Requested No Adjustment but Lab Print Colour Still Off

[igpenguin]

you will only see NNNN if its a print from film. digital prints do not display those fields.

just recently i made some digital prints from digital files myself. the status string codes are all behind the prints. for some of them i can see the operator did density adjustments, for some my colour is off and he did the appropriate CMY adjustments. this was on a Frontier machine.

you can also check out the Frontier link a few posts earlier.

i think perhaps there are some labs where by the digital prints have no status strings on the back of the prints, even if it was a Frontier machine, as i experienced with one lab i tried.

azure mentioned something related to this a while back:
http://forum.clubsnap.org/showpost.php?p=587142&postcount=3

 

[showtime]

just recently i made some digital prints from digital files myself. the status string codes are all behind the prints. for some of them i can see the operator did density adjustments, for some my colour is off and he did the appropriate CMY adjustments. this was on a Frontier machine.

you can also check out the Frontier link a few posts earlier.

i think perhaps there are some labs where by the digital prints have no status strings on the back of the prints, even if it was a Frontier machine, as i experienced with one lab i tried.

azure mentioned something related to this a while back:
http://forum.clubsnap.org/showpost.php?p=587142&postcount=3

cool.. perhaps my shop sets things differently. got the wrong impression somehow...

 

[Clark75]

Oh yah, forgot the part that got me most upset... the lady said... "如果你要这样 accurate 的话，你应该用自己的 printer 去 print mah!"

For those who don't read Chinese... "If you really want it to be so accurate, you should print it on your own printer!"

I'm not kidding!

 

[showtime]

honestly, if your screen is not calibrated to the printer at the shop, you will not get accurate colors. so technically, her sugestion is valid. but also make sure that your printer is calibrated correctly.

 

[lui002]

you will only see NNNN if its a print from film. digital prints do not display those fields.

My digital prints display NNNN.

 

[shojibake]

Oh yah, forgot the part that got me most upset... the lady said... "如果你要这样 accurate 的话，你应该用自己的 printer 去 print mah!"

For those who don't read Chinese... "If you really want it to be so accurate, you should print it on your own printer!"

I'm not kidding!

Wah this kind must whack jialat one time.

 

[Clark75]

honestly, if your screen is not calibrated to the printer at the shop, you will not get accurate colors. so technically, her sugestion is valid. but also make sure that your printer is calibrated correctly.

I don't think her statement can ever be valid. Firstly, if she had ensured that she did not adjust my original prints as requested, I wouldn't have had this big a difference in my expectations and the results that I got. Also as mentioned earlier, I am not using a CRT, but I did ensure that my white borders were white (255,255,255). Assuming that they actually did not do any adjustments, then it only means that XXXX forgot to calibrate their machine that day, because the borders that came out in print were definitely not white (nor like the original unprinted photo paper).

Anyway, if everyone had a professional printer at home, that would be the ideal case. But since not all of us do, wouldn't you expect professionalism from the labs you are paying to print? Just my thoughts as a consumer.

 

[MDZ2]

I have been satisfactorily using a lab in marine terrace for all my competition pictures for some years now and they have been very professional. Even with negatives, the lab owner Mr Wong (I think) took pains to adjust each frame before printing, unlike other labs that just correct the first frame and then let the machine print the rest.
A friendly guy, you can even get some tips on Photoshop editing from him (ie. when he isn't too busy).
Anyway for those interested, the lab is Foto station at blk 58. The address can be found in the PhotoI distribution list.

 

[megaweb]

I don't think her statement can ever be valid. Firstly, if she had ensured that she did not adjust my original prints as requested, I wouldn't have had this big a difference in my expectations and the results that I got. Also as mentioned earlier, I am not using a CRT, but I did ensure that my white borders were white (255,255,255). Assuming that they actually did not do any adjustments, then it only means that XXXX forgot to calibrate their machine that day, because the borders that came out in print were definitely not white (nor like the original unprinted photo paper).

Anyway, if everyone had a professional printer at home, that would be the ideal case. But since not all of us do, wouldn't you expect professionalism from the labs you are paying to print? Just my thoughts as a consumer.

