Good Films and Development UK

[infinitydreams]

Hi, just waiting for my Olympus 35RD to arrive and want to order some film online.

Can anyone recommend some good B&W film and some Colour Film?

Also where in the UK is a good place to get my films developed, printed and also converted to digital (so I can show you how I'm getting on being a newbie).

 

[cosmonaut]

Black and white, Tax 400 or Trix, Ilford HP5
Color, Kodak Ektar.

 

[infinitydreams]

Thanks....I'll have a look online for good UK suppliers.

Just went to look at your domain but it needs renewing.

 

[simon8201]

I'd recommend starting off with c41 film both black and white and colour as it means you can ge it developed anywhere. I like Fuji Reala for colour and Fuji Neopan 400CN both available from 7dayshop very reasonably. I then send them off to photoexpress in Hull and they come back two days later scanned to cd for £5 per film (I don't get prints) Quality of the scans is very good.

 

[a.whitt6448]

Not sure about development, but I would certainly recommend AG Photographic for buying films.
www.ag-photographic.co.uk

 

[infinitydreams]

Has anyone used http://www.photofilmprocessing.co.uk/ for film processing?

 

[Dralowid]

I'd say Peak Imaging, very good service by mail. Look 'em up.

Michael

 

[Michael Markey]

Boots are still doing their buy two get one free on colour films, XP2, BW400CN and HP5.
This compares well with Ag photo and other on line prices.
I get my C41 done at the local Max Sp.
With the HP5 , I either do it myself or send it to Ilford.

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/home.asp

 

[John Lawrence]

Not sure about development, but I would certainly recommend AG Photographic for buying films.
www.ag-photographic.co.uk

+1 for these guys.

John

 

[thegman]

Peak is a great processor, can be expensive, but very good indeed. Genie Imaging, are cheaper, take a little longer, but still good.

For buying film, I like AG Photographic.

 

[John Lawrence]

A few places I've used for processing, printing etc:

http://www.peak-imaging.co.uk/

http://www.club35.co.uk/

http://www.metrocolourlab.com/

Hope this helps.

John

 

[citizen99]

Has anyone used http://www.photofilmprocessing.co.uk/ for film processing?

I've used them for 120, also
http://www.club35.co.uk/ (also for 120),
both good.

 

[infinitydreams]

Ordered some HP5 and Kodak Ektar so when I've shot those rolls and got them processed I'll put a few pics online to show you all how successful/unsuccessful I've been with my Olympus 35RD.

 

[John Lawrence]

Ordered some HP5 and Kodak Ektar so when I've shot those rolls and got them processed I'll put a few pics online to show you all how successful/unsuccessful I've been with my Olympus 35RD.

Look forward to seeing them.

Have fun,

John

 

[johnamazement]

Another vote for Photo Express for C41. Low prices and extremely fast (same day) turn around.

 

[j j]

Another vote for Photo Express for C41. Low prices and extremely fast (same day) turn around.

Me too. Good for price and turnaround. I find their scans so-so, but fine for assessing which ones to scan properly and OK for Flickr and whatnot.

When I have E6 or something I hope will be special, I go for Peak Imaging (but their scans are too expensive for me to care to try them out).

 

[Haigh]

Lab in UK

Lab in UK

D S Colour Labs Ltd gets a very strong recommendation from a photographer whose work I much admire.

Best of luck.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Invest in a small pocket notebook and a pencil and walk round the local shops. Boots do 3 for 2 prices from time to time and discount film when short dated; often you can get both in one go. Film will be OK for a week or four beyond the "develop by" date. Some of us still use B&W APS film and can't remember when they stopped making that in the 90's, perhaps?

Morrison's supermarket does Fuji C200 in 24 exp's at £7 for 3 cassettes; good for testing local 1 hour labs (some good and some so-so imo).

Go on ebay.co.uk and look at item no: 290519603437 (Kodak ColorPlus at 5 for £8-50 in 24 exp's; that's £1-70 a can), dirt cheap and good for testing etc.

Look at all the other things they do when looking at the above film on ebay; f'instance sample packs of 3 B&W films (Agfa APX and Kentmere 100 and 400 from memory). Plus everything else in the film line, including 5"x4" sheet.

Look at 7dayshop on the www.

Above all, write it down, sort out the delivered price and then make a choice.

Labs that suit you will probably be one local 1 hour place and Peak or Ilford for B&W. And thanks to the Govt there's a lot of small one man and a dog firms advertising B&W developing and scanning services. But your 1 hour lab may be happy to develop and scan for about £3 or so a film. Asda locally suit me fine...

Regards, David

PS (Edit) Just noticed jj's comments re😛eak - their scans are excellent, imo

 

[j j]

David

I expect that Peak does excellent scans. But 20 or 30 films worth of scans buys a wonderful scanner and I bought the scanner.

John

 

[David Hughes]

David

I expect that Peak does excellent scans. But 20 or 30 films worth of scans buys a wonderful scanner and I bought the scanner.

John

Yup, I agree but the rate at which I get B&W's scanned is such that the scanner would be old fashioned by the time I get to 10 films. OTOH they have enough going through the system to up grade their scanners quite often and I've noticed that they do, showing how little I use the service. And, in my little world, scans are only needed for cataloguing nor printing.

Regards, David