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ilikedags
21-Jul-2008, 14:20
Hello;

After hearing nothing but wonderful things about the dr5 process, I decided to give it a try myself. I sent a roll of 120 film two weeks ago from Boulder, CO (about 40 minutes away from Denver where dr5 is located). I still have not received my film back. The communication from them has also been unclear. I was told that if I wanted my film developed faster I would have to pay in addition to the almost $15 per roll for rush processing. Finally, I was told my film shipped out via FedEx on Thursday and that I would receive a tracking number. It is now Monday and the tracking number I finally received indicated that the film was only shipped out today.

I am trying to find out if someone else has had a similar frustrating experience, or if hopefully this is a one-time deal. Of course when I see the results I will determine if the process is worth the trouble and the expense before sending my sheet film.

What have your experiences been? Does it always take two weeks to get the film back? Thanks for any input.

Robert Fisher
21-Jul-2008, 15:34
no problems here - David has also always been very helpful with questions of mine

Glenn Thoreson
21-Jul-2008, 15:55
Have you talked to David personally? It could be a personel problem he is unaware of.

Atul Mohidekar
21-Jul-2008, 16:49
I have had few B&W 120 rolls developed by dr5 in the past and it was a good experience. The results turned out be great, better than I expected.


// Atul

Gordon Moat
21-Jul-2008, 17:43
I once had an issue with shipping, mostly because it was unclear about how return shipping was handled by DR5. I was in no hurry, yet that order was sent back fastest (most expensive) way possible, despite no rush for processing. So basically it does seem possible to make mistakes in shipping.

As for the quality of the process, I have always been pleased with the results. I would easily recommend DR5 to anyone. Just be very specific about shipping and including a note with your order, and you should avoid future problems or surprises.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

john collins
21-Jul-2008, 17:51
My dealings with DR5 have been very satisfactory. I think Glenn has a good idea, contact the owner and tell him about your problem.

ilikedags
21-Jul-2008, 18:37
Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences. I am happy to hear that frustrations are rare. I will contact David...I am not sure who I talked to on the phone. It doesn't help that since it was my first roll processed in dr5 and I have yet to hear someone who is not happy with the results, I'm really looking forward to seeing the images.

For future reference, when sending small orders (1-3 rolls of 120 or 4-5 sheets of 4x5 for example) what has been the usual turn around time for some of you - including shipping?

Thank you all again.

ilikedags
1-Aug-2008, 18:01
I received my film back last week and was very happy with the results...I will love to try it again soon. If anyone still cares to share their turnaround times it will still be appreciated.

bwchrome
3-Aug-2008, 12:07
..we were just notified of this post and thought we would reply.

While your turn time on this order was unusual, at times this may occur.

We have posted on our website our production turn times. These changed about 5 months ago. These new procedures were put into place to cut our production costs. The alternative would be to raise our rates once again, which would make more folks unhappy. Clients that send 15 rolls+ have priority under this new policy.

Since you are close to us I would suggest you stop by and see what we do here. dr5 is a highly customized process. We hand mix our soups, our equipment is one of a kind.

On top of trying to cut our operation costs we have always had a Quality 1st policy. Quality will reside over turn time, always! If our line is off we will not run film. If our line needs maintenance, we will not run film.

The photo industry has gone through convulsions the past few years. our run volume has been unstable, super busy one month then nothing the next. Since our process is highly customized we found it best to even out this volume. this helps us keep the line steady throughout the year.

Some will never be happy no matter what we do. If someone needs a quick turn time we usually try our best to accommodate.

regards

dw

www.dr5.com

bob carnie
3-Aug-2008, 12:52
Hi David

I totally concur with your statements.

2008 we see volumes that fluctuate dramatically with each month. Film processing is a very tough business to be in and FWIW Elevator*my lab* will only run full runs only and not even consider one roll process unless the customer is willing to process a single roll in a full run price.
3 years ago we started batching film and trying to match times and quite frankly for standard dev times this worked but once film choice, dev time deviated , it could take months to build enough film to do a single run.
This is the state of custom film processing today, custom and expensive.
Dave has offered and amazing service for years and I would not worry about turnaround time unless one is willing to pay the minimum fee to do a full run.
Imagine, not only does he need to keep his line in control, maintenence as well he needs to pay an operator to run that roll of film.
If it takes from start to finish 1 hour to produce what he does then DR5 should be renumerated for that hour of labour and operation costs.

To the OP . 1 single roll just dosen't cut it and I would be considering asking Dave how many rolls makes a run so that you can be first in line with a full run.
Single rolls here at my lab are not even considered as bringing in an operator to properly develop that film is way beyond a single roll price.

..we were just notified of this post and thought we would reply.

While your turn time on this order was unusual, at times this may occur.

We have posted on our website our production turn times. These changed about 5 months ago. These new procedures were put into place to cut our production costs. The alternative would be to raise our rates once again, which would make more folks unhappy. Clients that send 15 rolls+ have priority under this new policy.

Since you are close to us I would suggest you stop by and see what we do here. dr5 is a highly customized process. We hand mix our soups, our equipment is one of a kind.

On top of trying to cut our operation costs we have always had a Quality 1st policy. Quality will reside over turn time, always! If our line is off we will not run film. If our line needs maintenance, we will not run film.

The photo industry has gone through convulsions the past few years. our run volume has been unstable, super busy one month then nothing the next. Since our process is highly customized we found it best to even out this volume. this helps us keep the line steady throughout the year.

Some will never be happy no matter what we do. If someone needs a quick turn time we usually try our best to accommodate.

regards

dw

www.dr5.com

Nathan Potter
3-Aug-2008, 15:57
Bob and David, thanks for the processors view. I say do what you need to do to maintain process QC. As an intermittant photographer I don't shoot a lot of film. The fact is it's very expensive to get a good photograph. Considering the looking time, driving time, gas costs, film and camera costs and wow! For me, I get 1 photo about every 125 miles I drive and I take about 30 min. to an hour positioning and setting up and photographing; that's about 3 to 4 hours per photo. At $50.00 per hour that's $150 to $200 per photo not including film and equipment costs. Now that's a valuable transparency so from my perspective the processing is ridiculously inexpensive. I also don't care how long it takes to get my film back - less than 4 months is OK. I realize business people are on a different schedule but they also often have high volumes.

My chromes and B&Ws are like gold to me because they are so hard to get so I'll do almost anything to obtain first rate processing, defect free and dead on color and density. The potentially best stuff I'll do myself.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

Doug Dolde
6-Apr-2009, 14:51
The dr5.com website is very poorly done in my opinion. Text doesn't scale properly and I find it hard to navigate.

ghost
6-Apr-2009, 15:09
The dr5.com website is very poorly done in my opinion. Text doesn't scale properly and I find it hard to navigate.

Well, sh*t- thanks for sharing!

alec4444
6-Apr-2009, 22:23
I used to send my Efke 120 film there for regular processing, and they were great. Rolls sent back promptly enough (I don't remember complaining, and I'm impatient) often times with tips and notes (helpful ones, not annoying). Great service which I discontinued using when I began developing my own negs.

Agreed one roll can't be the only test of their service, but I do understand the OP's frustration in a delay given that it was just one roll. That kinda thing can be maddening....

--A

jnantz
7-Apr-2009, 05:43
i've always wanted to shoot abstract 8x10s and have them dr5 processed,
hang them in a window so they are like stained glass ...
maybe this year i will get my act together ...