Help- scratches on transparencies!

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I just got back about 100 4X5 Velvias from a four day photo trip. I sent them off to a mail order lab with bargain prices on E-6. About 3 or 4 of the transparencies have small scratches in the middle of the film, in addition to those annoying clip marks that are always in the corners of "dip and dunk" E-6 processed film. There was also a few lint marks on a couple transparencies, even though they were all quickloads, and I've never seen any before. Although I won't mention the name of the lab in this post, has anyone else had this type of problem? Is the money saved (about half the price of the average E-6 cost) worth the aggravation? Should I just shoot more film, or should I try a different lab? To be honest, I've had a few similar problems with more expensive mail order and local processing...

[Frank Petronio]

Try www.4photolab.com - Edgar Praus's lab in Rochester - they do mail order and they have never scratched my film. You get what you pay for.

[Tim Curry]

Brian, Please give us the name of the lab. I'm sure others would like to know. If you have said nothing that is incorrect, you have nothing to fear as a result. If you don't wish to, I can understand, please tell us the name of the city and perhaps an initial or two.

[Ted Harris]

Anoher plea for the name of the lab. I havve been thinking about several mail order labs for awhile and do not want to mess with the one you just used. Also, what is "about half of regular price?" I pay $2.00 a sheet to gt the film back sleeved. That contrasts to about $1.10 when I do it myself.

[Matt Miller]

A scratch on 3 or 4 out of 100 isn't too bad is it? Shouldn't be too big a deal to fix them up in Photoshop anyway.

[Erik Asgeirsson]

Imagine if 4% of cars sold were expected to break down. I'm sure most consumers would be unhappy with those odds. Would you be satisfied if your electricity or water service was down for 4 of every 100 days, or about 24hrs/month? I know I wouldn't be. Why should a photo lab be treated any differently?

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I think we can say more like 60 or 70% of cars will eventually break down. The reason that I hesitate to mention the name of the lab is that I've had similar problems with other ones, both mail-order and local (Albuquerque, NM) that charge significantly more. Perhaps these labs view the release of liability that you're required to sign as a free ticket to abuse your film. Does anyone out there have any experiences to relate as far as how many times similar things have happened to their film?

[Tim Curry]

In the last three years of shooting, I've had just one transparency which was scratched in processing. It was a trial shot with a newly made 4x5 camera, and so was not a big deal. The lab called me as soon as they found the scratch. When I arrived, they had replaced the film with two more sheets of the same film, there was no charge for the extra sheets or processing of the original film.

I would have to call this excellent service and honesty. I still use this lab exclusively. One vote for Photographic Works here in Tucson, Az.

[Mark_3632]

Another vote for photographic works. They have never messed up any of my film. Granted I do not shoot 100's of shot at a time.