Mail order processing in the UK

[sweathog]

Hey gang!
First post for an awful long time.

I've got a whole load of film (35 and 120, BW, colour and E6 for cross processing) which I have been meaning to get processed.

Historically I used Spectrum in Newcastle, and they were bloody brilliant, but sadly they have had to close down their services.

So...

Do any of you UK based RFFers get your film dev'd by mail? Do you have any recommendations or horror stories?

I'm after dev. + scan, quality doesn't have to be magnificent, just good enough to use for online sharing.

Any help would be muchly appreciated.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[thegman]

I tend to use Genie Imaging for C41 and E6, and Peak Imaging for BW. Generally I think Peak is a little better and a little faster, but they're a bit more expensive. I think Peak is generally the better lab, but they are more expensive, and don't have as convenient an ordering process.

 

[alexnotalex]

I drop my stuff off myself at Jessops. £6 for dev and scan, and a free film for each dev roll.
A bit pedestrian, but my needs are simple and the free film gets my thumbs up.

Each time I look at mail services they seem to be more expensive after postage and then there's the free film with each roll.

Did I mention the free film?

 

[j j]

This lot are cheap www.photo-express.co.uk/pricelist.html (£4 process & scan including postage) processing is fine and scans OK.

When I want fancy, I go to Peak Imaging but can't comment on their scans (too expensive for me).

Otherwise, I've heard good things about Genie (another cheap option), but not tried them.

 

[John Lawrence]

I've used these guys quite a bit recently, and have been very impressed with their colour processing. I've also read good reports on their scan to CD service as well.

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

John

 

[sweathog]

I drop my stuff off myself at Jessops. £6 for dev and scan, and a free film for each dev roll.

That's for 35mm, isn't it?

I worked for Jessops for a while, and I did get my 35mm processed there (on the very cheap) and it was ok. However, I have tried using them for 120 and it was a horror story.
Stuff getting sent backwards and forwards, not getting what I ordered, (horror of horrors) scratches...

Jessops is very hit and miss in my opinion. They don't have a central lab any more so thje services and quality vary depending on which lab your film goes to (which is entirely pot luck). Also I consider the turn around unduly long.

If you happen to have a Jessops with a lab on site I guess that's ok, as long as you know the person running the machine knows what they're doing.





Regarding Peak, Genie and Express, I haev heard of them all. I think I rejected Peak because of price, but I will have to check them all out when I get home from work.

 

[alexnotalex]

35mm. And the free film is basic colour 200 fuji or kodak. My local ones have a lab on site though. Mostly ok, except sometimes I need to get them to rescan if their machine doesn't find the break between frames.
No grumbles really, ymmv.

 

[sweathog]

Alex, what you said about the scanning reminded me of one entertaining mishap where the scans were all identical, unfortunately they were all of two 1/2 frames with a nice line in the middle.