Better to send a Kodak film to a Kodak lab?

I mostly use both slide and print Fiji films. I would like to try the Kodak VC

film during this X-mas season for its saturation. There are a few of Fiji labs

close by, but not Kodak lab. Is better to get a Kodak film processed at a Kodak

lab?

Thanks.

I do not believe Kodak owns or operates labs any more. On the east coast, their mailers go to District Photo in Maryland and then to somewhere else I believe (perhaps someone else can help here).

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009PI8

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00GzfY&tag=

 

Good luck.

 

dG

Kodak owns Qualex labs. These mostly deal with amateur film and use the higher contrast Edge paper. If you were using Portra NC, I would definitely recommend a pro lab using Portra paper. Since you are after higher saturation, you might want to try a Qualex lab.

Vernon,

 

Where are you located, USA or other?

 

If USA or Canada, try these:

 

Ivey http://www.ivey.com/

 

A&I http://www.aandi.com/

 

Photo Impact http://www.photoimpactonline.com/

I'm fairly sure A&I use Frontiers and Fuji Crystal Archive paper

for 35mm printing. Dale Labs in Hollywood FL uses Kodak materials.

They're excellent. Are you in Seattle, Vernon? In your area it's

likely you can find a Noritsu QSS minilab using Kodak Royal paper.

Hello Vernon,

 

I live in Europe and I can tell you that Kodak label labs are vanishing rather quickly. This turns to be a real problem when someone is still shooting slides, because these slides will be transported to few remaining Kodak label labs across Europe (ex. Swiss one). Processing slides demands here additional costs and time and the quality of work can't be easily verified.

 

 

Personally, I have had processed many different 24 x 35 colour and b&w films by a "Fuji Frontier" lab and by a "Photo Service" lab still using an AGFA machine. In my opinion, the results were very good, even when I gave them films like T-Max, FP 4, Delta 100, Ultra 400 UC or Reala. I choose paper like Ilford, Bergger, Royal or Cristal Archive S. and a bigger printing format.

 

Best regards,

 

J.A.

Thanks all for your information.

 

What I mean a Kodak or Fuji lab is a lab using the brand's chemical and paper. I just come back from a X-mas party with five rolls of film to be processed. I am not sure whether I shall send those Kodak film to a lab using Fuji paper or not (I just learn it doesn't use a Fuji machine anymore).

Both labs will use C41 chemistry to process the film and RA-4 chemistry to process the prints. It is a matter of semantics whether you use Kodak or Fuji papers. You can safely have Kodak film processed at a Fuji lab.

I forgot to mention that the Kodak film B&H packaged label says "emulsion: #e781106". I don't know what it means.

 

And, I read some posts on this forum a whole ago, "the Fuji film is 'cool' and the Kodak film is 'warm'". I assume it doesn't just mean the film itself, but also the processing(chemistry) and print(paper). If so, one brand film shall not be printed on the other brand's paper.

Both Kodak and Fuji have warm and cool films (and it is the film) as well as warm and cool papers. The chemistry does NOT have this characteristic. When is all said and done, if you want a particular "look" then it is always best to do it yourself (i.e. both film and paper processing).

There isn't much of a color balance difference between Kodak Process C-41 and Fuji process CN-16, but there is a contrast difference. CN-16 is about 5% higher in contrast on the average. 5% is about a just noticeable difference.

I eventually sent my film to a Kodak lab and I regret it. The prints on Kodak paper show very strong contrast while I can?t tell the colour is noticeable vivid than a Fuji film. I scanned some of the photos from the negatives and find the negatives look not much different from scanned photo images of a Fuji film (see a few of samples in the Kodak 400 VC folder under my portfolio). It seems to me that the Kodak paper trades much strong contrast for a little more intense colours. On the economic side, it costs me more in terms of time and money to use a Kodak film or a Kodak lab.

Now you know why Fuji Frontiers are all over the place.

Reala 100 on a Frontier yields very high saturation, including

nuclear-green grass (too much for my taste).

 

Portra 400VC (old version, I haven't tried the new one) is contrasty

but not as saturated as Kodak claims. In scans I actually get

higher saturation from 400NC. Maybe you should have used Kodak UltraColor 400 (400UC), which has more saturation than the Portras.