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Can existing film equipments be used for digital erra?
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#2
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Can existing film equipments be used for digital erra?
They have Noritsu QSS-150LZU with QSF 430L-3U bought in 1998.
I wonder if these equipments are competitive enough. |
#3
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Can existing film equipments be used for digital erra?
(jaekim) wrote in news:91d0d16b.0406141222.45f60ca0
@posting.google.com: Thanks for the long reply. I just found they have Noritsu QSS-150LZU with QSF 430L-3U. Do you think these are any good? Sorry, I do not know anything about that equipment. I did however visit http://www.noritsu.com/ and I was impressed with what I saw. Though I have no idea about the actual model you mention. I know the equipment is expensive (about a 100 grand or more) though I would say that if you can handle both film and digital images you would at least be able to start competing. I'm usually impressed with the latest and greatest equipment as they are usually easier to work with, do more things and produce better looking pictures. So I would take a look at how old the model it is that your looking at and compare it to what the new stuff is. One thing that improves with the newer equipment is the way the chemicals are added to the machine. Some time ago I think one had to mix a few things before adding them to the machine. On the Fuji equipment I used to work on, we only had to add a certain amount of water with the chemicals. On the newer equipment, water is automatically fed to the machine and the only thing you have to worry about (chemicals wise) is that you have the canisters of chemicals (or what ever they are) connected to the machine. I think those types add the right amount of water to the chemicals. All you have to do is connect a full chemicals canister when it runs out (I'm just assuming since I have not worked with the ones that do that). And what would be the salary for a good photo processing person? I actually forget how much I was making an hour over there. It started out lower then slowly went up. After about 3 or 4 years working there I was making around $9 or $10 an hour maybe a little bit more. The managers were making somewhere between $11.50 or $12.50 or a tiny bit more. You have to remember in this case that Smiths was a union store. When Fry's bought it out, (a non union store) had to go union with the buy out. Fry's was not used to paying the higher wages so they did their best to control it the best they could. I think I started at about $5 or so. I bet you that the people at Wallgreens who operate the photo equipment don't anything too close to $10 or $12 an hour. The thing I would do is go to a few places in your area and inquire about what is being paid. I'm sure the wages are different than what pro labs are paying. So it really depends on what your doing. Our local Walmart has a photo lab. You can check there too if you have one. Barney |
#4
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Can existing film equipments be used for digital erra?
jaekim wrote:
Thanks for the long reply. I just found they have Noritsu QSS-150LZU with QSF 430L-3U. Do you think these are any good? For that model specifically, no idea. However Noritsu are 2nd class citizens in the minilab world with Agfa, Kis and Fuji at the top and Noritsu near bottom: http://tinyurl.com/yqnc9 And what would be the salary for a good photo processing person? Local factors probably play into that, so ask around at local processing locations. It is not a high paying profession here even in the better labs... -- --e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.-- |
#5
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Can existing film equipments be used for digital erra?
