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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Trouble Printing At Wal*Mart
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 06/01/2011 10:40:01 AM · #1
Something has happened to Wal*Mart which is ruining the prints that I make there.

The basic summary is that my prints are suddenly very dark, and mottled with red. After it happened I went back and checked my files that I uploaded to them, and I saw nothing that looked amiss from my end. I tried reprinting old pictures I'd previously printed for comparison, and they now come out darker and redder than they did when I had last printed them. The Wal*Mart tech attempted to unset any corrections inside the Frontier, but that didn't help at all.

Since reprints of old images have changed, I know it is them and not me. But they don't know how to fix it, so I have to do something to try and work around it. I've tried asking about this on another website, but I mostly got rants about Wal*Mart from people who obviously didn't even bother to read what my complaint was.

It is a Fujifilm Frontier 375. It's the only one-hour lab available to me, so going somewhere else isn't an option. I already have a pro lab I use when I'm getting prints mailed to me, so I don't need any suggestions there.

Any suggestions or guesses as to why things changed?
 06/01/2011 10:44:38 AM · #2
Do they need to recalibrate?

I once used an online lab that had fantastic prices and lots of free stuff (can't remember name) and their print quality was all over the place. I asked how often they calibrated and they claimed every day, but I doubt it.
 06/01/2011 10:55:23 AM · #3
Perhaps it has something to do with the color space being used when they are printing? I could see if someone changed a default color profile for the printer it could make some serious differences in output.
 06/01/2011 10:57:37 AM · #4
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
Perhaps it has something to do with the color space being used when they are printing? I could see if someone changed a default color profile for the printer it could make some serious differences in output.


They tell me they recalibrate every day. They even showed me a graph of recalibrations.
 06/01/2011 11:00:40 AM · #5
Originally posted by schlake:
They tell me they recalibrate every day. They even showed me a graph of recalibrations.

Calibration is part of color management, but they could still have changed the color profile and not realized it.

What sort of printer is it? The Wal-mart by me has switched from chemical based photographic printers to an oversized inkjet a few years back.
 06/01/2011 11:01:31 AM · #6
If you want to send one of the problematic images to me, I can have it printed at my own walmart and see what the results are.
 06/01/2011 11:02:13 AM · #7
I don't know about your area, but I have 5 Wal-Marts in easy driving distance. Have you considered trying a different location? Personally, I think their printing leaves a lot to be desired. Are you sure you don't have any other 1 hours places? Ritz, Walgreens, Riteaid?
 06/01/2011 11:06:09 AM · #8
Originally posted by Kelli:
I don't know about your area, but I have 5 Wal-Marts in easy driving distance. Have you considered trying a different location? Personally, I think their printing leaves a lot to be desired. Are you sure you don't have any other 1 hours places? Ritz, Walgreens, Riteaid?

I've been to Socorro. He really does not have any other local options. It's out in the middle of nowhere. Awesome landscapes, however!
 06/01/2011 11:30:16 AM · #9
Originally posted by Kelli:
I don't know about your area, but I have 5 Wal-Marts in easy driving distance. Have you considered trying a different location? Personally, I think their printing leaves a lot to be desired. Are you sure you don't have any other 1 hours places? Ritz, Walgreens, Riteaid?


I live in a town of 9000 people that is 73 miles from a city. Until Wal*Mart came, I had trouble buying butter reliably.
 06/01/2011 11:32:16 AM · #10
Originally posted by schlake:
Originally posted by Kelli:
I don't know about your area, but I have 5 Wal-Marts in easy driving distance. Have you considered trying a different location? Personally, I think their printing leaves a lot to be desired. Are you sure you don't have any other 1 hours places? Ritz, Walgreens, Riteaid?


I live in a town of 9000 people that is 73 miles from a city. Until Wal*Mart came, I had trouble buying butter reliably.


LOL! That sucks, I can't live without butter. ;D
 06/01/2011 11:35:00 AM · #11
Originally posted by Yo_Spiff:
If you want to send one of the problematic images to me, I can have it printed at my own walmart and see what the results are.


Here is what I sent to Wal*Mart: https://infohost.nmt.edu/~schlake/fstmp/2011-05-25-2650-8x10.jpg

She ended up looking like a rape victim when it printed. It was horrible. I compared color settings in it to color settings in images I had previously printed, and I didn't see anything amiss.
 06/01/2011 11:39:29 AM · #12
I saved it to the flashdrive on my keyring. I'll have it printed next time I go to my wally world and see what the result looks like.
 06/01/2011 01:49:35 PM · #13
I used to be able to get pretty good looking wal-mart prints -- so good that in a crunch, rather than order from the pro lab, i'd just upload to wallyworld.

then, a new walmart was built and they moved and things are MUCH different. the new ones just look like "digital prints" and the paper they use (and the finish on it) sucks.

i don't even print my own personal snapshots there now. i suspect they got a "new" machine which accounted for the difference... maybe your walmart "upgraded?"
 06/01/2011 02:23:56 PM · #14
Make sure the "auto correct" is turned off, if I accidentally leave it on my prints turn out dark and over saturated. If it's not that, then it might be what Karma said, they might have installed new machines that aren't as good.
06/01/2011 02:40:04 PM · #15
For less than a dollar, you could try a printing a few photos at Walgreen's and RiteAid, and see if they're any better. Or if you don't need prints immediately, try BayPhoto or MPix- both fast, inexpensive and very high quality.
 06/01/2011 03:42:10 PM · #16
If the pictures are truly "mottled" meaning you are getting texture and shapes that are not in the original, I don't think it's a calibration thing. However, I would then assume they would have this problem with more than just your pictures.

