Hi Barry,
I totally agree with your comments, and some of us may be placing the blame
at the wrong doorstep (Kodak). While I'm certainly not a fan of theirs, they
are just marketing what the 'average consumer' wants and needs. Yes, I said
'needs'. They think they need nothing more than, and they certainly may not
be interested in more than, a 'good' P&S. And to top the guy next door who
also uses a P&S, they make sure it's a big zoom in the 140mm range, which
probably gives them an f/11 or f/13 at that length. So, when they get their
camera-induced blurry prints back, they scream that the camera is a piece of
crap.
I know we've discussed this before, so I'll get to my point of the posting- I
was just at my local portrait studio which the owner also has a 1-Hr lab in
the same store- and he told me something that surprised me. He says his
portrait business is holding its own, while the 1-Hr lab's business is down
40%! He's thinking of closing it. Now, I know this is in a weird economy to
begin with, and it's also post- Sept 11th, and we're only about 8 or 10 miles
from 'Ground Zero' and, as such, many businesses are down from a year ago,
there just doesn't seem to be all that many shoppers going from place to
place around here. This guy has a first-class business and you are encouraged
to tell the person at the counter (who also runs the machines) what you want
from the developing, and if there's something you don't like in the final
result, they cheerfully do it over. (But they never get it 'wrong' in the
first place.)
Do you have any info as to how the place is doing where you're filling in ? I
think it's a case where everybody is just going to K-mart, Wal Mart, or a big
drug store or supermarket for their photofinishing. It's a shame, because
they don't know what good service they can get from a local place from people
who know what they are doing.
George S.
bhinderks@xxxxxxxxx writes:
> Now, while I (and the rest of us) can appreciate some of John's comments,
> perhaps it is time for us to get off our "elitist" horse. While we may all
> seek "perfection" in our photographs the average consumer is simply after
> an image that is recognizable. They are not into the "art" nor do they care
> one whit about "grain". As long as Aunt Emma or Fido the family pet is
> recognizable they are happy. How do I know -- well for the past two weeks I
> have been helping out at a local one hour lab (the one I usually use) where
> the owner's wife was rushed in for major surgery and will now be off for 3
> months.
> <snip the rest>
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