Supermarkets they do everything don't they from baked beans to widescreen televisions and not to forget photo processing.Well having an hectic life and not a lot of free time i decided to give the service a go and here's what i found.
The Store- The local Tesco store in our town is only a few years old and is situated local to our home thus making it very convienient to use.It is one of the Tesco extra stores(those are the ones that stay open for 24 hours and they not only sell food but a large amount of non-food items.
The photo section- I must say that on first entering the store the photo section is not easy to find and is tucked away at the back of the store along with alot of the electrical items.On venturing further into the store the photo section becomes more visible with a nice large sign hanging above the counter.My first impresssion is how clean and modern the section looks,with ample counter space and several tills should there be a big rush of customers
they shouldn,t have any problems coping.
The Prices- This is where a company like Tesco is very strong they keep a close eye on there competitors and are usually quite well priced.Please find below a sample of tesco prices.
6"x4" (15cmX10cm)Glossy 1+ 15p each 50+ 10p each 100+ 7p each 150+ 5p each
7"x5" (17.5cmX12.5cm)Glossy . 1+ 20p each 50+ 14p each 100+ 12p each 150+ 10p each
Please note that the above prices are for digital printing on one hour service(these prices are always subject to change).You will also find that in the peak photographic period (summer)there is usually a lot of price reductions and special offers on.
The staff. I found the staff to be well dressed and smart looking in there uniforms,i also observed that they were wearing cotton gloves when in the photo area(this stops greasy finger marks getting onto your photo's when they are being handled).All the members of staff that i could see were wearing name badges and the section seemed to be sufficently staffed.The initial greeting i was given from the member of staff was warm and friendly and made me feel at ease.On explaining that i had some digital photographs that i wanted printing i was presented with the service options and the prices, I was however not offered any extra services like red eye removal or transfer of my prints to CD(having used lots of other retailers in the past i knew that these services were available)and i found when i asked more questions that the staff at Tesco struggle to give anything other than the most basic of information and lack some of the expertise of other providers of the same type of service.
The Machinery- Tesco photo-labs use digital machines this is a bonus because you will always get better quality prints from digital machines(on speaking to another customer he told me that the machines were german in make and were quite new technology).They also had a Kodak kiosk very similar to other retailers but rather than being a standalone unit this was connected to the main printer in the minilab.I liked using this because it allowed me to control what kind of editin if any i wanted to do to my prints ie zoom and crop,convert to black and white,lighten brighten or remove red eye.It also has a scanner attached so if you have any old phto's you want to copy you can just pop in and have them reprinted.The software on the kiosk was very user friendly and quite easy to use(only took me a few minutes to get used to so it must have been easy to use).
The prints- Now because i was checking for convienience i decided to have them processed on the same day,you can have a longer service like 24hr as this is lower in price.Below is a review of the print quality
Colours-these seemed a bit flat and were not very vibrant,they were actually not as good as my epson printer at home.
Density-this seemed ok the pictures were not to dark and seemed to be a good reproduction of the original setting
Paper-The photo paper felt like good quality and there were no marks or scratches or blemishes on any of the photo's i had recieved.
Photo Folder- The folder that the photo's came in was very flimsy and was poorly made,this was a big let down and not really suitable for storing and protectin photographs.
Overall- The picture quality was ok but it didn't wow me.
Summary- The service offered by Tesco is not the best service you will find but it is also not the worst service you will find.They seem to have the latest technology and tools to do the job but the staff seems to be lacking in knowledge and training which is a shame because i'm sure the end results could have been better(you may find picture quality in other Tesco stores may vary depending on the amount of experience the staff have).The price is very reasonable and the general customer service of the staff acceptable.If you have to have a low priced service then this is it but if you value quality you may want to shop around.
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I must admit I was a tad disappointed by the tesco photo service aswell, the last lot of films I took in, I desperately needed to get on CD aswell as there were 2 photos I needed to paste together (of all my mother in laws grand kids before one emigrated to aussie) and of course in the rush of handing them in whilst trying to remember all the shopping I had to get I totally forgot and as I was never asked if I wanted additional services it didn't come back to me until I was at home by which time it was to late. So no pic for nanny (I only hope I can take the negatives in somewhere and get a CD made)
This Tesco Photo Restyle Software is photo creation and picture editing software for all ... more
your imaging needs. Photo Restyle is compatible with all digital cameras so you can edit your pictures. Use the 90 filters to improve quality and touch up your p...
Postage & Packaging: from £4.85 Availability: refer to website
May 2nd, 2006
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