Inconsistency prints from different Fotohub outlets

[AMDer]

Yes. The shop lied. --> that's why I recommend NOT to go to that shop.

Vivid printing technology cannot use Fuji paper - that's what Xin Mei (Fotohub) said.

I would choose chemical also. Coz Vivid can be done easily with those portable machines that u can buy off the shelves.

 

[chanxj]

I personally prefer chemical prints too. The dye sub prints standard not up to par yet in my opinion.

 

[tim]

Xin Mei from Fotohub Management called me after I emailed Fotohub regarding this matter. She said Fotohub is not a franchise.
As to why the different quality, becoz RC outlet uses a new 'vivid' printing technology as opposed to chemical printing use at Tampines Mall outlet. So if anyone likes the shiny non-Fuji prints, by all means go to Raffles City one. Manage to find out from her Tampines One also use vivid technology. Tampines mall and Golden shoe uses chemical.

The correct name is "Vivid Print.....the future print" and its by Noritsu Dry-Lab printer; a
Dye-ink (not dye-sub) printer : http://noritsu.com.sg/index.aspx?uc=news_newsdetail&ID=19

Vivid printing technology cannot use Fuji paper - that's what Xin Mei (Fotohub) said.

Its Noritsu not Fuji.

I am not sure which Noritsu Dry-Lab model is in use at Raffles City, it could be a D703 or a
D701. But I saw the black Noritsu D701 at the Tampines One (not Tampines Mall) B1 branch.

D502
http://noritsu.com.sg/index.aspx?uc=products_proddetail&ID=37

D703
http://noritsu.com.sg/index.aspx?uc=products_proddetail&ID=36

D701
http://noritsu.com.sg/index.aspx?uc=products_proddetail&ID=27

Hope this helps.

 

[chanxj]

bro, a small correction. Its basically the dye sublimation process, thats why we call it dye sub.

noritsu can market it as whatever they want just like sony marketing firewire as i-link in the past

 

[tim]

Notice the four white inkjet cartridges on the D701 picture, Epson didn't have inkjet (heat
sensitive) dye sub printers therefore they are not dye-sub printer (notice they said dots).
Take a look at the pictures of D703 and D502 too.

All inkjet dye sub transfer and a sublimatable item must then placed into a heat press to
transfer the image.The ink is laid down onto a sheet of receptive paper and then
sublimates as that paper is heat pressed onto the mug or other substrate. Therefore you
also needed a heat press too and generally they are not use for transfer images to photo papers.

Fuji, Mitsubishi, Sony & etc are Ribbon-based Dye Sub (drum) printers. Ribbon dye sub
is not liquid and cannot contain in cartridges. With a ribbon-based dye sub printer, the dye
sub ink is impregnated onto a plastic carrier sheet, which is wound up into a "ribbon" roll/drum.

When printing, the ribbon based dye sub ink is actually heated up to the point of
sublimation as it passes the print head, and the dye is sublimated right onto the matched
paper sheet that is passing through the printer.

 

[daredevil123]

Notice the four white inkjet cartridges on the D701 picture, Epson didn't have inkjet (heat
sensitive) dye sub printers therefore they are not dye-sub printer (notice they said dots).
Take a look at the pictures of D703 and D502 too.

All inkjet dye sub transfer and a sublimatable item must then placed into a heat press to
transfer the image.The ink is laid down onto a sheet of receptive paper and then
sublimates as that paper is heat pressed onto the mug or other substrate. Therefore you
also needed a heat press too and generally they are not use for transfer images to photo papers.

Fuji, Mitsubishi, Sony & etc are Ribbon-based Dye Sub (drum) printers. Ribbon dye sub
is not liquid and cannot contain in cartridges. With a ribbon-based dye sub printer, the dye
sub ink is impregnated onto a plastic carrier sheet, which is wound up into a "ribbon" roll/drum.

When printing, the ribbon based dye sub ink is actually heated up to the point of
sublimation as it passes the print head, and the dye is sublimated right onto the matched
paper sheet that is passing through the printer.

THanks for the info. It is not dye sub. It is basically ink-jet.

 

[tim]

Yes, its Inkjet Technology by Epson, not just Noritsu, Fujifilm is in too. Most color-labs are
going into this soon.

again notice the four white ink cartridges!

Its seem nobody want to clicked and read from the links provided, anyway here' go again:
http://www.fujifilm.com/products/photofinishing/products/dry_minilabs/dl430/specifications/

Piezo-printhead mostly used in Epson, Roland, Mimaki and etc.

 

[tim]

Dye-Ink

 

[tim]

http://www.fujifilm.com/products/ph.../thermal_photo_printers/pdf/index/ask2000.pdf

 

[FotoHub]

Hi,

I would like to share my experience and feedback at Fotohub RC outlet.*

I developed some family photos last week at Fotohub RC. Was ask to collect the next working day. Upon collecting, I noticed some colours was a bit off. I asked the staff what photo paper they used. They told me it's Fujifilm. As I was rushing home, I didn't check the rest.
Upon reaching home, I realized the paper quality was very bad! Very thin and doesn't feel like Fujifilm paper. There was no Fujifilm trademark on the back too. A lot of colours was off from the original digital photo taken with my Nikon D200.