Whether the lab does the density adjustments or not, if your home monitor did not calibrate to the lab's printer, the prints color will never be matched or accurate.

To solve the problem, you can do some testings like print different color settings to match the color.


FYI, fuji lab usually give warmer color even without adjustment.

 

[Clark75]

Whether the lab does the density adjustments or not, if your home monitor did not calibrate to the lab's printer, the prints color will never be matched or accurate.

To solve the problem, you can do some testings like print different color settings to match the color.


FYI, fuji lab usually give warmer color even without adjustment.

So even the white (which is actaully not a colour) that they print would be something else?

I can understand about other colours not being equal amongst print machines, but for the white part, I would assume that it would leave the machine abosoluately unprinted?

Also, the two pictures she printed with the same machine should not have any difference if both are unaltered?

Please advise. Thanks!

 

[mervlam]

So even the white (which is actaully not a colour) that they print would be something else?

I can understand about other colours not being equal amongst print machines, but for the white part, I would assume that it would leave the machine abosoluately unprinted?

Also, the two pictures she printed with the same machine should not have any difference if both are unaltered?

Please advise. Thanks!

is the white portion part of your photo or the border?

 

[Clark75]

is the white portion part of your photo or the border?

The white portion is my own border which I created.

 

[MoriMori]

The adjustment printout at the back is optional, lab can choose not to print it. Doesn't matter if you print film or digital.

LCD supposedly has smaller color gamut than CRT. Some are reportedly maximum 18-bit color even though your settings are 24/32 bit.

 

[Canonised]

From my experience, if you bring in a digital file to any lab, the printout is always difference on different occassions ..... i have tried printing the same original image file on every month and the printout is different for all the 4 printouts!!!! I believe no lab can give out an exact print everytime.

 

[vince123123]

Why would there be any legal repercussions if what you are telling is us is nothing but the truth?

Go ahead and post it for greater awareness.

I would like to, but I'm not sure of legal repercussions. But I'll PM you.

 

[snowspeeder]

Always go to a professional lab, one that you can trust and depend on. Going to the same lab regularly will also help as they will be familiar with your expectations. And if they screw up on the prints, it is only right for them to offer reprints with no questions asked.

 

[mervlam]

The white portion is my own border which I created.

then the border is part of your image which you preceived as white. the printer may not perceived that color as white.

as megaweb said, if your moniter is not caliberated to the printer, you will not get the same color printed on paper as u had seen on moniter.

as for the prints having different color tone, the printer needs to be calibrated daily too. that is usually done at the start of the day. so i don't why the two prints should have the same color tones if they are printed on different days.

since your expectations are high, go to a professional lab instead and use the lab for all your prints.

 

[vince123123]

Well, he also did say this:

However, I had used Photoshop to ensure that the white border was 255 for all R, G and B. !

then the border is part of your image which you preceived as white. the printer may not perceived that color as white.

as megaweb said, if your moniter is not caliberated to the printer, you will not get the same color printed on paper as u had seen on moniter.

as for the prints having different color tone, the printer needs to be calibrated daily too. that is usually done at the start of the day. so i don't why the two prints should have the same color tones if they are printed on different days.

since your expectations are high, go to a professional lab instead and use the lab for all your prints.

 

[mervlam]

Well, he also did say this:

hmm.... then the colors are truly off then. the printer didnt perceived the color as white. that's not a surprise considering point 3.

which comes to my last point abt pro labs.

 

[Clark75]

Thank all for your comments and suggetions!

I basically printed the 4R samples because I wanted to see how it'll roughly look before I blew them up to Super 8R. Of course, I knew that colours would differ lab to labs. I assumed that digital formats of 'white' would always be 'white' even on different days of printing (or calibration). Maybe I was wrong.

As for the lab in question, it is Singapore Colour Centre located in Serangoon Gardens. First and last time I had visited the shop. If it was just a pure mistake on either side, comments by the lady was uncalled for. Remembering that not all of us can own a high end printer.

Anyway, I just got my Super 8R prints from PhotoFriend in Peninsular Plaza. Abosolutely no complaints. Just wondering... would they be considered a pro-lab?