Try printing a B&W photo and see what you get. That takes the color out of the equation. As far as the old files that have previously printed fine, you didn't adjust the brightness at all did you? Sometimes, if you have a new screen or a new viewing position, you adjust the brightness incorrectly based on the poor calibration of your screen.
 06/01/2011 04:33:25 PM · #17
Originally posted by karmat:
I used to be able to get pretty good looking wal-mart prints -- so good that in a crunch, rather than order from the pro lab, i'd just upload to wallyworld.

then, a new walmart was built and they moved and things are MUCH different. the new ones just look like "digital prints" and the paper they use (and the finish on it) sucks.

i don't even print my own personal snapshots there now. i suspect they got a "new" machine which accounted for the difference... maybe your walmart "upgraded?"


It still looks like the same machine to me. I checked the paper, and it is the same. I asked about the chemicals, and they say they haven't changed.
 06/01/2011 04:34:05 PM · #18
Originally posted by elsapo:
Make sure the "auto correct" is turned off, if I accidentally leave it on my prints turn out dark and over saturated. If it's not that, then it might be what Karma said, they might have installed new machines that aren't as good.


There is no option for me to turn it off. The tech tried turning off all the auto adjustments inside the printer and it didn't help.
 06/01/2011 04:35:59 PM · #19
Originally posted by scalvert:
For less than a dollar, you could try a printing a few photos at Walgreen's and RiteAid, and see if they're any better. Or if you don't need prints immediately, try BayPhoto or MPix- both fast, inexpensive and very high quality.


You have a pretty amazing idea of how far a dollar will go. Neither BayPhoto nor MPix offer one-hour service, so they aren't any good either.
 06/01/2011 04:38:03 PM · #20
Originally posted by DrAchoo:
If the pictures are truly "mottled" meaning you are getting texture and shapes that are not in the original, I don't think it's a calibration thing. However, I would then assume they would have this problem with more than just your pictures.

Try printing a B&W photo and see what you get. That takes the color out of the equation. As far as the old files that have previously printed fine, you didn't adjust the brightness at all did you? Sometimes, if you have a new screen or a new viewing position, you adjust the brightness incorrectly based on the poor calibration of your screen.


I had them reprint, and it still happened. And it didn't happen on all of the prints in the batch. And I reprinted old images and they were darker and reddish too. There isn't any screens or viewing positions or brightness associated with reprinting, so that isn't an issue.
 06/01/2011 05:45:08 PM · #21
Originally posted by schlake:
Originally posted by DrAchoo:
If the pictures are truly "mottled" meaning you are getting texture and shapes that are not in the original, I don't think it's a calibration thing. However, I would then assume they would have this problem with more than just your pictures.

Try printing a B&W photo and see what you get. That takes the color out of the equation. As far as the old files that have previously printed fine, you didn't adjust the brightness at all did you? Sometimes, if you have a new screen or a new viewing position, you adjust the brightness incorrectly based on the poor calibration of your screen.


I had them reprint, and it still happened. And it didn't happen on all of the prints in the batch. And I reprinted old images and they were darker and reddish too. There isn't any screens or viewing positions or brightness associated with reprinting, so that isn't an issue.


I was just making sure you hadn't "tweaked" the reprint because you didn't remember it was so light, etc. Have you printed a print twice that came out bad (not including the old prints)? Does it come out back every time? My guess is it's a sporadic machine issue and you aren't going to be able to fix that yourself. Wal*Mart is going to have to get interested.

Message edited by author 2011-06-01 17:51:42.
 06/01/2011 06:50:38 PM · #22
Originally posted by schlake:
Originally posted by scalvert:
For less than a dollar, you could try a printing a few photos at Walgreen's and RiteAid, and see if they're any better. Or if you don't need prints immediately, try BayPhoto or MPix- both fast, inexpensive and very high quality.

You have a pretty amazing idea of how far a dollar will go. Neither BayPhoto nor MPix offer one-hour service, so they aren't any good either.

A 4x6 print is 19¢ at both places, so you could order a couple of prints from each to judge color with change to spare. I already noted that MPix and BayPhoto would take longer. If you have to have everything immediately with full color control, get a good photo inkjet printer and do it yourself.
 06/01/2011 07:58:59 PM · #23
One might wonder why someone with a 1D Mark IV would go to Wally-World in the first place......it's not like you're scared to spend the money for a quality product.....8~)

Mass merchants are always a crapshoot because they have minimum-wagers, generally with little or no knowledge or skill manning the photo printing. In some ways, places like Office Max, and Staples, are even worse because their personnel have a little knowledge which often translates into being unable to get them to do what you want them to.....I've had issues where they wanted to "fix" one of my images because they thought they knew.....whatever. I finally got so disgusted with quality that was so all over the place that I just resigned myself to finding one pro shop (Mine doesn't even generally do photography, he does graphic art, but he's even fussier about the end result than I...) and I wait. Not that he can't pull a rabbit out of a hat and do one on the spot in a dire emergency, but I don't push that. I do my own 8x10s......in the long run, it's cheaper, and better quality, and you don't have to drive anywhere.
 06/01/2011 08:05:20 PM · #24
I've had excellent results so far at Costco -- if you already have a membership you can't beat their prices. If you don't have a store nearby, small orders of 4x6 prints are mailed free. If you use printer profiles (I don't), they have them available for every machine, supposedly updated every six months.
 06/01/2011 08:13:51 PM · #25
Originally posted by NikonJeb:
One might wonder why someone with a 1D Mark IV would go to Wally-World in the first place......it's not like you're scared to spend the money for a quality product.....8~)

Mass merchants are always a crapshoot...


Originally posted by schlake:

It is a Fujifilm Frontier 375. It's the only one-hour lab available to me, so going somewhere else isn't an option. I already have a pro lab I use when I'm getting prints mailed to me, so I don't need any suggestions there.


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