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Thread: US processing labs

  1. #1

    US processing labs

    I'm looking for a reasonably priced processing lab in the US I can mail my exposed 4x5 negatives to. There's a lab in town (Memphis) but they're a little pricey and I've heard a few negative remarks regarding their work.

    If you send your exposed negatives to an out-of-town lab, what has your experience been (regarding price, turn around time, quality of lab, etc)?

    Thanks in advance!

  2. #2

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    Re: US processing labs

    BWC Imaging in Dallas.

  3. #3
    Daniel Stone's Avatar
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    Re: US processing labs

    Black and white, or color negatives?

    If color, I've had great luck with Samy's in Santa Barbara, its $1.50/sheet + return shipping. Great service, and they're very quick on turnaround times(although NOT open on the weekends). They also offer E-6 processing for $1.70/sheet (4x5) and $5/sheet for 8x10(same price for C-41 8x10 as well), just in case you shoot 8x10 as well !

    I just got off the phone with them, their website is currently down for maintenance(b/w they're merging it with the Samys Camera website), however, if you send an email to the address below requesting the mail-order form for C-41 processing, they'll happily email it to you ! You can also call them at the phone # listed below if you have any questions. They're open until 6pm most days.

    sbminilab@samys.com
    (805) 963-7269

    btw, a $5 Flat-Rate envelope/box usually works great for 1-2 boxes of exposed film there and back.

    -Dan

  4. #4

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    Re: US processing labs

    I second the recommendation for Samy's Minilab in Santa Barbara.

    I just used them for the first time with 6 rolls of 120, C41 and E6...all perfect at $5/roll.

  5. #5

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    Re: US processing labs

    http://4photolab.com/ is Edgar Praus's lab in Rochester, they do mostly mail order from around the world, top-notch work, reasonable prices, they do everything a real pro lab should do. Call and you talk to the person working on your order. Very popular with members here.

  6. #6

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    Re: US processing labs

    I'll second Praus; fine QC for me. Old Kodak quality incarnate.

    Nate Potter, Austin TX.

  7. #7

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    Re: US processing labs

    I was using Samy's and they did fine for a while, but I recently send a large batch of film from a big project and they botched it. The film had mottling and drip marks along the edges.

    I may try Praus but for now I'm now using Taylor Photo, they're in Princeton, NJ (sort of local for me) but I think they'll take mail order. http://www.taylorphoto.com They do a good job with the processing but you need to remind them to keep the hanger clips close to the edge of the film. I don't know why you need to remind them of this, but if you don't you may get the clips 1/4 inch into the image area. If you remind them, however, they do great.

    For you Praus users I have a question: for 4x5 C-41, do they put the hanger clips on the long side of the film or the short side? I prefer the latter since in that case they get cropped out on my print sizes.

  8. #8

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    Re: US processing labs

    on the top, short side

  9. #9
    Daniel Stone's Avatar
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    Re: US processing labs

    Noah,

    could you post a sample of the "mottling"? I had this a little bit on some 8x10 sheets I sent them a few months ago, but it was so close to the outside edge of the negative that it didn't affect the shots due to cropping while scanning.

    pretty please ?

    not that I'm tied to the hip lab-wise, I've had great results so far from them, but if this is becoming more of a problem, I'd like to not risk it .

    thanks

    -Dan

  10. #10

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    Re: US processing labs

    Thanks frank. I'll probably give Praus a try, sounds like a great lab. Taylor isn't bad but it's just far enough of a drive to be a pain in the neck.

    Dan--The mottling in the sky was only on a few frames and I didn't keep those scans, but it's normal C-41 mottling. The edge drips were the bigger problem.

    I mostly scanned photos without the problem since I shot duplicate frames of each photo. But I think I have a few scans. I'll look around and post something tonight or tomorrow.

    I wouldn't say any photos were ruined, but some frames had to be cropped more than I would have done otherwise. Of course with 8x10 the same size edge flaws might fall outside of your scan.

    I had been using Samy's since the end of last year and had sent them hundreds of sheets with no serious problems. Well not too serious, now that I look back there were other more minor edge issues I hadn't noticed at the time. Figures the problem would get worse when I sent them film from my trip out West. Also, the fact that they put the clip marks on the long ends of the film means I need to crop more neg than I would like to maintain the 4:5 ratio for my prints.

    It's a shame, Samy's was so cheap. But I probably won't use them again.

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