Film Processing

I've recently switched brands of films (I used to always use Kodak

Royal Gold 400, but now I'm using Fuji Superia 400), and switched

labs (I used to go to an independant lab, but now I'm going to

Carmans Photo as processing is included with the film). The problem

is, that the quality of the negatives has greatly decreased. Would

this be due to the lab, or the film? I posted two versions of the

same picture in my portfolio, one scanned from the actual print, and

the other from the negative. I've scanned other film from my Kodak

negatives, and they appear to be sharp and clean, so that rules out

the scanner...

Anyone have any thoughts, or suggestions?

Take a loupe and examine the negatives of the RG and the Fuji. Do you see much of a difference in density and grain? (How does one judge the sharpness of soft fluffy clouds?). The same negative sent to different labs may yield different looking photos depending on the analyzer setup and operator. Have Carmans Photo make a few prints from your a few of your old RG films to see what results you get.

Bryce: A couple of thoughts- first, changing labs can be the problem here. I have had the same work (8x10's from the same negative) done at two "pro" labs and the results were totally different. The printer has a great impact on the results. Your old lab evidently gave you good prints- give them a shot at your new film. If that can be ruled out, and I really suspect that is the problem, was there any heat heat damage at all to the film (a real long shot)?

I don't think that there was any heat damage done to the films. I kept the film with me at all times, granted it's been hot these past couple of days, but nothing unreasonable.

Maybe I will take the negs to another processor and have them blow it up to 5X7 to see if there's any difference.

The prints turned out fabulous, it's the negs that concern me.

 

I wonder if the difference is the fact that Carmans is a "digital minilab", and Forest City is a regular chemical lab.

Problem solved. It's the UV bulb on the scanner that's died. I've scanned photos from negative which, a few weeks ago, were fantastic. Now, they're dull and grainy.