Been there, done that with Jessops. Never again... I feel your pain!
> -----Original Message----- > From: Peter Jordan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 19 December 2003 23:15 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: OT: Lousy Printing > > > I had a sad task to carry out last week. > > My neighbours 20 year old daughter was killed in a car crash > and I was asked to scan and copy a bunch of snapshots so that > other family members could have copies. > > The raw material was not good, a bunch of decidedly average > P&S shots with every conceivable photographic fault. I > scanned them and did the best I could in Photoshop and ended > with 60 odd half decent files. I didn't have the time to > print them myself so I used Jessops, the major UK > photographic high street retailer who had a local branch with > a photo lab in store. > > I gave them my CD, and 3 days later couldn't believe what I got back. > > For a start, they'd clearly put the files through some sort > of contrast enhancing filter before printing them. I could > not believe how badly they'd wound up the contrast, turned > huge swathes pitch black and burnt out pale areas. I ran a > few of the files on my printer tonight and the difference was > unbelievable. A 5 year old �120 Epson was producing prints > that looked as if they'd been printed properly, whereas a lab > set up costing thousands had produced something that looked > like someone's first attempt at Cibachrome printing. > > As if that wasn't bad enough, the cropping was unbelievable. > all the files had been cropped to some extent. Some had been > cropped ever so slightly, but others seem to have lost 30% of > their area. The "best" was a head and shoulder shot. There > was clear space above the head in the file, but the print > stopped just above the chest. > > I now have two things to do tomorrow, firstly off to Jessops > to physically insert the photos into the minilab operator, > then back home to do the job myself. > > The moral is, if you want a job doing properly, do it yourself. > > Peter > >
