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never getting photos done at target again...

T

trOver

Golden Member
So last thursday i brought in a flashdrive with maybe some 30 or so pictures. I wanted them all to be 5x7's, but the stupid machine would default to 4x6. After getting them all the right size, it started messing up the quanities. it would say 5 copies of one picture, and 0 of another. Sometimes i wanted 0, and when i set it to 0, it wouldnt dissapear, so i had about 60 pictures infront of me, and i was tying to keep them all straight. After the guy working there helped out , (10 min later), i finally got them the way i wanted it and sent it on through.

Today (saturday) i went to go pick them up. I got to the counter, and waited 10 min. for a person to come help me. After she finallly came, and i told her my last name, it took her another 5 min just to find the pictures, because 5x7's are kept in a different drawer. The box that the pictures was in was a little beat up, so she transfered them to a new box. Now, when she did this, she didnt hold them like your supposed to (around the edges, sorta like a dvd or something) she just grabbed them, putting a huge thumb-fingerprint all over the first picture.

After ringing me up, ($97), i took the pictures out of the box right there on the counter to make sure they were OK. After looking through about half of them, i realized that %50 of them were either enlarged too big, or stretched in a weird way. This made some of the pictures have heads cut off, and big white lines down the sides. After scolding the employee ( i know its not her fault) i walked out.

The thing is, the pictures were perfect when i looked at them on the computer at my house, and when they showed up on the machine at target. I don't know how they could have messed up so much! The only reason i went there in the first place was because i read in PC magazine that they were rated the best for picture proccessing. I guess not....
 
photo printers are cheap and a worthwhile investment if you plan on printing pictures often... then you get it how you want it always.
 
Originally posted by: brxndxn
If you want it done right, go out and buy a $160 HP D7360 photo printer.. and buy some 5x7 photo paper.
Click to expand...

exactly.. for $60 more you could have bought the whole printer
 
did you change the aspect ratio of the pictures before having them printed? pictures are 4:3 out of a camera, generally. 5x7 is not 4:3, so if you had detail near the edges in 4:3 it's going to get cut off when print to 5x7.
 
OK i get that i should start printing photos on my own. My question is:

i have an Epson CX7800. IS this good enough for photoprints that are the same quality as target or walgreens?
Also- where should i get paper? online?
Also- i have been buying my ink online. Does the "epson brand" ink perform any better than off brands?
 
I think he just walked out without paying, which is what he should have done.

If you have a costco around you, check them out. I've never had a problem with them. You can do it all online too if you want. I know the online 4x6 are 17 cents though instead of the 15 in store.
 
It's far cheaper to still go to a place and get your photos printed. sounds like you just ran into a horrible situation.

You're not going to save more money by printing on your own.

I get my photos done in Taiwan for $4 NT per picture. That's ~12 cents a picture. Winnar.
 
Originally posted by: TheGizmo
Originally posted by: brxndxn
If you want it done right, go out and buy a $160 HP D7360 photo printer.. and buy some 5x7 photo paper.
Click to expand...

exactly.. for $60 more you could have bought the whole printer
Click to expand...

Printers are pretty much disposable nowadays. It's the cost of ink that will ruin you.

For most printers, if you buy and use OEM ink cartridges at retail price, it's gonna cost you pretty close to 20 cents a sheet-- which is very comparable to the price you'd pay to get them done at Targets or Costco or Walmart...
 
Wait. Someone said something bad about Target? I thought this was a "bash Wal-Mart" only forum? 😉
 
Originally posted by: QED
Originally posted by: TheGizmo
Originally posted by: brxndxn
If you want it done right, go out and buy a $160 HP D7360 photo printer.. and buy some 5x7 photo paper.
Click to expand...

exactly.. for $60 more you could have bought the whole printer
Click to expand...

Printers are pretty much disposable nowadays. It's the cost of ink that will ruin you.

For most printers, if you buy and use OEM ink cartridges at retail price, it's gonna cost you pretty close to 20 cents a sheet-- which is very comparable to the price you'd pay to get them done at Targets or Costco or Walmart...
Click to expand...


Having gone through about 10 'photo' printers in the past 10 years starting with the original Epson Stylus (which was ahead of its time at the time), the first one I am truly happy with in terms of quality, amount of ink, ease of use, speed, etc.. is the HP D7360.

