dlab7 processing

[gareth_harper]

I'm wondering if any of you have experiance of using dlab7

(7dayshop's lab).

I've tried them for E6 processing and the results so far have been

very good and at an excellant price.

I have a number of C41 films I need processed, two are NPH and I'm

not too worried about them.

The other two are XP2. These have to be perfect as I'll be using a

condensor head to print them. They must be absolutely scratch free.

Is dlab7 C41 processing 100% scratch free? If not do you know any

other UK labs that are afforable and scratch free?

With colour C41 I can correct any small scratches with ICE but it has

to be perfect for the condensor head in the darkroom.

[ade rixon]

I'll let you know what I think of their processing if they ever manage to send me the right slides on their second attempt. ;-) (Incidentally, if anyone reading this is waiting for slides of their Cornish holiday, you might want to give them a call!)<p>An alternative for C41 would be to buy the Ilford mailers from 7dayshop, which are good for any B&W including XP2. I haven't experienced any scratching with their panchome processing.

[gareth_harper]

Ade,

Sorry to hear about your snaps. I hope you get the right ones soon.

 

That's not a bad idea trying the Ilford mailers, I might give Ilford a call to sound em out. I was using Loxley colour in Glasgow and the results were very good except a couple of the negs on one roll were scratched. And guess what, one of them was the shot of not just the roll but my whole holiday last year. Which reminds me I'm gonna try printing it again with a little nose grease smeared on the scratches as I'm told that often does the trick. I don't get any scratches with the conventional B&W films as I DIY them.

[garethspics]

I have sent about 20 films over the last 2 years and rate the quality as very good with no scratch problems. The XP2 prints were fine too though a bit contrasty.

[panos_voudouris]

I've used dlab7 a couple of times. E6 was OK, no scratches, properly mounted as well. However, I asked for one of the films scanned in CD (E6 film) and a set of prints as well and they were complete rubbish! The scanned images were straight scans, no levels, no contrast correction, no dust removal or anything, and in general only 5-6 scans were almost-usable. The rest were gone. The prints were equally bad. They must have been prints from the scanned images... Don't know about C41 though.

 

As for other labs, I also used lab35 a couple of times, once their economy package, once their pro. Couldn't tell what the difference between the pro and economy package were. Both equally crap (dust, scratches, stains on the prints). Not sure how they get their q-lab designation...It also appears that both times they happened to have extremely high workloads: the 48-hour economy job took ten working days and the 4-5 day pro job took 7.

 

Ilford mailers...hmmm...only use them for B&W films (not C41) and they give much better results than any of the labs here (Bristol) at less than what the labs here charge. Still, there are scratches/stains/etc on the prints but the films themselves are scratch-free. I know use C41 B&W and take it to my local lab.

 

So in the end, I just use a local Kodak lab for prints (colour/C41 B&W) that might be a more expensive (?6.50 for a 4-day service) but gives me great results and I use the local E6 lab for unmounted slides for ?4.

 

The end result is a bit more expensive but I can always go back and shout at them if they get it wrong and I don't have to take a gamble with Royal Mail.

 

Panos

[gareth_harper]

Thanks for the responses,

I've sent a number of films to dlab7 which include 2 rolls of XP2 for process only, no prints.

I've tried a number of local services but have given up on them.

Fingers crossed. I'm not sure I'll try the Ilford mailers, it's a bit expensive when I don't really need the prints.

[gareth_harper]

Films have returned from Dlab7, took 8 days which is not brilliant but reasonable from the channel Islands to Scotland.

Under inital inspection the XP2 negs look clean and scratch free nor is there any colour cast. So far so good. Off on holiday so I won't be printing any till I'm back.