Processing of Velvia 4X5 Quickloads

[kthompson]

I have to agree with Steve...it's a fact of life that even in the best labs, accidents do happen....that's why you always double up on your best exposures and NEVER send all your film out at once, never for the same run, etc. I can remember doing a pretty complex interior shot several years ago, that took about half a day to light...our Q-Lab, a great lab with the best service I've found locally, dropped a rack on the run & ruined all the film on that rack...well, lucky for us we still had the second set...likewise, I've seen 120 roll film that had pretty bad scratches the length of the entire roll from a Hope processor...(or even worse, contaminated fingerprints from someone handling the film prior to processing). I use roller transport print processors & those are tough enough to keep clean for RC prints, but it doesn't much crud to get on a roller & mess up your film...There are problems with rotary tube processors as well, so there's no foolproof process at all....I hate to sound like a jerk here, but when I read some of these comments about lab techs all I can think of is how unpopular you all must be to the guys in the back...I learned long ago never to shoot to the edges of sheet film, and as someone who runs a standard deep tank line, all I can say is that no matter how careful you are, accidents do happen....what I look for in a good lab is one that will readily admit & alert you to a problem run, and one that handles your film with gloves....I'm more concerned with greasy fingerprints on final CTs than a couple of clip marks on the edge.

[kthompson]

Oh yeah, about roller transports....in a previous lifetime, I worked in a lab using a leader-card type Noritsu machine for c41...and can remember some pretty horrific film runs that would be perfect halloween stories....I get goosebumps thinking of them now. Before that I some experience using an old kreonite machine, and a Kodak Versamat as well...all those machines can be really buggy to use, and they do have to be kept spotless. The comments about labs speeding up film runs so they can call it a day are ridiculous as well, because E6 takes about 40 minutes or so to run in wet time, most labs run on a 2 hour interval, or run the d&d lines continuously. But the process still takes a set amount of time....you can't "soup it fast". My suggestion would be to go out and spend a thousand bucks or so on a decent rotary tube setup & some 6-step kits, maybe a densitometer, and figure out how "fun & easy" it really is. If I have offended anyone let me add: Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my agency.

end of rant