Amazing! Found great film lab in Chiang Mai: Back to film?

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Nowhereman

Guest
Found a first rate film lab in Chiang Mai. They hand develop all sorts of film: B&W, C41 and E6, with care and precision — no scratches or dust, correct developing times and temperature, unlike the largest lab in Bangkok. They also make darkroom prints and have a rental darkroom — and they're also good at scanning the negatives. They even do stand development.

They also have a gallery for exhibitions and a small cafe. It's called UNG Handcraft Darkroom Shop & Gallery, located in the old town center, near one of the most famous temples, Wat Phra Singh. Very reasonable prices, as you can see on their website: see link below.

This lab is run by two young women in their twenties, who learned to love film at university. Their names are Taa and Ung (pronounced "Ang"). They told me that an important segment of their clients are high school students, who learn darkroom photography at school: some of them, after going on to digital, come back to film because they liked it.

Here is the lab's website: www.ungshop08.com
...and here is the Facebook page (mainly in Thai): www.facebook.com/UNGSHOP08

After learning about this lab, I shot three rolls of Tri-X with my Leica M6 that I hadn't touched for ten years. I was blown away by the results — and am now considering shooting exclusively with film and selling my M-Monochrom and M9-P. You can see some of these film shots as well as shots with my MM and M9-P in the RFF thread below: shots that I'm looking at in order to decide whether I should go back to shooting exclusively with film. Looking at these pictures, I could argue either way, but am leaning to film. I'd be interested in your views: www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155090
 
I vastly prefer the film images in that thread. The digital images have a smooth, b&w-HDR look to them which looks painfully artificial when viewed side-by-side with the film images.

I say go back to film! But maybe don't sell all your digital equipment until you're 100% sure for yourself.
 
Tack för det, Mani. (Jag har bott in Stockholm fem år när jag var barn.)

Need all the encouragement I can get to go back to film — in view of the scanning issues. In any case, I won't decide until at least for three weeks.
 
I used UNG while I was in Chiang Mai and they were awesome!

Did a great job processing both B/W and C-41 and they were really sweet.
 
I wish it would be easy to find a film lab in Phnom Penh or Cambodia as well. At least I managed to find a rental darkroom what allows me to continue film photography while staying here. All remaining films will be taken to Thailand the next time I stop there! 😉
 
Pacco - if you're going to get film developed in Bangkok the largest, well-known labs aren't that good. The two owners of UNG lab in Chiang Mai recommended and small Bangkok custom lab run by their photo teacher. The trouble is that I don't recall the name, and I won't be back in Thailand until October. You could phone Ung lab in Chiang Mai and ask Taa or Ung for the name.
 
Here's a photo of two customers at the café at the front of UNG Lab, from a roll developed by them:


M6 | Summilux-35 FLE | Tri-X @ ISO 400 | Stand development for 1 hour in Rodinal 1:100, gentle inversion after 30 minutes.

Chiang Mai
 
pacco said:
Nowhereman, thanks for this suggestion!

michaelbialecki, where do you go for film development?
Click to expand...

For color developing and scanning, I use a lab on Lad Prao, across from Cental Lad Prao (shopping mall), it's called Color Image 089 200 7817 (cell) and 02 939 2624 (land line)

I develop my own black and white film, I have a private darkroom.

Cheers, michael
 
I sometimes wonder if it wouldn't be better if I stopped developing my own film, as much as I enjoy the results of that, and went back to sending it out to a good lab. There was something freeing about that, and you could just focus on getting the shot. That's really the important thing, yet we tend to get all hung up on bokeh, lens IQ, grain, choice of developer, and all these side issues. It suits me better too, vs all the fiddling around w/ the developing. The printing, if the neg is good, is a piece of cake, so I would want to still do that.
 
michaelbialecki said:
For color developing and scanning, I use a lab on Lad Prao, across from Cental Lad Prao (shopping mall), it's called Color Image 089 200 7817 (cell) and 02 939 2624 (land line)

I develop my own black and white film, I have a private darkroom.

Cheers, michael
Click to expand...

Great, thanks for the information! I took a bunch of Kodak Porta 400 films with me the last time I returned from Europe, now I can happily snap them away. Film labs in Phnom Penh are really bad..
 
Pantani studio update, hand dev/print B&W C41 and E-6, a darkroom out the back
Has been there a few years, run by an enthusiastic approachable guy. Who finds the time to work on a major project once a year
Say's he will get an assistant to help out in the next month or so, freeing up his time.
Seemed to have some darkroom supplies, a great library of photo books and some nice prints on the wall.
Not the easiest place to find first time out, but worth the effort.
Maybe a similar model to UNG
 
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