[PAhunter]

Guys,

Why is it when I get my digital photos developed at a 1hour lab like Walmart or a Walgreen the top and the bottom of the photo is cut off? I am tried of having the top of someones head cut off or having the time and date cut off my trail cam pictures.

PAhunter

 

[Jayhawk]

Guys,

Why is it when I get my digital photos developed at a 1hour lab like Walmart or a Walgreen the top and the bottom of the photo is cut off? I am tried of having the top of someones head cut off or having the time and date cut off my trail cam pictures.

PAhunter

Sometimes the machine is on autocrop (notsure of the exact term). Make sure to tell them that you want your pictures to show whatyou want.

Also some cameras picture output is bigger than the picture itself. You would have to see how that process works. I work at Wal-Mart and had that happen and asked the techs why and they showed me. They were able to manually crop the picture the way I wanted.

 

[BowmaxR]

Answers to 1 hour photo lab problems

Hey PAhhunter, well I am new to archery and could not help with any of those questions. But I am a professional photographer so I believe I can shed some light on your problem. It's something called aspect ratio. Most consumer digital camera's capture a 4/3 aspect ratio, all DSLR camera's capture a 3/2 aspect ratio. A 3/2 ratio or 2/3 depending on how you hold you camera converts perfectly to a 4x6 print. Standard at all labs. A 4/3 or 3/4 converts to some like a 4.5x6 print. So what I assume is happening is that you are losing a 1/4 of an inch on the top and botom or on the long side. There is no real solution, but I will suggest to things for you. So digital camera can change their formats. You will need to look at your manual or navigate your menus in your camera. The next is know that this will happen and try to capture a wider view. I hope I have shed some light on this for you.

Oh, I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night

 

[Pheonix34]

I manage a one hour lab, and both above replies are spot on. I'll try to explain it another way too...
Look at a piece of 35mm film (negitive) The aspect ratio is 2/3. That means that one side is 50% larger than the other. So, a full frame print from 35mm would be 4x6, 8x12, etc. Ever notice how a little bit gets cut off an 8x10 also?? Thats why. The industry standard is 2/3 and probably always will be.
Now, a digital pic is NOT 2/3, and actually varies on the equipment used. For sake of arguement, lets say it's 3x3. When you enlarge a 3x3 equally on all sides it becomes a 6x6, 9x9, etc.(or anything inbetween.) So, if we enlarge a 3x3 to 6x6, then make a print on 4x6 paper, you're going to lose some, one inch off each of two opposite sides.

The printer will automatically alighn itself off the smaller side, thus cutting off the excss pic from the top and bottom (assuming you shot a landscape (horizontal) picture. The tech can adjust for this and manually decide what will be cut off and what won't. But, most labs won't do this because it means taking more time and correcting each photo. Find a lab that will.

I get lots of trail cam pics and fix everyone of them. If you get a nice buck pic, I've even been known to slip a free 5x7 into your package

Hopes this helps.