recommendations for online labs in the US?

ampguy

ampguy

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I'm willing to spend $15 to $20 for C41 developing and scans. The films I have now are C41 400-1600. I've found thedarkroom, and oldschoolphoto. Are there any others recommended that do decent work in this price range?
 
the darkroom has ruined scans for me twice, with no explanations offered when I asked what happened. They also had a technical glitch once which made their processing times much longer than what I had paid for. No offer of a refund.
So, I do not recommend them.

I highly recommend:
northcoastphoto.com and thefindlab.com
Excellent results from both.
 
Our sponsor Precision has done great work for me. Developing and excellent scans.

I think their price in in your range. Link on RFF home page. (Special pricing for RFF members.)
 
I’m not big on the Darkroom either. They did lose my negatives once, and some 4x5 C41 stuff I sent their way came back with a lot of water spots on the negatives. I now process all of my B&W and C41 stuff at home. I send my E6 stuff to AgX Imaging in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Jim B.
 
I’ve been using thedarkroom.com for the past 6 months and can’t say that I recommend them. The scans are pretty much garbage. They claim that they are 3mb scans or something like that but they are never over 700kb for me. They are great for looking at and then choosing which negs you need to rescan...but what’s the point in paying for scanning if you are rescanning yourself? Another annoying thing is they just recently stopped mounting slides in 35mm mounts. I love using a projector and now I’ll need to buy and mount myself. They do seem to do a good enough job with developing though and that is why I continue to use them.
 
I think I already know the answer to this question, but I'd like to ask it anyway:

Does anyone in the US process kodachrome film?

I have a penpal in the US who has a K14 film she wants to have processed.

Edit: I've just found a website that claims to process k14 films made after 1977:

http://rockymountainfilm.com/oldfilm.htm

Does anyone know of them and whether they're any good?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Edit 2: I've just seen the price they charge $36.50 plus $6 postage per order. It's processed as modified black and white negative.

Edit 3: It seems 'turn around time' can be up to 12 months. I don't think I'll be recommending them to my penpal as she doesn't take many photos and so probably isn't prepared to pay that much or wait that long.
 
I've used NCPS (B&W and E6), The Darkroom (B&W and C41), and Dwayne's Photo (C41), all multiple times. I have not had any problems with any of them, although I think NCPS does the best job on processing and scanning. I think Dwayne's is substantially less expensive than NCPS or The Darkroom. (Overhead in Parsons, Kansas has got to be a lot lower than in southern California.)
 
seany65 said:
I think I already know the answer to this question, but I'd like to ask it anyway:

Does anyone in the US process kodachrome film?

I have a penpal in the US who has a K14 film she wants to have processed.

Edit: I've just found a website that claims to process k14 films made after 1977:

http://rockymountainfilm.com/oldfilm.htm

Does anyone know of them and whether they're any good?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Edit 2: I've just seen the price they charge $36.50 plus $6 postage per order. It's processed as modified black and white negative.

Edit 3: It seems 'turn around time' can be up to 12 months. I don't think I'll be recommending them to my penpal as she doesn't take many photos and so probably isn't prepared to pay that much or wait that long.
Click to expand...
Look at the Yelp reviews for Rocky Mountain. The seem to just take your money and never do anything with your film. No customer service or anything. Really sad to read the reviews from people who sent their film in hoping to see photos of their long lost relatives just for the people to take their money and do nothing.
 
I have used The Darkroom for at least 50 rolls of C41, E6 on 35 and 120 over the past three years.
Their C41 process and scan is OK. Acceptable, but so are local labs.
BW is process with Ilford DDX is OK but scans are either under or over exposed.
E6 is OK but scans are always too dark.
MF scans are often misaligned or cut off.

I’ve had mangled roll ends several times with puncture from the roll hangers and ripples in the middle of the roll. I complained and they blamed it on my camera.

In short, I will be trying a new lab on the US west coast. Maybe Blue Moon in Portland.

I think that The Darkooom is a victim of their own success and quality, especially scans and film handling, has slipped over the past few years.

Michael.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm sending some C41 and B&W to Richard Photo Lab this week. Their online ordering method is super straight-forward and easy. Will report results.
 
maigo said:
In short, I will be trying a new lab on the US west coast. Maybe Blue Moon in Portland.
Click to expand...

Fortunately you have lots of alternatives at the West Coast. Besides Blue Moon in Portland there are also
- http://northcoastphoto.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ncps/
- https://www.shotonfilmstore.com/
- https://www.photoworkssf.com/
- http://ktimage.com/index.html
- http://oscarsphotolab.com/
- http://photovisionprints.com/
- https://www.richardphotolab.com/
- https://berryflash.com/
- https://adrianbacon.com/simple-photography-services/simple-film-lab/
- https://www.thegoodmanfilmlab.com/

Cheers, Jan

P.S.: I've just seen you are located in BC. Then "The Lab" in Vancouver is probably your nearest option:
http://www.thelabvancouver.com/
 
HHPhoto said:
Cheers, Jan

P.S.: I've just seen you are located in BC. Then "The Lab" in Vancouver is probably your nearest option:
http://www.thelabvancouver.com/
Click to expand...

Thanks Jan for the list. I still haven't sent my most recent rolls out for processing.
I've used The Lab both directly or indirectly (through Kerrisdale Cameras). They rubbed me the wrong way when I dropped off/pickup in person.
 
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