Film lab recommendations

[Charles D. Orze]

Hi folks,

My local processing place has become a bit spotty. Can someone recommend a good film processing lab?

Thanks,

Charlie

 

[Livesteamer]

I live in Winston Salem and have the same problem. I'm ready to go back to mail order. I did that forty years ago with Glo Color labs, long gone I suspect. You might try Dales Photo in Florida www.dalelabs.com/index.html or Dwaynes in Kansas www.dwaynesphoto.com Good Luck. Joe Showalter

 

[whitecat]

The best 2 I have found are Dalmation for B/W and A & I for color and bw.

 

[WoolenMammoth]

Paris photo on Melrose in LA is incredibly consistent for E6. Kelton labs in NYC is probably the best I have seen for exhibition printing for silver prints. They do a fab job with negatives if you dont process yourself.

 

[Al Kaplan]

I've had good results with Dale and I think that they also do conventional B&W.

 

[Frank Petronio]

Praus Productions in Rochester, New York does a large mail order business and is essentially still a three-person lab where you will talk directly to the owner or the tech working on your prints and film. They are a little more expensive than the cheaper mass-production places but still much less than the big-city custom labs. I've known Edgar Praus for 24 years and he's outlasted all the other labs in what used to be one of the best photographic cities in America -- Kodak still uses him for testing (he likes Fuji and Ilford too). Oh and he does it all, analog at least, C-41 in a beautiful Refrema, consistent E6 in fresh chemistry, custom BW, custom prints, fiber and RC, toned, exhibit quality, etc.

OK he's my friend and I write copy sometimes. But he's damn good!

http://www.4photolab.com/

 

[bigdog]

http://www.mylab.com/

http://www.mylab.com/

A mail order lab in Arizona I have used for years with a fast turn around and quality work at a reasonable price:

http://www.mylab.com

 

[mwooten]

For medium format, and 35mm film I care about I use J&D Photo here in Greenville. I'm not sure if they do mail orders, and it'll be a bit of a drive even if you are in Little Switzerland.

 

[mackigator]

Should you guys come to the mountains, Iris Photo in Asheville is excellent. Not the cheapest, but excellent. I don't know if they take mailed rolls but they do real BW, E6, the works.

 

[Tuolumne]

LTI in New York is expensive, but a great pro lab. They will do anything you want, even called me on the phone before they processed my film because they weren't clear on what i was requesting.

www.ltiny.com

/T

 

[Charles D. Orze]

Many thanks!

Many thanks!

Hi,

Many thanks for all of your replies. Chromex in Greensboro stopped doing E6 Dec. 31. Sigh.

All the best,

Charlie

 

[scottwallick]

I used both A&I and Dan's Camera City (Allentown, PA). I've been using Dan's more lately because they are closer (i.e., faster). Dan's has great people, and I'm always able to get someone on the phone. A&I is quite fine, too.

Dan's Camera City, http://www.danscamera.com/

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I have been a loyal customer of Dwayne's Photo in Kansas (they are the only ones left processing Kodachrome, so, use it or let it be discontinued by Kodak). There's another lab in CO that also works well with my chromes: Photo Craft. Of course, I have sent film for push-processing to A & I Labs in CA, using their mailers ($1.00 extra per stop). All theses places develop C-41 and silver-based B&W as well, but you have to download their order forms for each especific type of film. With Photo Craft, you'll need to e-mail them the first time you send them film, so that they know they should expect something from you.

All these places are professional labs, and charge accordingly. Only Dwayne's and A&I seem to price certain services a bit lower, but all of them have excellent reputation and I've been very satisfied with their work.