cvs photolab gripe

pentaxbling · 09-18-2007, 12:51 AM

i just shot my first roll of film with my new , well "new to me" me super... i had the film developed and prints made at cvs drop off... the results were awful... some of the pictures had streak marks on them, others had what seemed to be small bits of trash... the color was bland and washed out like nothing id seen before... has anyone else have any experiences like this with this store? i think im going to shoot another roll today and have them developed at ritz... i was really anxious to see how the camera was going to perform and i got bad processing... i feel pretty confident that my results will be better with ritz lol....

Romoman · 09-18-2007, 08:10 AM

I would suggest getting to know some of the people at your local store of choice. For me, it's the local Ritz. The people are great, really take care of me, make sure my photos come out great, and provide some feedback on what I'm doing. It's really nice to be able to walk into a busy store, toss a roll of film to someone and show up an hour later to get your photos. I would hit the Ritz and start building a relationship.

dgmaley · 09-18-2007, 01:08 PM

Before you go too far along, let's see what happened. Did you have them process the film, then on to prints? Are you evaluating only the prints? Do you see the same problems on the negatives? You may need to use a magnafier and look closely at your negatives. There are several places in this path where these kind of errors can happen. The trick is sortng it all out. Just start asking questions at the photo lab. Relax and have a good time.
Dave...

*Ed in GA* · 09-18-2007, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by pentaxbling

i just shot my first roll of film with my new , well "new to me" me super... i had the film developed and prints made at cvs drop off... the results were awful... some of the pictures had streak marks on them, others had what seemed to be small bits of trash... the color was bland and washed out like nothing id seen before... has anyone else have any experiences like this with this store? i think im going to shoot another roll today and have them developed at ritz... i was really anxious to see how the camera was going to perform and i got bad processing... i feel pretty confident that my results will be better with ritz lol....

This also sounds like you might have some Light leakeage around the seals. I had a similar experience with a K1000 several years ago.

pentaxbling · 09-18-2007, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by EddyinGA

This also sounds like you might have some Light leakeage around the seals. I had a similar experience with a K1000 several years ago.

I don't think it would be light leakage... I got the camera from a very reputable dealer who also services pentax cameras on the side. The camera was CLA'd along with new light seals and bumpers... I did go by CVS today and show them the prints... The clerk took a look and said "yeah these are awful" lol... They are going to run them again for me... There processor obviously was in need of a good cleaning... Maybe they were just waiting for someone to complain lol... Im still going to take my next roll to ritz though