This printer has a touch-screen lcd so you can pick the photos you want without even screwing with your computer. It says it prints about 150 4x6" photos on a single set of ink - AND IT ACTUALLY DOES. I get somewhere around ~180 photos per set of cartridges. Also, it's 6 separate ink cartridges.. At Office Depot, you can get an entire set of 6 cartridges and 150 sheets of 4x6 photo paper for $40. It also prints beautifully on the Office Depot brand photo paper which is much cheaper.

The printer has a built in USB port that reads USB external drives (photos only), and a built-in compactflash, SD, xd, etc.. reader that actually operates quickly. Other printers I've used seem to be slow as hell in the memory reading department.

Anyway.. it's a damn good printer.
 
Print your own photos, and don't scold the employees that's a real a$$hole thing to do. Usually in a position like that, the manager does the work and the person at the counter is just a clerk for ringing people up.
 
If you used a Kodak Perfect Machine those things suck, so many bugs, crash, mess up orders.

Most photo labs now are required to wear cotton gloves, call and mention that to em.
 
Originally posted by: amicold
Print your own photos, and don't scold the employees that's a real a$$hole thing to do. Usually in a position like that, the manager does the work and the person at the counter is just a clerk for ringing people up.
Click to expand...

yah i was pretty pisssed off by that point, but when i was leaving i did tell her it wasnt her fault. I just got mad at her because of her touching my photos.
 
Originally posted by: trOver
So last thursday i brought in a flashdrive with maybe some 30 or so pictures. I wanted them all to be 5x7's, but the stupid machine would default to 4x6. After getting them all the right size, it started messing up the quanities. it would say 5 copies of one picture, and 0 of another. Sometimes i wanted 0, and when i set it to 0, it wouldnt dissapear, so i had about 60 pictures infront of me, and i was tying to keep them all straight. After the guy working there helped out , (10 min later), i finally got them the way i wanted it and sent it on through.

Today (saturday) i went to go pick them up. I got to the counter, and waited 10 min. for a person to come help me. After she finallly came, and i told her my last name, it took her another 5 min just to find the pictures, because 5x7's are kept in a different drawer. The box that the pictures was in was a little beat up, so she transfered them to a new box. Now, when she did this, she didnt hold them like your supposed to (around the edges, sorta like a dvd or something) she just grabbed them, putting a huge thumb-fingerprint all over the first picture.

After ringing me up, ($97), i took the pictures out of the box right there on the counter to make sure they were OK. After looking through about half of them, i realized that %50 of them were either enlarged too big, or stretched in a weird way. This made some of the pictures have heads cut off, and big white lines down the sides. After scolding the employee ( i know its not her fault) i walked out.

The thing is, the pictures were perfect when i looked at them on the computer at my house, and when they showed up on the machine at target. I don't know how they could have messed up so much! The only reason i went there in the first place was because i read in PC magazine that they were rated the best for picture proccessing. I guess not....
Click to expand...

Rotten stinking place.😉
 
You spent $97 on photos? I think thi thread should be about how much you spent and not the quality of processing from Target.
 
Originally posted by: trOver
So last thursday i brought in a flashdrive with maybe some 30 or so pictures. I wanted them all to be 5x7's, but the stupid machine would default to 4x6. After getting them all the right size, it started messing up the quanities. it would say 5 copies of one picture, and 0 of another. Sometimes i wanted 0, and when i set it to 0, it wouldnt dissapear, so i had about 60 pictures infront of me, and i was tying to keep them all straight. After the guy working there helped out , (10 min later), i finally got them the way i wanted it and sent it on through.

Today (saturday) i went to go pick them up. I got to the counter, and waited 10 min. for a person to come help me. After she finallly came, and i told her my last name, it took her another 5 min just to find the pictures, because 5x7's are kept in a different drawer. The box that the pictures was in was a little beat up, so she transfered them to a new box. Now, when she did this, she didnt hold them like your supposed to (around the edges, sorta like a dvd or something) she just grabbed them, putting a huge thumb-fingerprint all over the first picture.

