Quote Originally Posted by mandoman7 View Post

Not to make light of the situation, but, things happen when you hand your negs over to another person. It'll drive you nuts but it going to happen occasionally. If the service provider is a quality person, it could be an opportunity to form a bond around the civility that's maintained.
I worked in an E-6/Cibachrome lab for a few years. No matter how careful you are, despite your best efforts, stuff happens. I don't believe there is a lab in the country that has never damaged somebodies film-thats what all the disclaimers are for. Putting your film in the hands of a third person has inherent risks that are just part of being a photographer. Hell, I have damaged a fair amount of my own film-fire me! It always is a serious loss, but it is an unfortunate part and parcel of the business. Film is a very fragile and delicate object.

As a commercial architectural photographer, I have had probably thousands of transparencies scanned over the years for books and magazines. Some of my the most widely published images (repeated stock sales) are trashed from repeated handling by even competent labs.

FWIW, These days for my art work I try to get the best scan at the highest resolution and then stick the neg in my safety deposit box. These negatives have tremendous potential value both financially and historically-many of the pristine landscapes and buildings that I photograph don't exist anymore. Personally, though I have not tried many of the shops mentioned here, I have been very happy with Lenny Eiger's treatment of my negatives and the quality of his scans. There is no-one here locally that I am aware of that can begin to match his craftsmanship.