Hello lowyat photog!

few weeks ago, i sent my unedited photos (straight out of canon 550D) for printing. I went to this shop in ss2 call YS photo and I was amazed by how clear and vivid the colours of photos were when i collect! After going back, i open the images in my laptop and compare it with the photos. In my laptop, the colours are sooooo dull and its so boring but the photos are so HD!! I know that this has something to do with the laptop and is unavoidable unless i upgrade my screen. but other than this, any sifu know if the shop has done any touch up to my photos? Or is it because they have the high end printing equipments that can make the colours more saturated? Or because of the film itself?

If possible, i really hope i can produce this kind of pictures at home, so need sifus answer and opinion!!

Their website mentions they are using Noritsu's QSS2901. This model is pretty old. Not exactly state-of-the-art. The QSS2901, when new, maybe about a decade ago, cost nearly half a million RM. However, there would have been regular updates to the software. It is a pretty good machine.

Minilabs such as these, used in photo shops, normally WILL automatically enhance the photo to make it look better. At the very least, the brightness, contrast and colour balance. I cannot remember if the auto part includes the saturation. IINM, the answer is no. However, the machine would normally be configured to boost the saturation a little, in order to give the printed photos that extra "punch".

On most of Noritsu's machines, including the 2901, there are dedicated keys for the operator to quickly adjust CYM and D (density). On 4r prints, this is usually all they do. A skilled operator takes less than 1 second to look and adjust each photo. Tweaking each photo to get them just right ... that only goes for larger prints, which you pay more for. I have never heard of any photo shop that does that for every 4r. That will slow output to a crawl.

OTOH, it isn't entirely impossible. The volume of 4r prints being made by the industry has dropped so much, many shops have closed. Some cannot get enough volume to maintain the machines. Auto-minilabs such as these have a minimum volume to run daily/weekly/monthly. If it goes too low for too long, the chemicals would spoil. At which point, the proprietor would have to decide whether to throw away several hundred RM worth of chemicals in the machine, or stretch it to run for a few more days/weeks, resulting in lower quality prints.

In addition to being a photo shop, YS is also a studio. This is a higher margin business than simply making 4R prints. They would be more incentivized to take better care of their machines. Otherwise, customers who have paid for expensive studio photos would be very unhappy with poor quality prints. And YS also have a pretty good rep.

The main reason for poor quality prints at photo shops (in no particular order)
- spoilt chemicals due to too low volume
- mistakes in mixing the chemicals
- chemicals not replaced when needed (to save costs)
- not cleaning the machine daily, or doing a poor job of it
- not doing colour calibration daily / done incorrectly / not caring to do it properly, there are shops that have gone for days/weeks/months without
- monitor not calibrated properly, what appears on screen differs from what comes out the printer. This makes it difficult for the operator to apply the proper adjustment. (Note that this is also unlikely to happen on the 2901, as it has a built in colorimeter. It is more likely to happen on shops using machines without the built in colorimeter to calibrate the monitor).
- operator indifference/apathy. If they don't care to get you the best possible result ... well ...

This post has been edited by dkk: Jun 11 2014, 10:17 PM

long talk.
answer simple....

turn photo around. there is a line of letter. read out the last 4/5 letters. if NNNN 3 * means its by-passed, no auto/manual touch up by machine/operator....... if have G5P2 3 * or anything aside the N.... it gone through Post Processing.

some of the people who specifically edit their photo to a certain color, usually will tell the counter to bypass print, means no machine-post-processing will be applied.

if your prints is missing the line of code behind. i cant help u then

This post has been edited by edpaul: Jun 12 2014, 10:53 PM

I used to print there, They process each photo by default manually, adjusting basic saturation and contrast (if not mistaken).

Oh, is there any possibility that they actually import all the photos into a editing program, select all and apply preset?