After ringing me up, ($97), i took the pictures out of the box right there on the counter to make sure they were OK. After looking through about half of them, i realized that %50 of them were either enlarged too big, or stretched in a weird way. This made some of the pictures have heads cut off, and big white lines down the sides. After scolding the employee ( i know its not her fault) i walked out.

The thing is, the pictures were perfect when i looked at them on the computer at my house, and when they showed up on the machine at target. I don't know how they could have messed up so much! The only reason i went there in the first place was because i read in PC magazine that they were rated the best for picture proccessing. I guess not....
Click to expand...

First paragraph sounds like user error. Seriously - thousands of people use those machines every day, do you really think they just randomly change quantities like that? And it defaults to 4x6 because that's the most common size people get... go figure. I find it's easier and faster to submit my pictures online (I've only bought pictures one time at Target, but as I recall you can submit them online).

Fingerprints aren't going to kill your pictures, but she shouldn't have done that. Glossy finish sucks anyway. 😛

$97 - damn that's a lot! How many pictures did you get? Do you have a Costco membership? Otherwise it's probably cheaper at Adorama or some other online place (and they may use better equipment than Target).

As for the cropping - that's normal. Of course they looked perfect on your computer - your computer shows you exactly what your camera took. But your camera does not have a 7:5 aspect ratio, it's probably 4:3 (if it's a P&S) or 3:2 (if it's a DSLR). If you don't want your pictures to be cropped, you have to crop them yourself (or at least on Costco's website you can indicate where you want it to be cropped).

Edit: Woah - I'm seeing $1.59 for 5x7s at Target.com - is that what you paid??? Adorama has them for $.49 apiece. Costco has them for $.39. For $97 you could get a Costco membership AND 120 prints. Costco > Target
 
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: trOver
So last thursday i brought in a flashdrive with maybe some 30 or so pictures. I wanted them all to be 5x7's, but the stupid machine would default to 4x6. After getting them all the right size, it started messing up the quanities. it would say 5 copies of one picture, and 0 of another. Sometimes i wanted 0, and when i set it to 0, it wouldnt dissapear, so i had about 60 pictures infront of me, and i was tying to keep them all straight. After the guy working there helped out , (10 min later), i finally got them the way i wanted it and sent it on through.

Today (saturday) i went to go pick them up. I got to the counter, and waited 10 min. for a person to come help me. After she finallly came, and i told her my last name, it took her another 5 min just to find the pictures, because 5x7's are kept in a different drawer. The box that the pictures was in was a little beat up, so she transfered them to a new box. Now, when she did this, she didnt hold them like your supposed to (around the edges, sorta like a dvd or something) she just grabbed them, putting a huge thumb-fingerprint all over the first picture.

After ringing me up, ($97), i took the pictures out of the box right there on the counter to make sure they were OK. After looking through about half of them, i realized that %50 of them were either enlarged too big, or stretched in a weird way. This made some of the pictures have heads cut off, and big white lines down the sides. After scolding the employee ( i know its not her fault) i walked out.

The thing is, the pictures were perfect when i looked at them on the computer at my house, and when they showed up on the machine at target. I don't know how they could have messed up so much! The only reason i went there in the first place was because i read in PC magazine that they were rated the best for picture proccessing. I guess not....
Click to expand...

First paragraph sounds like user error. Seriously - thousands of people use those machines every day, do you really think they just randomly change quantities like that? And it defaults to 4x6 because that's the most common size people get... go figure. I find it's easier and faster to submit my pictures online (I've only bought pictures one time at Target, but as I recall you can submit them online).

Fingerprints aren't going to kill your pictures, but she shouldn't have done that. Glossy finish sucks anyway. 😛

$97 - damn that's a lot! How many pictures did you get? Do you have a Costco membership? Otherwise it's probably cheaper at Adorama or some other online place (and they may use better equipment than Target).

As for the cropping - that's normal. Of course they looked perfect on your computer - your computer shows you exactly what your camera took. But your camera does not have a 7:5 aspect ratio, it's probably 4:3 (if it's a P&S) or 3:2 (if it's a DSLR). If you don't want your pictures to be cropped, you have to crop them yourself (or at least on Costco's website you can indicate where you want it to be cropped).

