Moto-Uno
Moto-Uno
ABC Photocolour or Kerrisdale here in Vancouver have been very good for years. Peter
bhop73
Well-known
I do my own since i'm just scanning anyway, but my friend uses the darkroom and is happy with the results
http://thedarkroom.com/film-developing/120-film-developing/
http://thedarkroom.com/film-developing/120-film-developing/
rwintle
Scientist by day
Here in Toronto there are fortunately some good options:
Downtown Camera - this is where I take all my 120. Good people, fast service (1-hour for C-41, frequently), decent scans.
Aden Camera - used them before, again fast service, scans are from a V700 though and take a while... and they looked notably soft as compared with Downtown.
Toronto Image Works - a bit out of the way for me, has a real student/co-op feel. Slow for scans (at least overnight) but apparently quick for dev. The one roll I took there looked fine but had someone's hair on one of the negs.
There's also e6it.ca, which is local (but mail-in) - I've heard people speak highly of his E6 processing but he does C-41 as well. No personal experience so I can't really say more than that.
Downtown Camera - this is where I take all my 120. Good people, fast service (1-hour for C-41, frequently), decent scans.
Aden Camera - used them before, again fast service, scans are from a V700 though and take a while... and they looked notably soft as compared with Downtown.
Toronto Image Works - a bit out of the way for me, has a real student/co-op feel. Slow for scans (at least overnight) but apparently quick for dev. The one roll I took there looked fine but had someone's hair on one of the negs.
There's also e6it.ca, which is local (but mail-in) - I've heard people speak highly of his E6 processing but he does C-41 as well. No personal experience so I can't really say more than that.
Frank Petronio
Well-known
A plug for my friend Edgar Praus in Rochester, New York, USA, who does a full range of professional traditional lab services for pros worldwide.
http://www.4photolab.com
He processes film for Magnum, Natl Geo, togs from New Zealand and the Middle East, the Yukon. He also makes RA4 prints, silver B&W fiber, E6, old obsolete processes, even Kodachrome (processed as B&W). All the best processing equipment... And you can talk directly to him or one of his very experienced staffers (it's a small shop but constantly busy so everybody is at the top of their game).
This is where Kodak and Fuji send their tests.
Prices are less than the New York City labs but not at the Walmart level.
Just to cut to the chase, he uses a Jobo for short runs too so as long as you have good chemistry and some competence there is no compromise there.
http://www.4photolab.com
He processes film for Magnum, Natl Geo, togs from New Zealand and the Middle East, the Yukon. He also makes RA4 prints, silver B&W fiber, E6, old obsolete processes, even Kodachrome (processed as B&W). All the best processing equipment... And you can talk directly to him or one of his very experienced staffers (it's a small shop but constantly busy so everybody is at the top of their game).
This is where Kodak and Fuji send their tests.
Prices are less than the New York City labs but not at the Walmart level.
Just to cut to the chase, he uses a Jobo for short runs too so as long as you have good chemistry and some competence there is no compromise there.
Steve M.
Veteran
I would do it myself or switch to B&W, which is a blast to do at home. Experimenting w/ all the different looks you can get in different B&W film developers is a lot of fun and cheap as chips. I always swore that if I shot color I would just switch to digital. For B&W that would be a no no. But if you're willing to learn the tighter process of home color developing that's your answer.
Sending any type of film out costs an arm and a leg, and you really never know what you'll get back. When we lived in Las Cruces, NM our local "pro" lab was infamous for scratches and getting lots of crap on the negs. On the plus side, it convinced me to try it myself and I have really enjoyed it. You can learn a lot by controlling, and experimenting, w/ every step of the process. If you're one of those shooters that just likes to go out and shoot a lot and let someone else deal w/ the processing, again, I would consider a digital camera. But you won't get that beautiful color saturation like we see in Brad's landscape shot above. Nice shot.
Sending any type of film out costs an arm and a leg, and you really never know what you'll get back. When we lived in Las Cruces, NM our local "pro" lab was infamous for scratches and getting lots of crap on the negs. On the plus side, it convinced me to try it myself and I have really enjoyed it. You can learn a lot by controlling, and experimenting, w/ every step of the process. If you're one of those shooters that just likes to go out and shoot a lot and let someone else deal w/ the processing, again, I would consider a digital camera. But you won't get that beautiful color saturation like we see in Brad's landscape shot above. Nice shot.
Fixcinater
Never enough smoky peat
I live reasonably close to NCPS, so I had them do 25-ish rolls of 120 E6 from my trip to France this past summer. They had them done in an hour and half as I didn't want a scan.
For the 10+ rolls of 120 C41 from the trip, I went with Gaslamp Photo as they are less than 5 minutes from my house. He said he would have them done the same day, but it ended up being the next day. No issue for me, but he did say he would call me back that day and did not. I gave him some weird rolls (one roll shot with a Diana that gives tilted frames, one with a pinhole Sharan cardboard camera which gave overlapping frames, and one shot in a Yashica 44LM TLR which also had weird overlapping frames which messed with his machine's auto print functions.
Great stuff from both of them, minus the small lack of follow-through on Gaslamp's part.
For the 10+ rolls of 120 C41 from the trip, I went with Gaslamp Photo as they are less than 5 minutes from my house. He said he would have them done the same day, but it ended up being the next day. No issue for me, but he did say he would call me back that day and did not. I gave him some weird rolls (one roll shot with a Diana that gives tilted frames, one with a pinhole Sharan cardboard camera which gave overlapping frames, and one shot in a Yashica 44LM TLR which also had weird overlapping frames which messed with his machine's auto print functions.
Great stuff from both of them, minus the small lack of follow-through on Gaslamp's part.
Frankd
Established
I have been using CSW Film services in Chicago. He does C41 and E6. They have been involved in film labs since the 70s. It's a small lab but good quality. Pixelmint is next door and can drum scan negatives and make huge prints that look great.
David Murphy
Veteran
I've had good results at Walmart in the past for the money at least (dirt cheap). I'll try them again soon. I've started processing my own black and white film again, but color ... well maybe - I've done it before, but it has some challenges.