Looking for a good 35mm lab

[BillRogers]

I'm sure this question has been discussed.

I'm lookiing for a good film processing lab that can do the following:

• Process C41 35mm film
• Mail the negatives to me in sleeves
• Scan the film and copy files onto a CD, also mailed to me
• Each scan should be roughly 3900 x 2600 pixels, or roughly 10 megapixels
• Scanned files should be uncompressed TIFF, or JPEG level 10 to 12.

Does such a lab exist? Can anyone make a recommendation? I really do not want to buy a Nikon Coolscan V and do my own scans ... but if I have to, I will.


Thanks,

Bill Rogers
Johnstown, PA

Nikon D200, Nikon D70, Zorki C, Zorki 4K

 

[TimBonzi]

You may get sticker shock when you see the cost of the high quality scans you are looking for. Unless you are confident that you need a high resoloution scan for every shot you took, you may want to consider getting their normal low/medium resolution scan (usually just a dollar or two per roll) then doing a high resoloution scan of the outstanding shots yourself. I use a Canon 9950F scanner that I purchased for about $350. It gives beautiful 4800 dpi scans. I'm sure you can find other good scanners for this amount or less that will give you excellent results.

 

[captainslack]

Try Dale Labs

 

[BillRogers]

Tim, how is the noise level with your 9950F? I have a much cheaper Canon flatbed that will scan one negative at a time. I have downloaded the newest drivers, and I scan TIFF files, but the noise is still a problem. (The noise level is about the same as shooting ISO800 with my D200, although the character of the noise is different.)

 

[TimBonzi]

Bill, I really don't get any noise issues. What looks like noise can be dust on the glass of the scanner or on the negative. Does your scanner allow you to remove the piece in the lid to expose a second film scanner back light?

 

[venchka]

Dwayne's Photo in Kansas produces 2968x2004 JPEG files from Kodachrome slides for approximately $4/CD. I assume they produce the same from C-41 negatives.

CVS, less than a mile from my apartment, produces 1818x1228 TIFF files from C-41 neagatives for $2.50/CD, 24 or 36 exp.)

Wolf Camera, closer to my apartment than CVS, produces 4535x3035 JPEG files from C-41 negatives. I don't remember the price but I seem to recall it was over $10/CD.

If you do find a source of large scan files, you'll soon pay for a scanner.