Edit: Woah - I'm seeing $1.59 for 5x7s at Target.com - is that what you paid??? Adorama has them for $.49 apiece. Costco has them for $.39. For $97 you could get a Costco membership AND 120 prints. Costco > Target
Click to expand...



i do not have a costco around. we have a sams club, and i am a member of that, but no costco.

i got maybe 60 pictures or so..


The thing is, these pictures were all scans of other pictures verying in size. I think this is the reason it got all messed up...
 
Originally posted by: trOver
Originally posted by: mugs
Originally posted by: trOver
So last thursday i brought in a flashdrive with maybe some 30 or so pictures. I wanted them all to be 5x7's, but the stupid machine would default to 4x6. After getting them all the right size, it started messing up the quanities. it would say 5 copies of one picture, and 0 of another. Sometimes i wanted 0, and when i set it to 0, it wouldnt dissapear, so i had about 60 pictures infront of me, and i was tying to keep them all straight. After the guy working there helped out , (10 min later), i finally got them the way i wanted it and sent it on through.

Today (saturday) i went to go pick them up. I got to the counter, and waited 10 min. for a person to come help me. After she finallly came, and i told her my last name, it took her another 5 min just to find the pictures, because 5x7's are kept in a different drawer. The box that the pictures was in was a little beat up, so she transfered them to a new box. Now, when she did this, she didnt hold them like your supposed to (around the edges, sorta like a dvd or something) she just grabbed them, putting a huge thumb-fingerprint all over the first picture.

After ringing me up, ($97), i took the pictures out of the box right there on the counter to make sure they were OK. After looking through about half of them, i realized that %50 of them were either enlarged too big, or stretched in a weird way. This made some of the pictures have heads cut off, and big white lines down the sides. After scolding the employee ( i know its not her fault) i walked out.

The thing is, the pictures were perfect when i looked at them on the computer at my house, and when they showed up on the machine at target. I don't know how they could have messed up so much! The only reason i went there in the first place was because i read in PC magazine that they were rated the best for picture proccessing. I guess not....
Click to expand...

First paragraph sounds like user error. Seriously - thousands of people use those machines every day, do you really think they just randomly change quantities like that? And it defaults to 4x6 because that's the most common size people get... go figure. I find it's easier and faster to submit my pictures online (I've only bought pictures one time at Target, but as I recall you can submit them online).

Fingerprints aren't going to kill your pictures, but she shouldn't have done that. Glossy finish sucks anyway. 😛

$97 - damn that's a lot! How many pictures did you get? Do you have a Costco membership? Otherwise it's probably cheaper at Adorama or some other online place (and they may use better equipment than Target).

As for the cropping - that's normal. Of course they looked perfect on your computer - your computer shows you exactly what your camera took. But your camera does not have a 7:5 aspect ratio, it's probably 4:3 (if it's a P&S) or 3:2 (if it's a DSLR). If you don't want your pictures to be cropped, you have to crop them yourself (or at least on Costco's website you can indicate where you want it to be cropped).

Edit: Woah - I'm seeing $1.59 for 5x7s at Target.com - is that what you paid??? Adorama has them for $.49 apiece. Costco has them for $.39. For $97 you could get a Costco membership AND 120 prints. Costco > Target
Click to expand...



i do not have a costco around. we have a sams club, and i am a member of that, but no costco.

i got maybe 60 pictures or so..


The thing is, these pictures were all scans of other pictures verying in size. I think this is the reason it got all messed up...
Click to expand...

Sam's has excellent printers, Fuji Frontiers. The problem is that there aren't too many profiles available on them (lots of Costco and some Walmart but very little Sams) and apparently auto correction is enabled by default on every print (have to disable it for every individual print from what I've read, haven't printed there in a while) so unless you have a Sams photo department that you can work with it can be a lost cause.

As far as aspect ratios go, sometimes its a crapshoot with the different ways that some printers print their edges (since they are borderless some printers just stretch the edges instead of actually printing the edges). Best advice is to make sure you have it perfect then talk to the tech doing the printing and make sure that they don't have any auto-resizing/scaling on.

In some ways printing is more of an art than a science, having your own photo printer makes it easier because you can correct for problems immediately once you see them and you have control over firmwares and inks (even if you end up paying more per print in the long run).
 
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