copyright proof at 1 hour labs

[kerriann85]

Does anyone run into problems at Walmart, or such place, if you take one or two gorgeous photos in for printing? "Do you have the original" they ask. "This looks like a professional picture" I took it. "Do you have proof?"
Well, I explained, the original was deleted off the CF card in my NIkon D70, and is stored on my computer. The cd on which I brought it in here is at home.
I finally filled out some form saying it was mine. (As if that PROVES anything.)

Does anyone else run into this? What do you guys do?

[Jodi Frye]

Kerri, you should be flattered But still if it were me...not so sure how I would have handled it. I've never taken anything in other than roll film to be printed. I'm unclear...what format of the photos did you bring in to be printed ?

[kerriann85]

Yes Jodi, it is a bit flattering if it didn't sound so accusatory. But....I wasn't in the mood to be flattered, I just wanted to get the enlargement, buy a frame and be on my way.
I had taken in a CD with a jpg, stuck it in the "help yourself machine" then gone home to wait an hour for the print to be finished. When I went back I had left the CD at home. I don't know if the CD was what they called "proof" of ownership? Was I supposed to bring in the CF card full of 266 other photos of dancers? (sorry, all transfered to the computer and reformatted) The young guy said "Maybe you'll want to talk to the regular photolab manager about this when she' s back from her week off."
If I wasn't so cheap I guess I'd use a different lab.

Anyhoo.....I'm finished venting. I'll just carry along a copy of their little form prefilled out for any "suspect" photos I may print in the future.
Just wondered if anyone had run into this before, doesn't look like it.

[Jodi Frye]

Oh OK, now you see I never even knew these contraptions existed....well I know about the booths where you insert your memory card and get picks printed but never seen any sort of 'enlargement print' booths. So what kind of quality do you get ? What is the name on the back of the photo paper ? Is it grainy ? Full of questions aren't I ? Ya I suppose if you had the disc when you went back they may have not have bothered with you...who knows. jerks

[kerriann85]

Originally Posted by Jodi Frye

Oh OK, now you see I never even knew these contraptions existed....well I know about the booths where you insert your memory card and get picks printed but never seen any sort of 'enlargement print' booths. So what kind of quality do you get ? What is the name on the back of the photo paper ? Is it grainy ? Full of questions aren't I ? Ya I suppose if you had the disc when you went back they may have not have bothered with you...who knows. jerks

This "contraption" is just a machine hooked up to the regular equip in the photolab that also does roll film. It lets you use your memory card or a cd, then select the picture on the screen, crop or whatever, choose a size and quantity, (I think you can even fix redeye). then it prints off a receipt to present at the counter when you pick up your pix, along with the 100 other people there on a Saturday picking up or dropping off one hour or send out or whatever. Crazy place, smack dab in the middle of Walmart.

Wonderful quality. Grainy? No. (Not any worse than the origianl noisy thing shot inthe dark at 1000 iso and hit with noise reduction in PSE3)

Fujifilm FujiColor Crystal Archive Paper. (glossy).

You can also upload to Walmart .com, then go to the store to pick it up locally. I haven't tried that though. Would produce the same copyright question I'm sure.

Any more questions?
And the 8x10 cost me 2.84 plus tax. They are currently doing 4x6 for .19
Beats printing at home!

[Jodi Frye]

OK thanks for the info ! All nice to know. I do my printing at home but someday I'm sure I'll want something larger than an 8 X 10 which is when I'll have to make some decisions on who to bring it to. Funny thing is that while we were briefly living in the Tampa area about 6 years ago I got really really good quality prints from walmart with my roll film. We came back here and I found the quality just wasn't there anymore. Doesn't matter now since I went digital ( Canon AE1 slr packed away since early summer of 2002).....but not sure I'd go the Walmart route up this way. Thanks again !