Minilabs, Dust, and Costco
 

How is dust avoided on minilab prints? Is it just a matter of the
operator wiping the negative strip clean before inserting it? Or does
the minilab need to be cleaned internally frequently?

I recently switched back to film for most of my shooting (I had been
using digital P&S' for a few years), and I tried Costco's 1-hour
minilab service for reprints and enlargements. The nearest Costco to
me is in Issaquah, WA. On several trips, I found that there were many
dust specs and hairs, on most of the prints. Some of them had a simply
amazing amount. I asked them to redo the affected prints, but often
those would come back with dust on them, too. Also, they seemed to
think it was my fault for having dust on the negs, and treated me as a
nuisance.

So I tried the next-closest Costco, in Kirkland, WA. What a
difference! I've been there many times now, and only on one print has
there been any dust. They fixed that and had a great attitude about
it. In general, their attitude is an order of magnitude better than at
Issaquah.

I've noticed that the Kirkland staff wipes my negs with a special
cloth before inserting it into the minilab. I'm not sure if the
Issaquah staff did.

I'm curious why the huge difference in the quantity of dust in the
Issaquah reprints compared to the Kirkland reprints. Is it more likely
a matter of operator care, or is it more likely a matter of equipment
maintenance?

Thanks,

Greg

Minilabs, Dust, and Costco
 

On 2/19/04 3:46 AM, in article
, "Greg Lovern"
wrote:

How is dust avoided on minilab prints? Is it just a matter of the
operator wiping the negative strip clean before inserting it? Or does
the minilab need to be cleaned internally frequently?

I recently switched back to film for most of my shooting (I had been
using digital P&S' for a few years), and I tried Costco's 1-hour
minilab service for reprints and enlargements. The nearest Costco to
me is in Issaquah, WA. On several trips, I found that there were many
dust specs and hairs, on most of the prints. Some of them had a simply
amazing amount. I asked them to redo the affected prints, but often
those would come back with dust on them, too. Also, they seemed to
think it was my fault for having dust on the negs, and treated me as a
nuisance.

So I tried the next-closest Costco, in Kirkland, WA. What a
difference! I've been there many times now, and only on one print has
there been any dust. They fixed that and had a great attitude about
it. In general, their attitude is an order of magnitude better than at
Issaquah.

I've noticed that the Kirkland staff wipes my negs with a special
cloth before inserting it into the minilab. I'm not sure if the
Issaquah staff did.

I'm curious why the huge difference in the quantity of dust in the
Issaquah reprints compared to the Kirkland reprints. Is it more likely
a matter of operator care, or is it more likely a matter of equipment
maintenance?

Thanks,

Greg

It must be the Kirkland karma LOL

By the way, it is no accident that the Costco brand name is Kirkland...named
from where Costco was founded, Kirkland, WA, the land of the clean
negatives. ;)

Did they use a Fuji Frontier machine at the Issaquah location? If so, have
them clean the negative holder. A while back I had dark long lines of dirt
show up on my prints..(it was white on the print since the dirt was dark). I
told them about it and they knew about the dirt on the negative holder
issue. They cleaned it and prints came back without the light lines on them.
Your dirt issue looks different on your prints but the negative holder may
be dirty ion a different manner than in my case. Even if the negatives are
clean, if the negative holder is dirty then dirt will show up in the
Frontier scanning process sometimes from the negative contacting the dirty
holder.