I went back to Fotohub and enquire about it. The staff insisted it's Fujifilm! I *remebered I developed some photos from Fotohub Tampines Mall recently and went to check the photo paper. I realized the outlet at Tampines Mall use REAL Fujifilm paper as compared to the FAKE one used by Fotohub RC.
They even charged me the same $0.35/pc!

The*staff told me "you should have told us you wanted Fujifilm paper ma!" after I showed them the prints from Tampines Mall outlet. They told me I will have to wait for 4 DAYS if I wanted to use Fujifilm paper. (Tampines Mall Fotohub can do it in 1 day!)**

I am totally disappointed by the inconsistency of Fotohub products from different outlet.

Does any one know if Fotohub is a francise?

I would like to ask fellow CS members to avoid raffles city outlet. Wonder how many ingnorant ppl they have 'cheated' with their cheap low quality papers.

Dear CS Members,

On behalf of FotoHub Management, I would like to clarify all the issues brought up by AMDer's posting on 8 March 2010.

Firstly, we would like to express our concern and regret that you have not been satisfied with either the service or the product that you asked for. Let me clarify.

As a fully-owned local company since 1987, we have prided ourselves in offering services and products that are of a high standard. Today, with 10 outlets, ISO certification and one of the most active online portals (www.fotohub.com ) in Singapore, we believe that we have consistently delivered what our customers ask for.

As part of our programme for continuous improvement, we occasionally introduce new methods and technologies so that our customers can receive higher quality prints that are accurate, attractive and long-lasting. “Vivid Print” used at FotoHub in Raffles City is one such product.

“Vivid Print” is an advance dry lab process that produces high quality, long-lasting prints (up to 100 years) that in many ways surpass normal Silver Halide prints. We are using this technology in four of our branches and have invested a considerable amount of capital in it because we believe this will give our customers superior prints. Most of our customers are very happy with this product.

Cost of producing the Vivid Print is in fact, more expensive than printing on chemical processed paper, and this cost has been absorbed by the company and not passed on to our customers.

For customers who prefer Silver Halide (chemical) prints, we are happy to provide this service at our other branches. In AMDer's case, we had to send her photos to another branch for printing, hence the wait of four days, a wait that we believe can be improved.

During the ordering process, our service staff did not mention the type of paper that is used at the outlet, and regrettably, this has led to the miscommunication between the two parties. As a gesture of our sincerity and goodwill, we have replaced all her photos, as requested, with chemical processed prints, free-of-charge.

Thanks to your feedback, we will implement the following changes:
1.Display signage on the type of paper used in each outlet.
2.Improved service time for printing on different paper (upon request).

To help those who are particular on the type of paper used. Below is the list for your reference. Subject to a waiting time, you can still choose any paper you like at any of our outlets.

Chemical Process
OUB Centre #03-10A
Golden Shoe #01-09/10
Beach Road #01-01
Jurong Point #B1-27
Tampines Mall #B1-24
Suntec City #02-050

Dry-lab (Vivid Print)
Raffles City #B1-44G
Forum #B1-22
Coronation Plaza #02-22
Tampines 1 #B1-24

Thank you for your feedback and comments. We hope the above explanation will help you to understand that FotoHub is a reputable business that will always seek to provide the best products and services for you and all our customers.

We will work towards better communication, faster delivery time, and of course, better prints for you to enjoy. We appreciate the continuous support from our valued customers who believe in our honesty, quality products and services rendered.

You may like to contact us at feedback@fotohub.com for any enquiry.

Thank you.

Best Regards,

Eric Tan
Director

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Message from Noritsu Singapore

The thread in this forum has drawn our attention and as a manufacturer, we would like to clarify a few points, so as to ensure that all parties involved will not have any misunderstanding and set things straight.

1.Vivid Print is the product name registered only for use in Singapore & Malaysia, utilizing latest Inkjet Technology that produces High Quality print, to some extent surpasses the Silver Halide print, especially the fine details, white and black area.

2.Apart from the superb print quality, these print does not use photofinishing chemicals, hence it is friendly to our environment.

3.Definitely these machines are not or similar to something that you can buy over the shelves, as the print from these new generation Noritsu’s Drylab are excellent in fade-resistant up to a hundred years and accurately portrays fine details due to its excellent gradation.

4.And it is definitely not “Cheap print”, for those who are in the Photofinishing business know that the cost per print is much higher than the Silver Halide print (Chemical).

5.Since the introduction of Noritsu’s Drylab in this region just a year ago, we have sold 15 units in Singapore and more than 50 units in Malaysia. Not forgetting countries in Europe and America whereby hundreds or thousands units have been sold since few years back. Our latest model D1005 just won the prestigious DIMA award in the recent PMA Show, an accreditation for its innovative design and quality.

6.As for the Backprint issue (Watermark), due to the growing demand for Photobook and Photo Album, some consumer prefer No Backprint, as they feels that it will not be nice to have something behind the pages. Though Noritsu is the World’s largest Photo minilab manufacturer, we do not manufacture paper, we are working with our reputable Alliance partner for the supply of Vivid print paper. No watermark does not equal to cheap paper.


