Good lab for B&W

olifaunt

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I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for labs that did pushed B&W well and are not super costly. The average prices for B&W develop+scan I see online are financially unsustainable to me, but I can possibly scan myself so if anyone knows a place that develops really well I might do develop only.

My local lab does only C-41 so I send some rolls to a couple of labs. This was Tri-X pushed to 1250. One lab seemed to consistently underdevelop and then blame me for underexposure; I don't think they were right because the other lab seemed to push correctly so tones were good; however, their grain looked very dirty and uneven, with especially visible artifacts in monotone area like skies.
 
Where are you located?
I remember that member HHphoto listed some good labs in US, EU and Australia
Do try a search.


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Sorry, forgot to mention that I am in the U.S.

The Darkroom or Dwayne's seem to be in my price range. Could anyone confirm from experience whether they do a good job developing pushed Tri-X in particular?
 
I have tried a few "budget" labs for 35mm, mostly with disappointment, then tried Precision Camera, a sponsor here, and found lab happiness. I have only ordered C41 services. There is, or was, a RFF discount that worked out well.
 
12$ with scan through Precision for c41 and more like 19$ for b&w

Nothing about push:pull options unfortunately

I too am looking for a develop only service, instead for c41&e6, that is more around 5-7$

Finding that may be a pipe dream.
 
There are some good recommendations posted already. I'm not sure if there are any blockers for home development, but if that is an option, I highly recommend Calzone's slacker's brew recipes's with Diafine. It handles pushed Tri-X up to 1250 very nicely in my experience; 2 quart kits allow development of several rolls simultaneously with minimal fuss and good economy. See this thread for some examples: https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=154765&page=2&styleid=35

If that's something of interest, definitely reach out to him for times (or myself, although I check RFF very intermittently and he is indeed the guru/inventor of slacker's brew.)
 
https://adrianbacon.com/simple-photography-services/simple-film-lab/
Adrian is very flexible and responsive. Uses Jobo with many different developers. BW, C41, and E6 (I think) Can push pull or whatever you want. Scans by using a DSLR copying setup and software to do the reversal that he developed himself—he has totally locked in the process. Gives you DNG files back that you can easily work with in LR or whatever. Very reasonable price. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about giving up developing and scanning myself and just letting him do it.

Steve Rosenblum
 
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