Is this normal? (my wallet is a lot lighter)

C

c4rv3r

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Steve
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Hi, i have a college project which i am shooting in film, and i got my 36 exposure B&W Kodak film dev'd and printed 4x6 for around £6.40, which is fine for me.
My project requires that i have 6 photos printed at A4 size, the closest i could get is 15x8.
Now i got some printed and they are lovely quality prints and i am very pleased with them, however i was quite shocked at the price tag!

I was charged £40 for 6 prints, i am very new to the film world, but is this normal? It did seem very hefty for 6 prints, even if they are 15x8, i'm not made of money and have subsequently had to borrow it, just wondered if this is the average price that shops charge. It is the only shop in my town so i guess they can charge what they like.

Steve.
 
well - even Ilford Labs (who aren't cheap) are only £4.94 a print for 10"x12" prints and £2.50 postage which would have fitted the bill. There's a price list for reprints here.
At least they'll be proper silver gelatine prints from ilford though!
 
Well assuming they are "proper" prints ie. silver gelatin as "the Big Yin" mentions probably about right. Did you not ask before ordering ?
Anyway you said you are pleased with them, so that is the main thing.
As mentioned give Ilford a try next time, when I need B/W now I have no D/Room that,s who I also would recommend.
C
 
Thanks for the feedback guys, they are printed on 'Kodak Royal' photographic paper but i honestly don't know if they are silver-gelatine or not, and i highly doubt it to be honest, if i had ordered with ilford i'd have saved almost £15 Lol! Lesson learnt i guess :P
I didn't ask how much it would cost because i thought it would be £6.50 for the lot, his pricing was a little confusing, turns out it was £6.50 each! Eaaeeeek! :s
But i needed the prints anyway for college and so i had no choice. But thanks so much for showing me ilford, i know they are an amazing brand and seems like they offer a good service.

Cheers,
Steve.
 
Basically most places cheat these days and print conventional black and white on colour RA-4 process paper. This is all well and good, but the blacks don't always print right and because the paper is designed to have orange light from the orange mask of colour neg films shone on it, the paper can take on a green tint in white areas and highlights as the opposite of orange is green.
When printed on black and white Silver-Gelatine paper, theres none of these problems but unfortunately due to the lower cost of colour paper like Kodak Royal and the lower volume of black and white compared to colour most places (even pro labs like Peak Imaging) don't bother. It also didn't help that Kodak stopped manufacturing black and white paper a few years ago and started recommending printing on colour

I'm waiting for my first black and white film (Kodak Tmax 100) to come back (I mostly shoot colour neg or transparency), and I have got Ilford to dev and print it so I hope its good!
 
Thanks for the info s162216, its a shame that its come down to that really, i certainly won't be getting any more prints from Kodak shops at that price! I guess to the untrained eye its hard to recognise any quality difference, especially if you don't have Silver-gelatine right next to a colour paper print for comparison.

Steve.
 
c4rv3r said:
Thanks for the info s162216, its a shame that its come down to that really, i certainly won't be getting any more prints from Kodak shops at that price! I guess to the untrained eye its hard to recognise any quality difference, especially if you don't have Silver-gelatine right next to a colour paper print for comparison.

Steve.
Click to expand...

Your right about Kodak's prices being insanely expensive. For slide processing last time I looked they charged about £20 for 36 exposure develop and mount. I get mine done at Peak Imaging for £7.37! They even charge £100 for developing 16mm cine film when if you go to the widescreen centre's website or somewhere else they usually charge a quarter as much as that! Its the same price for 127 develop and print, when you can get it done for about 20% of that elsewhere. Kodak basically need to take their head out the clouds and charge decent prices.
 
c4rv3r said:
Hi, i have a college project which i am shooting in film, and i got my 36 exposure B&W Kodak film dev'd and printed 4x6 for around £6.40, which is fine for me.
My project requires that i have 6 photos printed at A4 size, the closest i could get is 15x8.
Now i got some printed and they are lovely quality prints and i am very pleased with them, however i was quite shocked at the price tag!

I was charged £40 for 6 prints, i am very new to the film world, but is this normal? It did seem very hefty for 6 prints, even if they are 15x8, i'm not made of money and have subsequently had to borrow it, just wondered if this is the average price that shops charge. It is the only shop in my town so i guess they can charge what they like.

Steve.
Click to expand...

Today I learnt that decent printing costs, and is worth it - superb course
 
Richard King said:
Today I learnt that decent printing costs, and is worth it - superb course
Click to expand...

Decent hand-printing of Black and White shots is an art form in it's own right and not only can cost an absolute mint, but can also produce wonderful, wonderful effects (and a bin-full of rejected attempts in the process - hence the often ludicrous to the outside observer prices).

What i'd hazzard a guess happened to the OP's prints was that they were most likely run through a scanner and printed digitally - isn't Kodak Royal their digital colour print paper? Not exactly the same painstaking process as a hand printed silver gelatine print is it?
 
and people wonder why film is almost dead.at them prices
why do we take photos.
to show them to people friends, family , or sell them to the public,
most of who wouldnt know the difference between quality paper or asda or tescos own brand.
i dont shoot film, but i do like to spend time printing pics, and correcting things till they look good enough to be hung on the wall.
and what do most people do, they look at them and say, thats nice, or that ok.
they dont say. things like. that's got a colour cast, or the horizons not straight or . the composition is not right.
no its only photographers who look at the small details .i took a selection of images in to work yesterday to show the lads, they were of local motorsports. go carts bikes etc.
3 of them, went through a dozen or so pics in a matter of seconds.
they are ok them. was what i got
ok. you went through them so fast i bet you didnt even see what they were.
not . nice paper, good composition, nice blurred background.
why do we bother.
ok rant over. but the point is, spending more on quality printing. wont get any better comments. well not from joe public
 
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Missing the point a little mark... the OP wanted these shots for a College Project. Presumably the college tutors WOULD look at the prints a bit more closely - I know I've submitted 20x16 prints and had people examining the shots with a Loupe!

