Printing Quality photographs

[persil]

Hi,

 

Over the past 3-4 years, I have printed most of my larger display prints at D-Lab in Silom, just down the road from teh Thai airways office, which IMHO is/was the best quality print you could get in BKK.

 

Unfortunately, the guy who started it left after a dispute with the main investor, and since then the quality hasn't been as good as before. Now they changed name, maybe changed owner, and to top it all of, when I flew in from Vientiane today in the hope to have a few dozen 12x15" prints made, I was told the machine is down for repairs, they don't know when it was back online, and the owner wa away in Malaysia.

 

So much for a special trip to BKK.

 

Can anyone please advise me on the next best option in BKK at present? I don't want to use the cheaper Fuji FDI shops, because they tend to be slightly more contrasty, and specialise in D&P mass printing rather then custom quality work.

 

Anybody have any suggestions please?

 

 

[playtheblues]

As late as a year ago there was another D-lab outlet in Soi Ekamai. Maybe they still have at least a machine running...

 

 

[the_numbers]

Sorry, is D Lab.... IQ LAB?? as in www.iqlab.co.th????

 

I just wonder because they also have outlets on Silom near THAI Airways and Ekkamai (Tana Arcade). The prints are fine if you have a print to match them to. I recommend you always give them a colour balanced 8x10 at IQ, and if not the colour correction for anyone accustomed to using pro labs in the west is not up to standard.

 

It can be downright dodgy :o

 

They now charge a premium to print to your satisfaction because they got so many prints sent back by flushed farangs raising cain in the bland lobby

 

They deserved it.

 

Either way I don't think you'll do better than that lot (IQLAB) in terms of a place that is user friendly to Westerners and easy to work with, especially if you want Lambda Prints or Lightjet (European and American version of the same thing).

 

Cheers,

 

the_numbers

 

 

 

 

[playtheblues]

Right, IQ is the one I was referring too, my mistake.

[the_numbers]

Sorry I can't be more helpful.. are they just c prints (standard) from negatives?? If so I can ask a few people and find a good place.

 

If there a lambda, which is chemical prints from a digital file either scanned or captured then you are going to be stuck with IQ if you want decent work..

 

Lemme know.

 

Cheers,

 

thenumbers

[persil]

Thanks to Stick, who sent me an almost immediate PM with referral to IQ lab, while I was still sitting in an internet cafe in Silom tearing my (almost non existent) hair out.

 

Thanks to the_numbers for advice about how to get quality, although it arrives too late to help me.

 

I originally went to what for a few years was called D-Lab Expert, which runs a lightjet 5000. When that was run by Mr Ball and his brother and sister, they produced great quality prints. I was usually invited into the workroom, and we discussed the balancing on his calibrated screen, so we got colour balance, light/dark, contrast ect exactly the way i wanted it.

 

Afte he "left", the service became more erratic. However, more or less simultaneously, I changed equipment, and couldn't always be certain whether it was my fault or theirs. But on the spot correction was more difficult, because of none of the staff speaking english. I speak some Lao &Thai, but not enough for tech details. So I resorted to getting 5x7 proofs made before printing 12x15. But that takes another few days which often I don't have.

On my last visit on Monday, they had completely redecorated (looked a bit sterile, rather then the wonderful everchanging display of work they printed from local photographers pasted all over the wall, it now has a few very smooth 'decorative' landscapes on the wall. (well, maybe I'm peeved because they took some of mine down, too)

 

But apaprently the place had changed hands, and is now called "Aperture - Pro digital lab"

If anyone want to try out the quality under new management, please let me know the results.

 

So on Stick's advice, i ended up at IQ Lab, just diagonally across the crossing on the corner of Silom.

 

They used Lambda, which I know is similar. Of course I had adjusted my files to 304.8 ppi as Lightjet wants, don't know what IQ wants because the person at the desk wasn't much help. A ditzy young girl with some english, but no idea about my questions regarding adjustment.

 

Then i saw their prices, about double those of the other place, same Endura paper. I had intended to print about 40-50 10x12 and 12x15 photos, but seeing their prices, I decided to only print 18 of the bigger size, and do the rest on the cheap in the Fuji lab near Emporium.

 

IQ charges 270 Bt for a 10x12 Lambda print, Fuji DGI at PP charges 60 Bt for same size print on Fuji Crystal Archive paper.

 

Of the 18 prints, 6 were excellent, 3 OK, the rest totally oversaturated, too dark etc.

 

The rest of the same batch, same event, same treatment by me, printed by fuji, only a smal percentage really excellent, but most OK, very few unacceptable.

The trouble is, I want at least 80-90% excellent. I can accept a liitle drop-off, but so far IQ hasn't delivered.

 

So i visted the IQ place on Pecthaburi Rd, not far from the Soi 3 to Suk turn-off. They have a small gallery which I wanted to visit anyway. I spoke to the manager there, who has better English, explained my requirements of proofs and dialogue with the operator, he said that would be possible. So that's what i'll do next time as test, plus a re-test of the renamed "Aperture proDig lab.

 

This is an ongoing saga, I'll keep you posted.

 

No standard c prints from negs for me anymore, anyone wants to buy an excellent Contax G2 rangefinder 35 mm camera with superb lenses for a song?

I am now a card carrying Canon DSLR fan.

[the_numbers]

"So i visted the IQ place on Pecthaburi Rd, not far from the Soi 3 to Suk turn-off..."

 

What is this place???

 

IQ for a fee of 20% ontop of the rates posted will match whatever you want in terms of the prints i.e. you can send it back until they get it sorted (whites white, etc.)

 

Having proofs as I said does eliminate the problem of needing the 20% fee because you just tell them to match it from the beginning and it is unambiguous if they fail to, but that requires getting decent proofs!!

 

I still print my own small prints on ra4 paper, and then use those proofs for the larger lambda prints. requires alot of equipment though and chemicals, and is not cheap.

 

let me know how things work out..

 

cheers,

 

the numbers

[colorwolf]

I use this shop for slide work, but dunno if they do digi prints:

Pro color lab

35 soi rachadaniwet

pracharatbanphen rd (off rachadaphisek)

02.691.6041

support@procolorlab.com

 

what lenses do you have with the g2 and what shape is the whole set in?

am using a g2 myself (with 21 and 90mm), could do with another set...

[persil]

I have 21, 28, 45 and 90. + 200 flash. great camera, i just gave up on film when digital became good enough. Now it's better IMHO.

 

Last time I looked excellent shape. Only prob I ever had was misalignment of auto focus, fixed under warranty.

 

The numbers; The place on Petch Rd is their new 3rd branch.

[persil]

Just found this old thread, and thought I'd update.

 

What used to be D-Lab near Thai Airways is now called "Aperture', back in business, although not dealing with small volume 'amateur' orders. quality is back to where it was before, still best to have proofs on 5x7 printed before going big. Communication for non-Thai speakers still a bit of a problem, best to arrange to go there when the (falang) owner is on the premises.

 

But the end result is miles better then what I got out of IQ lab.

 

Not the cheapest, but if quality is your priority, nothing in BKK beats this lab IMHO.