printer who doesn't care about following colour standards.

May I know which printers follow colour (and luminosity) standards, so I can check them out?

 

[lsisaxon]

May I know which printers follow colour (and luminosity) standards, so I can check them out?

You can try ColourLab at Adelphi.

 

[nottipiglet]

I went to talk to them... and they are very committed to solve the problems for me. I must say they have excellent customer service and they really listen to feedback. So, I will see what comes out of it first.

 

[lsisaxon]

I went to talk to them... and they are very committed to solve the problems for me. I must say they have excellent customer service and they really listen to feedback. So, I will see what comes out of it first.

Tell them to seriously consider getting a spectometer based printer profiler and a monitor calibrator if they are serious in this business. If they start to do that, then I'll have one more option. ;p

I'm not in this business but just a serious hobbyist and I use a monitor calibrator and software/scanner based printer profiler on my Canon iP6600D using Fujifilm Premium Plus inkjet paper, not the best like the spectrometer but it gives really good printouts which I'm confident that beats chemical prints from neighbourhood printing shops.