Photopass - Horrible pictures - waste of money

[pixietwin]

Several people have asked me if I didn't noticed when I was editing because the thumbnails are quite large. Frankly I was surprised to read those responses because - no, the thumbnails aren't large. Yes, you can see if there is a lot of foreground and you can only zoom in so much before you lose part of the sides. But as far as the size of the image you are editing, you cannot really tell if it will turn out blurry. I had about 10 that were blurry and I was unable to tell this from the edited thumbnails. I will see if I can upload to photobuck a few pics to show you.

 

[caybean]

I'm sorry I have had great Photopass pictures before...consistently purchasing the CD...and yet...the past trip (returned hom on March 1st)...our photos were horrible! I also have many that are out of focus, we are only half in them, etc... I am SO glad I didn't pre-purchase the CD because I only ended up buying 3.

The quality (quality of camera, quality of CM training, etc) has clearly changed and that's a shame...

I'm sorry - poor photos can be such a disappointment. I would try and get my money back...but I know that might not even make you feel better.

~ Cailyn

 

[maroo]

Several people have asked me if I didn't noticed when I was editing because the thumbnails are quite large. Frankly I was surprised to read those responses because - no, the thumbnails aren't large. Yes, you can see if there is a lot of foreground and you can only zoom in so much before you lose part of the sides. But as far as the size of the image you are editing, you cannot really tell if it will turn out blurry. I had about 10 that were blurry and I was unable to tell this from the edited thumbnails. I will see if I can upload to photobuck a few pics to show you.

I am confused.

First, I am sorry your pictures came out blurry. That really stinks!

But when I look at my PhotoPass pictures online they are full size. And I was able to crop them and make multiple copies of the best pictures. I was also able to add cool borders to them.

I guess I am just confused as to why you only were able to see thumbnails? If you click on the thumbnail, it shows the picture as a full size image, not just a thumbnail??

I would call Disney PhotoPass and explain your situation. Their number is 407-560-4300. They are open from 9AM to 1PM 7 days a week (EST).

If you call them now, they should answer and be able to help you.

 

[pixietwin]

When you say full size, what exactly to you mean? When I think of a full size picture to edit or crop, I imagine about half the screen or larger. These full size images are about the size of my finger if I hold my hand up. It is large enough to see if the photo is not centered, etc...but many of mine were blurry and the small image on the disney website did not allow to see the bur. So the full size image for me didn't show any blur or out of focus shots because the photographers used such a low resolution - and the smaller the image on the disney website made it look better than it really was.

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

We also have had great Photopass service several times now. I almost let Dis posts like this and 'there are never any photographers around' scare me out of getting the CD for our fall trip, but I finally did it and we ended up with over 300 original (before edits) picture. Yeah we have a few where we were not looking or not smiling but every photog tool mulitple pictures so we found it to be worth it. I always go in and check every photo, crops and make changes as neccessary, and add borders. We had the 'blurry' issue on a few picture (less than 10, out of 300 I'd call that a small about) during dusk and sunset but I can understand that due to the changes in the lighting. Contact thier customer service, in the past many have reported getting thier money back without a problem.

 

[maroo]

When you say full size, what exactly to you mean? When I think of a full size picture to edit or crop, I imagine about half the screen or larger. These full size images are about the size of my finger if I hold my hand up. It is large enough to see if the photo is not centered, etc...but many of mine were blurry and the small image on the disney website did not allow to see the bur. So the full size image for me didn't show any blur or out of focus shots because the photographers used such a low resolution - and the smaller the image on the disney website made it look better than it really was.

Full size to me means 5x7 - I was able to pull it up my screen and see it, much like I would pull one up in Photobucket or on my computer at home. It was large - I was able to see the pic, enlarge it, crop it, etc. I would say 5 inches high at least?

When I think of a thumbnail, I think of something that is closer to an inch high - like the avatars on this website.

Have you already tried calling customer service?

 

[lovesdumbo]

When you say full size, what exactly to you mean? When I think of a full size picture to edit or crop, I imagine about half the screen or larger. These full size images are about the size of my finger if I hold my hand up. It is large enough to see if the photo is not centered, etc...but many of mine were blurry and the small image on the disney website did not allow to see the bur. So the full size image for me didn't show any blur or out of focus shots because the photographers used such a low resolution - and the smaller the image on the disney website made it look better than it really was.

I have a 17" screen. The thumbnails are about 1"x1.5". The "full size" are about 3"x4.5". I do agree that the "full size" image isn't really big enough to see if the photos are really in focus.

They recently upgraded to Nikon D90 cameras-they were just getting them when I was there in late January. It is a very good camera but I found the quality of the photos taken in the parks just isn't very good.

 

[designermv]

You know what? I'd be upset too. The blurriness is especially unacceptable. I'm sorry they turned out so bad. For the money they charge, they should all be exceptional quality.

 

[KandD]

Last September was the first time I really "did" PhotoPass, I preordered the CD and all of my pics were really great. With that being said, we went for a long weekend about two years ago and got just a few pictures taken and they were AWFUL! I couldn't BELIEVE how bad they were! I was going to just buy one or two but they weren't even worth it. So like a PP said, I guess it just depends. I'm really sorry your pictures didn't turn out well, I know after you get home from an amazing vacation you look forward to the pictures.

 

[pixietwin]

Well I just got off the phone with Michelle at Photopass and after about a 15 min conversation, all I got was a 'nice' lecture about how at least one in 5 pics turned out etc. We went thru about 5 of my pictures, and I pointed out the problems..and she was like, well I do see that some of blurry but that is caused by movement etc. Then she added, I see that some are not blurry. Like, wow! Then she told me how they take tons of photos in case of situations like this..how I would have been in the shadows regardless, and how these are good pictures. She said she'd pass my information along to the parks to help them in training.