(jaekim) wrote in
m: They have Noritsu QSS-150LZU with QSF 430L-3U bought in 1998. I wonder if these equipments are competitive enough. Noritsu's US website doesn't contain a whole lot of information, but I eventually managed to find a list of current minilab equipment. Neither of these units were within that list. This doesn't necessarily mean that they're beyond the point of being maintained/repaired or of finding parts, but it increases the risk. I found http://signaturestudios.tripod.com/n...noritsuad.html, and from the specs listed, I would have to say that these machines are strictly film. They're capable of handling medium format negatives, which can be hard to find, but not digital - I suspect they would have listed this capability if the machines actually had it. If you were planning on competing with the local drugstores and department stores to handle snapshots and one-hour business, you would likely have to upgrade the machines pretty soon, which would mean a significant investment, bare minimum in my guess would be $80,000, possibly much higher. I have not priced the new machines recently, but the chances of finding a digitally-capable processor in the 'used' market is pretty slim, and they won't be that old so the price will remain high. And you may now know why the business is being sold... On the other hand, these machines *appear* (bear in mind, I'm only going on the specs from that website above) to be geared towards handling pro films, something that can be hard to find. Thus you have the opportunity to garner the professional photographer's business in the region, and specialize in quality film processing while others are turning more towards digital. In time, this may mean you're the only business in town that does quality film handling. But this will not be easy. Pros will dump you in a heartbeat if your product isn't absolutely top-notch, and when they find a lab they like, they stay there (at least until that lab screws up). So your staff would have to be well-trained and experienced, and quality-control would have to be your first and foremost consideration. Forget about speed, pros aren't interested. They want it right, and the first time, too. You can't afford a staff that keeps turning over - new people will take too long to reliably produce good results. So your payroll costs will be higher than most minilabs. As long as you can provide the results, you can justifiably charge more for your services and cover payroll (and higher material costs, etc.). From the nature of your questions, I have to respectfully assume that you're not experienced in the professional end yourself, so I have to say that this is very tricky. You should definitely be looking very seriously for experienced people to run things for you, because this is not something you can afford to learn as you go. Moreover, you have to consider the competition in town - too many pro labs, or minilabs, will mean you can't get enough of the market to sustain yourself, even with excellent quality work. So step carefully. And find a partner ;-) - Al. -- To reply, insert dash in address to match domain below Online photo gallery at www.wading-in.net |
#6
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Can existing film equipments be used for digital erra?
thanks for the reply! ^^
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#7
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Can existing film equipments be used for digital erra?
Yah. the machines are strictly for films.
80,000 dollars is just too much for me. Actually the guy asks for $170,000 for the business based on the gross income of 8000 per month. ( This photoshop is doing a lot of passport and some picture packages. ) The town the photoshop is at is kinda low income residential area, and I think that's why the film sales are pretty strong. Currently they are doing about 2-3 digital printing using Mitsubish cp8000 printer, and the rest is films. To prepare for digital trend, once I buy the photoshop, I was thinking about buying just a better printer that can print enlargement. I mean what would be the advantage of buying these expensive digital minilab over using just computer and good quality printer? Do you think this would be too slow process? I heard that digital printers takes about 4min before printing. I found http://signaturestudios.tripod.com/n...noritsuad.html, and from the specs listed, I would have to say that these machines are strictly film. They're capable of handling medium format negatives, which can be hard to find, but not digital - I suspect they would have listed this capability if the machines actually had it. If you were planning on competing with the local drugstores and department stores to handle snapshots and one-hour business, you would likely have to upgrade the machines pretty soon, which would mean a significant investment, bare minimum in my guess would be $80,000, possibly much higher. I have not priced the new machines recently, but the chances of finding a digitally-capable processor in the 'used' market is pretty slim, and they won't be that old so the price will remain high. And you may now know why the business is being sold... On the other hand, these machines *appear* (bear in mind, I'm only going on the specs from that website above) to be geared towards handling pro films, something that can be hard to find. Thus you have the opportunity to garner the professional photographer's business in the region, and specialize in quality film processing while others are turning more towards digital. In time, this may mean you're the only business in town that does quality film handling. But this will not be easy. Pros will dump you in a heartbeat if your product isn't absolutely top-notch, and when they find a lab they like, they stay there (at least until that lab screws up). So your staff would have to be well-trained and experienced, and quality-control would have to be your first and foremost consideration. Forget about speed, pros aren't interested. They want it right, and the first time, too. You can't afford a staff that keeps turning over - new people will take too long to reliably produce good results. So your payroll costs will be higher than most minilabs. As long as you can provide the results, you can justifiably charge more for your services and cover payroll (and higher material costs, etc.). From the nature of your questions, I have to respectfully assume that you're not experienced in the professional end yourself, so I have to say that this is very tricky. You should definitely be looking very seriously for experienced people to run things for you, because this is not something you can afford to learn as you go. Moreover, you have to consider the competition in town - too many pro labs, or minilabs, will mean you can't get enough of the market to sustain yourself, even with excellent quality work. So step carefully. And find a partner ;-) - Al. |
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