Jeff Rodier
SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
Some of the new DSLR's will accept the old lenses but you need to be sure they are fully functional with the DSLR body.
How would that Canon AE1 work in a digital studio??
...Of course, what one person would consider an acceptable scan would be considered by another person as a file to be deleted and done right.
Jerry, of course scanning negatives is a "piece of cake" if you don't care what the result looks like.
Yes, photo CD machines can quickly process and scan negative file,..... And no one would suggest that the results were commercial quality.
And then you consider going into digital imaging (is there any other kind now?) with abilities that any slightly motivated customer can buy off the shelf at a local Best Buy and do it for himself.
What I offer is 9 years continual experience in the field and an array of equipment that will produce results superiors to what mass merchandisers offer.
Back to the main topic. Think of what you’re saying about quality in digital imaging? Offer a service that’s “just good enough” as opposed to work that meets industry standards.
Now as an experiment, someone take a color negative, say 35mm, slap it into your consumer or prosumer scanner and scan it at the scanner’s highest optical resolution (know what that means?) and then print out a 30 x36 poster. We do that a lot.
Almost everybody who comes to me wants the best I can produce, even the amateur photographers. In fact, they can be the most demanding because they don’t realize the limitations inherent in capturing and printing excellent images. I’m serious, no one has walked into my lab and asked for snapshot quality work. As to art reproduction, I’m not going there except to say that even the amateurs demand top quality work.
I’m just offering experience I’ve gained the hard and expensive way here; I’m not trying to sell anything. There is a lot to learn about digital imaging and the learning curve is steep. You have to know enough about it to know what it requires to be done well.
And, Jay, the "affinity I have for myself" is fortunately shared by my close friends. I find that remark somewhat revealing coming from a stranger to whom I extended full hospitality and spent half a day business with answering questions and demonstrating how our business worked.
Im also thinking of buying one of those Kodak document scanners and selling "shoebox" scanning services. You know 300 prints scanned in five minutes for $49.95. What do you think? It's becoming a big business for the photo lab crowd.
Framing has always been that way. Dad started framing with a manual miter saw, shopsmith, and a mat cutter. Yet many won't put together this $200 collection of tools and frame for themselves. Digital imaging is much more expensive to get started but can be done from tools gathered at Best Buy. Yet many won't - ever. A little skill and a few tools and you will be able to offer a service to your customers that even if they could, would never do themselves.
That tells me that there is at several different ends of the market. Everybody including yourself knows that. Why is it that the end you operate at the only one you respect?
Personally, it's not worth my time to do those simple jobs jpaul is doing.
Easy money in my book.
Canon AE1 It's about 30 years old but is still good ;-)
This is like arguing with someone about whether or not the world is flat.
I continue to be amazed...
I won't even pretend that I am playing even in the shallow end of this pool. However I agree with Jay, that many consumers won't enter this market themselves.
.....
I just did 17 scans/18 prints yesterday and with tax it came in just pennies under $100. I sat behind my counter and scanned them when I had down time. There are all ends of the market and ways to make money.
I have had many pieces come in where some local business has scanned an old photo and now the customer wants it framed. The piece is horrible and i know that I could do a much better job. I usually ask if they still have the original and if so I offer to make it better for them.
Enhanced Matte is the best all around non-archival paper out there. I also use Velvet, Fine Art Watercolor, Ultra-Smooth Fine Art and Epson Canvas. These are all Epson products and the profiles are right there so there is no rocket science involved. .
Your setup of printers, papers, and scanners sounds a lot like mine, and I would think it would satisfy the needs of the vast majority of the consumers that come into our shops.
Out of the thousands of Grumblers, I would be willing to bet only a handful could afford or have the desire to spend 50K to 100K on digital printing equipment. IMO
The rest of us will buy what we can afford and print out hundreds of nice photos and prints on our off the shelf printers, scanners, and cameras.
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