Took a roll of film (all pictures of the moon) to a 1 hour photo processor. Almost all of the pictures were cut in the wrong place with moon sliced in half in many of them when it was obviously centered in the shot. Is it so difficult for a lab to determine where a picture begins and ends? Is there anything that can be done to prevent this? Needless to say I'm going to avoid the 1-hour lab in the future.
Processing woes with 1-hour
Started by gmanzero, 05/10/2003 02:44PM
Posted 05/10/2003 02:44PM
Opening Post
Posted 05/10/2003 03:59PM
#1
Your best bet is to go to a professional lab. Be sure to tell them in advance that you want the film "uncut" and "long sleeved". If you just plan to scan the images, you will save some money by getting the film "processed only" , "long sleeved" and uncut.
You will need to cut and sleeve film yourself - it is the only way to be sure. The long sleeve material makes cutting the film easier since you can do it without gloves if you are careful. I suggest archival sleeve pages such as the "Print File" brand ones that can be put in a sealed binder or file box for storage. Another good tip is to have at least two really obvious frames at the beginning and end of the roll that show the edges of the frame clearly. Two shots of a white wall at either end of the film will help the technician determine where to start cutting. That tip is particularly usefull with slides, where the cut postion isn't easily adjusted once the roll is started (many labs just line it up and basically let the machine determine where to cut for the rest of the roll). The reason to have the frames at the end is that most labs start cutting from the end of the roll.
I have found that cutting my own negatives works great but I prefer to have a quality lab mount slides since they are tricky to mount by hand.
Hope that helps,
Joplin
You will need to cut and sleeve film yourself - it is the only way to be sure. The long sleeve material makes cutting the film easier since you can do it without gloves if you are careful. I suggest archival sleeve pages such as the "Print File" brand ones that can be put in a sealed binder or file box for storage. Another good tip is to have at least two really obvious frames at the beginning and end of the roll that show the edges of the frame clearly. Two shots of a white wall at either end of the film will help the technician determine where to start cutting. That tip is particularly usefull with slides, where the cut postion isn't easily adjusted once the roll is started (many labs just line it up and basically let the machine determine where to cut for the rest of the roll). The reason to have the frames at the end is that most labs start cutting from the end of the roll.
I have found that cutting my own negatives works great but I prefer to have a quality lab mount slides since they are tricky to mount by hand.
Hope that helps,
Joplin
Funding Member
