Flim developing in North Carolina

[Bob Phipps]

Hi,

I'm moving to North Carolina foot hills next month and will need a new developer for 35mm, 120, and 4X5 transparency/ BW film. Any suggestions for a GOOD lab in North Carolina. I know about Dalmation in Greensboro; they printed for my recent exhibit.

A pre-thanks for any assistance.

Bob - BioImage [Landscape, Scenic, Commercial Photography]

[John Mauser]

Try www.jwphotolabs.com in Raleigh, you can mail your stuff off to them and have it back in a few days. All the slides (35, 120 and 4x5) that I do for work go through them. I've always had excellent results. As far as B&W, I've always processed my own but I think they do that too. Goodluck, John

[Bruce Watson]

I can second J. W. Photolabs in Raleigh. They do both C-41 and E-6 processing (at least up to 4x5), they have a lightjet printer (RA-4, they even load up B&W paper about twice a week as demand calls for it), and they do custom enlarging up to at least 4x5 film (I'm pretty sure they'll enlarge 8x10 film also, but I've never had them do it).

In other words, it's a serious full service lab, and they do good work. They have fast turn around also - about two hours on the 4x5 160PortraVC I give them. Quality control seems to be excellent. My film processing results over the last few years show very little variation.

Like John, I have no idea how they do with B&W because I do my own.

[Herb Cunningham]

I have a regular account at JW-great service, good color processing.

I don't think anybody will do black and white like you would do yourself. It is not easily computerized like color is, IMHO.

I ge t JW to do contact sheets if I don't have the time myself, but do my own serious b/w.

[Bob Phipps]

Hi,
Thanks Herb, Bruce, and John. Color is my major concern, so JW sounds great. At Present I use KSK in Cleveland for color trans & BW. Dalmation in Greensboro does BW only. They are sort of a sister laab to AGx [E6 - 35mm] in Michigan.

Developing my own BW is no longer an option. As a Biologist by trade, I used some powerful chemicals to test metabolic rates. I got my thumb burned by 30% Hydrogen Peroxide in 1988, so I can no longer work in strong chemistry. Even at the dilutions of photo developing. Much of my BW is having to be corrected in Photoshop, but that is the price you pay for a stupid mistake.

Thanks again,
Bob

[Gene Crumpler]

Welcome to NC. I'm in the process of moving from Durham, NC to Raleigh NC. The above places have great reputations. I've not personally used then, as I do my own B &W and never got into color very much. I have a digital for the little color I do now. Sold my contax 35mm on e-bay and bought a 4x5 Toyo.

I just took down an exhibit in Chapel Hill.

http://genecrumpler.home.att.net

[Donald Qualls]

I have no experience with them, but I've been pointed to Mastercolor, also in Greensboro, for things like 120 and LF C-41. From what I hear, they don't do E-6 any more, and I doubt they handle B&W.

However...

Bob, can your thumb (or whatever was sensitized by the peroxide burn) handle coffee, vitamin C, and laundry chemicals? If so, you can probably work with B&W using Caffenol C developer and simple, dilute, one-shot hypo fixer, and nitrile gloves. Then you won't have to correct everything in Photoshop (or if you do, you can at least adjust you process for the next time).

[Bill Stice]

Bob, I too use JW Photolabs and they do excellent work. I've been going there for over ten years and have always had great results. If you were close by their normal developing is two hours after dropoff for E-6 processing and two hour on C-41 developing only . I usually have my C-41 stuff processed by them and scan and print it myself.

[kthompson]

jw is okay for color--they have one of the few lightjet machines in NC, the other one is at Quality Chrome in Charlotte. QC had the first one in the area between DC and Atlanta actually, fwiw. JW does good work on the lightjet and they make good cibachromes as well as have about the only Q Lab in the Triangle. Their dupes are pretty good, c-prints are good, they are one of the only labs in the triangle area that offers first surface mounting and they also have a good capability to do cold & heat mounting onto various subtrates with lamination as well. This is the sort of work they do for the place I work for, and it's really because they're one of the last places left in the state left that do this, than anything else. When it comes down to it, there are better labs, just not in the immediate vicninity.. A lot of labs have gone out of business in the past few years. Most were casualties of digital, more than anything.They timed the transition wrong....JW--they have very keen business sense in many ways, but aren't the best lab in town ever, only the last one still in business....I'd be lying if I said they were perfect, like most working photographers in the area, I have good stories & bad stories I can tell of the labs here. The one lab I can think of as THE one I'd recommend?Out of business---RIP--Image Associates.