Wast of money on CD and now waste of time on phone long distance.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I think we've gotten the CD for 3 or 4 years now and I've noticed a definite drop in quality. I've also seen a significant increase in the number of PPP's in the parks- likely they're just not hiring quality people.

I shoot with a Canon XSi and handed the camera over three different times- each time I told the "photographer" that it was a prime lens beforehand. Two out of three tried to zoom in I just stopped handing over my dSLR after that and we only gave them my point and shoot (for those not interested in photography- prime lens means fixed focal length = no zoom capabilities!).

These aren't photographers most of the time- if they were they'd likely be somewhere else making more money! Although I will hand it to them that there are a few exceptions- I've seen some great PP pics. Lately it's just been getting worse and worse though.

One thing I was told over on the budget board though is that you can preorder the CD AFTER your trip. So you can check out the photos before even ordering the CD while still getting the preorder price

 

[designermv]

Well I just got off the phone with Michelle at Photopass and after about a 15 min conversation, all I got was a 'nice' lecture about how at least one in 5 pics turned out etc. We went thru about 5 of my pictures, and I pointed out the problems..and she was like, well I do see that some of blurry but that is caused by movement etc. Then she added, I see that some are not blurry. Like, wow! Then she told me how they take tons of photos in case of situations like this..how I would have been in the shadows regardless, and how these are good pictures. She said she'd pass my information along to the parks to help them in training.

Wast of money on CD and now waste of time on phone long distance.

Ugh, that totally stinks. They are *not* good pictures and like I said, I'd be upset too. She should have at least compensated/refunded you for those blurry ones. To be honest, we've had good experiences with PP in the past, so I probably wouldn't even take the time to preview them full-size because I would just assume that they'd be decent since they are charging an arm and a leg for them. I guess I'll be checking mine carefully for my next trip. Sorry again, I hope you guys got some decent non-Photopass pics from your trip.

 

[Docarino]

I also was disappointed with the photopass CD I purchased from my trip last year. The composition and the focus was decent- I was actually disappointed with the actual photo quality. I think that they are using a very high compression when saving the JPEGs because most of the pictures were about 2 mb in size- much smaller than I would expect the quality of the cameras they are using to produce. The photos were already so compressed and low quality that they didn't hold up to any re-editing in photoshop that I wanted to do (every time you resave a JPEG, the quality degrades, but I would expect the Nikon DSLRs that they are using to produce a picture that could stand one edit and resave). It's too bad- I love the idea of photopass but I probably won't use them this time around since my camera will produce much better quality pictures.

 

[southernbelle5672]

I got the photopass CD (preordered) for my trip in January and my pictures turned out horrible too. I will never buy one again.

 

[elgerber]

I have noticed the quality has gone way downhill also. I have gotten CD's in the past, and have been very very happy! This last October though, I looked at our pics online, and maybe 3-4 of them were decent. The rest were really bad. I would say 75% of them were out of focus. Some were so off center that half of a person was cut out of the picture. Needless to say I skipped the CD this time.

 

[Aristocath]

You know, I expect little things like shadows on faces. But the really blurry shots...What are they doing?! Seriously!

I'm sorry you had such a bad Photopass experience. We've had a few off shots but nothing like that.

 

[maxiesmom]

Ugh, that totally stinks. They are *not* good pictures and like I said, I'd be upset too. She should have at least compensated/refunded you for those blurry ones.

I would agree with you IF you couldn't see the pics before you ordered. But you can. Why order pics or the CD if you are not happy with the quality?

I guess I never thought that I would get high quality pics from someone quickly snapping away in the parks. I wouldn't imagine that the photopass people could spend time on trying to compose a great picture.

 

[designermv]

I would agree with you IF you couldn't see the pics before you ordered. But you can. Why order pics or the CD if you are not happy with the quality?

I guess I never thought that I would get high quality pics from someone quickly snapping away in the parks. I wouldn't imagine that the photopass people could spend time on trying to compose a great picture.

I think just based on my past stellar experiences, I wouldn't expect that I'd have to examine them up close and enlarged. But, now I know, and I won't assume anything. It just surprises me that Disney is putting out such a crappy product when PP has been (IME) wonderful in the past. Lesson learned.

 

[Just Giddy]

I too have had some good and some bad phots. Once at Disneyland we followed around a photographer and had our picture taken whenever we saw him as he told us he was a student and wanted to be a professional phototgrapher. Great photos too.
Maybe Disney will read these posts- and spend a bit more on training their people- ie make sure their isn;'t a shadow on the faces! .
What surprises me is that often the lighting is just horrible, way too much flash. You'd think they would have a cheat sheet of appetiure and camera setting for a particulr spot. or teah how to at least use the camers light meeter.

 

[DaniB]

I would agree with you IF you couldn't see the pics before you ordered. But you can. Why order pics or the CD if you are not happy with the quality?

I guess I never thought that I would get high quality pics from someone quickly snapping away in the parks. I wouldn't imagine that the photopass people could spend time on trying to compose a great picture.

Probably because Disney offers $50 off if you pre-purchase the CD... that's what I was planning on doing, but I'm not so sure now...

I can see that most of the time a photopass person cannot spend much time composing a "great picture" - but really, there's no reason for blurry, out-of-focus shots. And it's incrediably insane to shot the photos at a low-res instead of the highest res possible considering the cameras they use!!