If you are still not convinced with the print quality of the Vivid Print, we would like to invite you to our showroom to test it for yourself. The Vivid Print is definitely not inferior to the Silver Halide print. It is a matter of personal preference for Silver halide print or Dry Print, but the general trend will be leaning towards the Dry print in the near future, it is just a matter of time.

Appreciate all for the interest and contribution in this thread, I hope no one is offended in this information exchange.

Pang Seng Heng
General Manager (Noritsu Singapore)

 

[albertsy2]

i have never found a commercial shop that can give constistent prints.

 

[catchlights]

Kudos to Mr Eric Tan of Fotohub, and Mr Pang Seng Heng of Noritsu Singapore taking their precious time to reply to this thread, for providing valuable product and service info and upholding customer service. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[Dream Merchant]

Kudos to Mr Eric Tan of Fotohub, and Mr Pang Seng Heng of Noritsu Singapore taking their precious time to reply to this thread, for providing valuable product and service info and upholding customer service. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Ditto that Ben.

Too many companies adopt the negative 'keep quiet and hope after awhile people will forget all about it' approach.

What they do not realize is that dissatisfied customers never forget, and would be more than happy to spread word around. Given the speed and reach of the internet, that could have immense negative impact on a business.

Consumers DO remember efforts to be transparent, to improve, and gestures of goodwill. Even though there might be a small number who may abuse such approaches, the cost of that is still small as compared to the potentially huge number of satisfied, loyal customers and the recommendations they bring to a business. That's the power of 'word-of-mouth advertising'.

 

[daredevil123]

Kudos to Fotohub and Noritsu for their attention to this matter. Good to know that senior management of these companies still care about their end users/customers.

 

[Provisia]

Hello. We are a full service digital lab in Montreal using both the wet lab (all Noritsu) and dry lab (D701) technologies.

I'd like to add some input to the above comments:

1) Dry lab printing is more popular in Canada than anywhere else in the world. We get beautiful prints from our D701 (which is a 4-colour INKJET system based on varying the dot size instead of dithering.) This is because we have calibrated the drylab to respond very closely to our wetlab machines (2701, 3011, LPS24 Noritsu). The only difference is in the 'richness' of colour [VP Sales of nortisu in Canada told me not to call it saturation because of the negative implications in the word]. We can get neutral greys on this machine.
2) Photo paper from Noritsu has no watermark, photo paper from Fujifilm is the same product but it has a "Fujifilm quality drylab paper" on the back. These papers were manufactured in the same place. Even the FUJIFILM and Noritsu boxes that the paper is shipped in is identical except for the product name/number/logo. These are excellent papers (we use the semi-glossy or luster surfaces)
3) Our lab has technology that will give the photographer virtually identical prints even 1 year down the road (this is not Noritsu QSS stuff) but something we developed
4) We balance our machines with a FUJIFILM 'shirley' on all papers with a calibrated X-Rite densitometer to ensure neutral greys for the best colour reproduction possible (this is a step that many labs don't follow because it's not required the manufacturers of the equipment)
5) We use (for our wet lab) the best quality FUJIFILM silver-halide papers (type PD, C).

I'm not posting this to solicit my own lab - just to mention that all of the issues in this forum can be addressed i.e. consistency/dry lab prints/noritsu papers - you can't make everybody happy all the time but you can do your best. It's customer service that also makes a difference!

Mike
Provisia.ca

 

[GeonSG]

Ditto that Ben.

Too many companies adopt the negative 'keep quiet and hope after awhile people will forget all about it' approach.

What they do not realize is that dissatisfied customers never forget, and would be more than happy to spread word around. Given the speed and reach of the internet, that could have immense negative impact on a business.

Consumers DO remember efforts to be transparent, to improve, and gestures of goodwill. Even though there might be a small number who may abuse such approaches, the cost of that is still small as compared to the potentially huge number of satisfied, loyal customers and the recommendations they bring to a business. That's the power of 'word-of-mouth advertising'.

There is a difference between words-of-mouth and business referrals. Words of mouth are not needed by business as it often carries both negative and positive feedbacks because no business today can satisfied the entire market. This is also the clear reason why some business pay big bucks to strategist and marketist to create business referrals for them.

The speed and reach of internet today can cause negative impact to a business based on this thread however it is still subjected to different people's experience with the service provider. Otherwise, we could always just registered an anoymous nickname to start slandering our competitor.

This is also the reason why CASE has been setup. Some years back, a consumer tries to claim from a well known electronic company for cheating him to purchase a highend massage chair which prints "soothes the backache" in their brochure. He was rejected and chit for not doing his own tests before making the purchase.

From this thread, I personally find TS uses unnecessary strong words such as "cheat" to describe his/her experience especially when he/she claim he/she knows someone in Fotohub. Such words are just irresponsible statements which can result in unnecessary lawsuit if Fotohub is not customer-eccentric and decides to engage the matter.

If I were TS, I would have apologise especially when he/she has been offered a FOC reprint.

My 2 cents worth.