Most of the shots that I print, are for my viewing pleasure, and it matters not a jot what joe public cares - the fact is that I DO CARE what my prints look like, and I don't want black and white shots that are actually dark purple and pale beige...

And that applys if i've shot the original on film or digital!

...and as for the initial trolling remark - we're used to it in Film and Conventional :)
 
c4rv3r said:
Thanks for the feedback guys, they are printed on 'Kodak Royal' photographic paper but i honestly don't know if they are silver-gelatine or not, and i highly doubt it to be honest, if i had ordered with ilford i'd have saved almost £15 Lol! Lesson learnt i guess :P
I didn't ask how much it would cost because i thought it would be £6.50 for the lot, his pricing was a little confusing, turns out it was £6.50 each! Eaaeeeek! :s
But i needed the prints anyway for college and so i had no choice. But thanks so much for showing me ilford, i know they are an amazing brand and seems like they offer a good service.

Cheers,
Steve.
Click to expand...

I hope the real thing you take from this is:

Its damm nice holding and looking at one of your prints at a decent size. Forgetting the cost, the process... for me, thats what phootography is all about
 
TheBigYin said:
Missing the point a little mark... the OP wanted these shots for a College Project. Presumably the college tutors WOULD look at the prints a bit more closely - I know I've submitted 20x16 prints and had people examining the shots with a Loupe!

Most of the shots that I print, are for my viewing pleasure, and it matters not a jot what joe public cares - the fact is that I DO CARE what my prints look like, and I don't want black and white shots that are actually dark purple and pale beige...

And that applys if i've shot the original on film or digital!

...and as for the initial trolling remark - we're used to it in Film and Conventional :)
Click to expand...

point taken
like i say amongst the photography world these differences are noted.
but for someone who is a student ( i take full time and not working) to have to pay these prices is scandalous .
no wonder they leave college in debt.
you would think the colleges would have discounts with printing places for students
but isnt his work being judged on things like composition and exposure etc and not on his ability to print.
 
I call that the "lowest common denominator" Mark. It's the base level opinion of people who don't know any better.

Thankfully not everyone fits that particular demographic and give me a properly printed image with a tonal range in it with good lighting any day.

Like TheBigYin I care about what my images look like and if it's black and white then I want it black and white and everything in between but without any greens, magentas or any other nasty artefacts in there.

I do get what you mean about the general public not being very discerning about images, I call a certain segment "The facebook generation" for that very reason, they see images as being instant and disposable like their food but not everyone fits that description and I'd much rather cater for those who don't :)
 
ON the other hand - artists need to buy paint, canvas, and brushes, sculptures - rock, chisels and tools, photographers:- cameras and media for printing or just plain printing costs

Its to be expected to fork out for such things on such a course - the things we need cost, and thats that
 
c4rv3r said:
Hi, i have a college project which i am shooting in film, and i got my 36 exposure B&W Kodak film dev'd and printed 4x6 for around £6.40, which is fine for me.
My project requires that i have 6 photos printed at A4 size, the closest i could get is 15x8.
Now i got some printed and they are lovely quality prints and i am very pleased with them, however i was quite shocked at the price tag!

I was charged £40 for 6 prints, i am very new to the film world, but is this normal? It did seem very hefty for 6 prints, even if they are 15x8, i'm not made of money and have subsequently had to borrow it, just wondered if this is the average price that shops charge. It is the only shop in my town so i guess they can charge what they like.

Steve.
Click to expand...

Sham your project isn't in colour.....Six 8X12" prints delivered to your door for £3.37 from Aldiphotos, the lads on other threads say they are quite good quality. Well I've had 200 6X4" done and there was a B/W shot they printed erm but with a slight sepia cast.
 
@s162216 - Well they are the only shop in my town that print and dev film, so he can set his prices as high as he wants which really sucks Lol.

@TheBigYin - I saw his machine, it was all done digitally thats for a fact, and i looked up the prices of Kodak paper online and its filthy cheap to get! I worked out he made roughly 80% profit off me when materials are taken into account (a very rough estimate obviously), so it really does feel like i have been robbed, especially since finding out about Silver-Gelatine services from Ilford.

@marky.b - I am finding the same thing showing my photos to people! I find it hard to understand how someone can look at a photo and look away in the same second and then say something like "yeh its not bad".

@Richard King - It was everything i could have hoped for! To hold 6 of my photos (that i concider masterpieces lol) in my hands at that size was truly fantastic, and worth every penny just for that feeling, i still feel robbed but its a damn good feeling :P

@marky.b - Well i'm not technically on the course yet... but as of tuesday i think i'll be on, this is a summer project they set me to see how i cope i guess, but my college has a dark room and supply their own photographic paper/film etc. So yes i will be judged on how i process photos because i will be doing them myself, which is a good thing because i certainly can't afford to get them processed at Kodak again! But to be honest i think the college must think all the kids are rich and can borrow big wads of cash off mummy and daddy, i have a £150 material bill for the first year of the course :/ on top of paying for the course itself and possibly getting my camera repaired (yes the shutter is apparently failing on it... just what i need!), but i'll take that over £40 for 6 prints any day!

Steve.
 
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