Standard Photos experience

[Deadly]

After reading a couple of threads on developing digital photos at Standard Photos/S'pore Colour Centre, I was hesistant in going to them. But their cost is simply much cheaper than Fujifilm, hence at least must try try myself to see.

Camera: Olympus C2040Z
Media: Downloaded to 100Mb ZIP disk
No of Photos: 144 in 3 directories (1600x1200, no cropping to 3:2 done on my own)

I sent in my Zip disk to the Clementi Ave 2 branch of S'pore Colour Centre (not Standard Photos as posted earlier) on 9 Mar (Sat). Was told by the salesgirl that it will take about 1 week to get my photos back. Received a call on 15 Mar (Fri) telling me the photos are ready BUT they managed to process only 114 photos - cannot open the rest.

Collected the photos (qty 114) on Sat (16 March). Summary as follow:

No. of photos developed: 114 (30 not developed coz their HQ lab cannot open the files)
No. of spoilt photo: 1 only (only half the photo developed, salesgirl agreed to let me do a free reprint when I print the next batch).
Cost: 35 cents per 4R (sorry about original post!, not 50 cents which is for Fujifilm), no media handling charge if order is more than $8.
Quality: Pretty good, no difference to the ones I had done at Fujifilm (Soo Kee Colour at Suntec City).
Turnaround: about 5 working days (digital photos only developed at the HQ somewhere in MacPherson)

Overall, I'm quite happy with the service provided. Not sure why they cannot access the of my files on the Zip disk - perhaps it is really bad. I had gone back to the same branch on Sun (17 Mar) to process another 95 photos. This time I sent in a CD-RW disk that included the missing photos from the original Zip disk. Result will be out this weekend... will update this thread later.

Cheers!
Deadly

 

[Kei]

eh .. i thought standard photo is 35 cents per pic ?

 

[Deadly]

Originally posted by Keito
eh .. i thought standard photo is 35 cents per pic ?

Upz!

Thanks Keito for spotting my mistake so quickly. Update original post already.;p

 

[StreetShooter]

I'm waiting for my first batch of pictures (small order about 30 pics) to come back from Standard. Was not terribly impressed with what I had gotten from Colour Lab a couple of months ago. Will report when I receive my Standard ones, whether got standard or not.

 

[Kei]

btw, they accept 4:3 format too ?

 

[Bluestrike]

Originally posted by Keito
btw, they accept 4:3 format too ?

Yeah that what I want to know too!
At least I don't have to crop it in 3:2 format then send to them!

 

[Deadly]

Did not ask if they do 4:3. Asked about the discount though. The salesgirl told me NO DISCOUNT even if you have SAFRA or NTUC cards! She was informed by their HQ that margin is very low - cannot afford to give discount.

However, you can get their VIP discount card if you spend more than $150 within 3 months.

 

[Kei]

ah ... cos u mentioned your pics are in 1600x1200 ... which is 4:3 format and they came out alright as in exactly as they are? So i thought they support 4:3 format too ...

 

[Deadly]

Keito, my photos are sent in with original 4:3 sizing. I have not done any resizing myself. I've learnt a valuable experience processing my 1st batch with Soo Kee whereby a couple of my photos got heads chopped off due to auto cropping done by most labs.

I'm too lazy to do the 3:2 resizing. However I do look at all photos using Oly Camedia Master to ensure the autocropping would not affect the photos.

For the current batch of 95 photos, I have a couple of photos whereby I have done some creative cropping to the 3:2 ratio. Would see how they come out.

 

[Kei]

eh so u left the cropping to the labs ... ic thanks

 

[Bluestrike]

Originally posted by Deadly
Did not ask if they do 4:3. Asked about the discount though. The salesgirl told me NO DISCOUNT even if you have SAFRA or NTUC cards! She was informed by their HQ that margin is very low - cannot afford to give discount.

However, you can get their VIP discount card if you spend more than $150 within 3 months.

So get their VIP cards and what are the stuffs that come with it?

 

[azone]

Originally posted by Deadly
Keito, my photos are sent in with original 4:3 sizing. I have not done any resizing myself. I've learnt a valuable experience processing my 1st batch with Soo Kee whereby a couple of my photos got heads chopped off due to auto cropping done by most labs.

I'm too lazy to do the 3:2 resizing. However I do look at all photos using Oly Camedia Master to ensure the autocropping would not affect the photos.

For the current batch of 95 photos, I have a couple of photos whereby I have done some creative cropping to the 3:2 ratio. Would see how they come out.

Dats rite, I feel its better to crop the pics the way you like before sending. How would they know how you'd like your pics to be cropped? As deadly mentioned, heads kena chopped off will surely spoil the whole pic.

 

[Deadly]

Originally posted by Bluestrike

So get their VIP cards and what are the stuffs that come with it?

Did not question too much about the VIP card - saw a brochure on this but did not pick it up. Will ask more about this VIP card the next time. Hopefully this will allow me to get more discount on digital photo processing if I can accumulate $150 or more in spending with Standard.

How come Standard Photos got no web site???

 

[StreetShooter]

If you really want, you guys can pool your developing needs. Eg few of you send all your pictures under one name. After that can share the discount card lor.

Maybe you can call it S.E.E.D. - Sending Electronic Exposures for Development. Hmm... why does that sound so familiar?

 

[Paladin]

Got mine developed last month..find that quality not that good...or maybe my expectation too high?? There is this one particular pic in B&W where I have adjusted usinf PS but came out very much "overexposed"...

 

[mEc]

Originally posted by Bluestrike

Yeah that what I want to know too!
At least I don't have to crop it in 3:2 format then send to them!

as far as i know, they dont do 4:3 printing. they only got the 4R option and 6R, 8R and so on....
anyway, on my opinion, the printing is not really good. it is like a quality of an inkjet printer. but it is cheap... so u have to compromise.

 

[Goondu]

Originally posted by StreetShooter
If you really want, you guys can pool your developing needs. Eg few of you send all your pictures under one name. After that can share the discount card lor.

Maybe you can call it S.E.E.D. - Sending Electronic Exposures for Development. Hmm... why does that sound so familiar?

:bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[Klause]

Originally posted by StreetShooter
If you really want, you guys can pool your developing needs. Eg few of you send all your pictures under one name. After that can share the discount card lor.

Maybe you can call it S.E.E.D. - Sending Electronic Exposures for Development. Hmm... why does that sound so familiar?

:bsmilie: :bsmilie:

 

[mpenza]

Originally posted by mEc


as far as i know, they dont do 4:3 printing. they only got the 4R option and 6R, 8R and so on....
anyway, on my opinion, the printing is not really good. it is like a quality of an inkjet printer. but it is cheap... so u have to compromise.

that bad meh? the quality of my prints are fine.

 

[Deadly]

Very lao kui :embrass:
Mistaken Singapore Colour Centre for Standard Photos in my original post. Had updated the subject already and corrected some mistakes.

Very confusing one :what: Standard Photo and S'pore Colour Centre shop sign are almost the same. Both also uses Kodak colour paper... Are they under the same management - must ask this question the next time I see them.

Apologies for posting the wrong shop name originally.

Cherios!
Deadly