Do your print from the Walmart (I have little choice) have the Leitz look even when processed by clerks? Mine still do, and I consider Walmart which uses Fuji machines and default matte finish much better than the Walgreens down the street. Also, Fuji frontier at other places produce quite good results.

In other words, is it worthwhile using $$$ glass then giving up your work to another for processing and printing?

-- Steve (leitz_not_leica@hotmail.com), April 23, 2002

Answers

IMHO, No.

-- Dan Brown (brpatent@swbell.net), April 23, 2002.

Steve:

I use a local chain for my quick work. As long as the negs are good, I can get good prints from them later on. I enjoy 16x20's from my better works and the Leica glass comes through nicely. Yes, my prints have that snap even at a cheap joint, but a GOOD print defintely shows. It is all in what you appreciate, and where you want to put your money.

FWIW

-- Mark J. (logical1@catholic.org), April 23, 2002.

Not really. Unless we are in Paris and the lab is Picto...........

-- david kelly (dmkedit@aol.com), April 23, 2002.

I find that the expensive custom labs often don't do any better on their machine "proof" prints than the local Longs Drugs. Now get some big prints done,(11 X14 or more) and the difference between a custom print hand done by a good operator and a machine print is extreme.

-- Andrew Schank (aschank@flash.net), April 23, 2002.

If all you're ever going to do is get your film processed and printed at a minilab, you could get decent prints with a point and shoot. But if, like others have mentioned, you use the small prints mostly as proofs, you can get better prints and/or scans made later to take advantage of your quality lenses. You never know when you'll make that one special image we all strive for, and wouldn't it be nice to have captured that image with the best glass available?

Personally, while I absolutely love the look and quality of my M lenses, there are other reasons I use the camera. I like the small size, RF focussing in low light, low vibration, and quiet shutter. These were my main criteria in deciding to use an M system, and they are valid no matter where I get my prints made.

-- Noah Addis (naddis@mindspring.com), April 23, 2002.

I think it's pretty hard to beat a Walmarts with the Fuji Frontier Machine. Because of Walmarts very high volumn, they're one of the few places that can afford Fuji Frontiers.

-- Glenn Travis (leicaddict@hotmail.com), April 23, 2002.

The key to processing is the operator. If you're lucky enough to get someone at Wal-Mart who knows what they're doing--and more importantly, cares, who knows a bad print and re-prints it, you've got a good deal. Go to a custom lab where they've hired some snotnose kid who's eyes are on the clock and mind is on Miller Time and you're in trouble. I've had good and bad results from both, as well as mail-order processing. Probably worse than a bad lab is an inconsistent lab, where you never know whether you'll get back trash or treasure. After much searching I found a local lab that services a lot of the local wedding pros, most of whom are shooting Kodak Portra films as I do, and they've got their act together. And with the volume of work I give them they come close to matching Wal-Mart's prices.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), April 23, 2002.

Actually, I think Fuji Frontier proof (4x6) processing tends to narrow the apparent difference between Leica lenses and poor quality lenses when sharpening and constrast algorithms are applied.

My P&S pictures have started to look a lot better and my Leica pictures not as special. Also, I think the sharpening somehow removes or lessens that 3D characteristic of Leica lenses.

All IMHO, of course. I may be halluncinating, for all I know ;-)

-- Mani Sitaraman (bindumani@pacific.net.sg), April 23, 2002.

Mani, either your Frontier lab uses other algorithms than mine, or you are hallucinating, or I am :-)
Mine prints B&W on Agfa paper as I learned after giving them T-max negatives for the first time; for colour, they use Fuji Chrystal Archive. Surprise: my Olympus mju-II can compete with Leica optics in B&W, but the latter run in circles and then walk over any competitors when they're fed slide film. Weren't we told that you need to shoot B&W to really see Leica excel? Either it's an urban legend, or the printing paper plays a larger role than we ever suspected.

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), April 24, 2002.

i never said Walmart uses Fuji Frontier..."Fuji frontier at OTHER places produce quite good results."

Walmart provides consistent results, although they sometime cut through the 38th frame on my rolls.

-- Steve (leitz_not_leica@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.

Dear Steve and All,

Here in Japan I've had the same experiences as most of you. The operator is everything. I once went to a custom lab in Kobe recommended to me by someone who had good experience with their branch in Nagoya. What I got was dreadful. These days I give my film to my friends at King Camera (part of a chain) a few minutes from home. They love photography and care about what I get. Machine prints aren't custom prints but they do give you an idea of what you shot. I always have Kodak do my slides. I have had some less than wonderful experiences with Fuji--which sends out standard forms that blame you for any defects in processing. When I visit Palo Alto K&S gets all my work. Again, people who love photography and care about what you get.

Best,

Alex

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4u.or.jp), April 24, 2002.

I shoot about 100-150 rolls of B&W each year, and process and print them myself. I also shoot about 5 or 6 rolls of color, and have gotten reliably good processing from custom labs (about $20 for processing and printing of 36 exp., 4"x6" prints), but have also gotten good results from certain cheapie minilabs for less than half the money. If you shoot lots of color prints, it is worth trying the drugstores and other minilabs to see if good results can be obtained for little money.

-- Douglas Kinnear (douglas.kinnear@colostate.edu), April 24, 2002.

I'm not so much concerned with my prints from a "Wal-Mart" - type place so much as my negatives!

I've gotten them back scratched, fingerprinted, an stuck to the inside of a negative sleeve with what appeared to be soda.

That's the main reason I use the local pro-shop.

-- Bob (bobflores@attbi.com), April 24, 2002.

I'm with Bob: it's the fingerprinted and dusty negatives THAT AREN'T EVEN IN SLEEVES that bother me. Oh, and the prints are pretty low quality as well. So, custom lab is it for me. Another reason why I mostly shoot slides for color work.

-- Luke Dunlap (luked@mail.utexas.edu), April 24, 2002.