Mail in labs for develop and scan?

[dave_oconnor3]

I need to find a place to process my film that meets some specific but not, I

think, unreasonable requirements. I searched the site a bit but didn't find any

current information that seemed like it would work. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Cliff Notes: I need a place to get color and B&W negatives (mostly B&W)

processed and scanned to a CD at a resolution no lower than 8x12 at 300DPI,

preferably higher. Cost would need to be under $20, preferably under $15.

Format would ideally be tiff.

 

The Long Version: I have been to every single lab around here and they are all

useless to me. Pretty much all of them farm work, especially B&W, out to a

custom lab in my town which is great...but unfortunately they only have a drum

scanner for super high res one-off scans. So, they get the stuff processed,

then scan it themselves.

 

I have asked these labs for high res scans, which to them means absolutely

nothing. They give me the same 2291 x 1535 scans processed using whatever Fuji

Scanner they have regardless of what I ask for. I had a huge conversation with

the people at Hunts in Melrose and explained my problem, and was assured that I

would get 10x15x300DPI scans for about 20 bucks or so. I gave them my film and

returned later that week to a bill for $60 and a CD of gorgeous 4535x3035 scans

in tiff format. Perfect, except for the cost and the lie about the cost. That

was the last time I will do business with Hunts.

 

A friend of mine tipped me off that Ritz can give me better resolution

(4405x2905) and has done a good job on his negs for about $15/roll, so I brought

them to my local Ritz (a different one than the one he goes to). Two weeks

later I now have 3625x2421 scans with enormous scratches through them all. My

buddy tells me that they give him a plain CD, and I got a CD with the same Fuji

viewer on it as I was getting from Hunts and other places.

 

The problem here is that the Ritz he goes to isn't really convenient to me, and

if I am going to have to wait 2 weeks for B&W processing (I mostly shoot digital

for color and film for B&W) I might as well just send them out.

 

And that brings me to my question. I cannot believe I am the only person in the

world who needs reasonably priced, non scratched, print resolution B&W scans. I

cannot, however, find anywhere online that seems to do this. I am at the end of

my rope with this...the incompetence and complete lack of knowledge at my local

labs infuriates me to no end.

 

So, if anyone has a good mail in lab that might do this, or a place in boston it

would be MUCH appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance, sorry for the ranting.

[john_shriver]

A&I will do Noritsu scans at a variety of resolutions at reasonable prices for whole uncut rolls. They will do Fuji Frontier scans as well, but cheaper.

 

A Frontier can scan at high resolutions, they need to scan for "8x12" prints. But it's not a great scanner. The Noritsu machines have a better scanner.

 

Unfortunately, even with a Nortisu or Frontier, higher resolution scans are much slower. Time is money, unfortunately.

[erik_hattrem]

Is 60 $ expensive? Wow, you must be the new Scrooge:)

[danny_wong2]

Buy a Nikon 9000 and do them yourself.

[larrydressler]

I am with Danny Do your own processing and scanning. I started doing my own processing in a 1 bedroom apartment and at a minimal cost. I started scanning with an epson flatbed and I still do just a better one. I am saving for a nice Nikon scanner a V will do for me but a 9000 is even better.

 

Yes someday I may have to go to digital for the camera but with all the great film cameras and MF gear I still have I don't see that digital body in my foreseeable future.

 

Larry

[dave_oconnor3]

Yea, its seeming increasingly likely that I will get a Nikon 5000 and just send my stuff out to be developed. I may eventually process my own film (used to all the time) but I don't really have the desire or the space to get back into it right now. Even 15 bucks is a lot to pay for eeevery single roll I shoot, and I might shoot more film if it was cheaper.

 

Im pretty picky about my output and at the moment I can really only process digital stuff for printing. I've had reasonably decent luck with scan -> process -> print, but it's just the cost, resolution and consistency.

[jimp]

I used to have the same problem you have. Expensive scans, scratches, low resolution scans, etc, etc. Now, I scan my 35mm film at home using a Konica Minolta DiMage Scan Dual IV. Even though it doesn't have ICE or GEM, I can usually get very good scans out of it (max 3200 dpi), but sometimes old, dirty negatives and slides are problematic. Even so, I'm so much happier with this than with the run-around of trying to find someone else to do it for me.

 

Heck, you can get a Plustek 7200i (with 7200 dpi resolution!) with infrared dust removal for under $400. It's not the best, but all the reviews I've read say it's pretty darned good. That's like 27 rolls of scanned film at $15 a roll. In short, my recommendation is to save yourself a lot of aggravation and get a film scanner.

[dave_oconnor3]

Just to complete the cycle here...

 

I wound up buying a Nikon 5000 and I absolutely love it. The scans are better in every way than what I was getting. There are definitely quirks with it (Digital ICE doesnt seem to be able to work with B&W negs...the shadows become ridiculously dark) but otherwise it's just the greatest thing ever! Totally worth it. It's fast and simple enough that its easily worth the extra time for the quality.

[larrydressler]

Yes DO NOT USE ICE with traditional the silver grains play hell with it but XP2 and the Kodak C-41 B&W is OK with ICE because they are dye clouds like color film.

 

Happy shooting

 

Larry

[mila-g]

<p>Im in the UK. Our local camera shop has closed and the local quick print shop has closed too. Im left with the choice of Boots who do a 3 day service or Tesco who do a 1 hour service. I havent tried Boots - dont like to wait too long - so Im left with Tesco.<br>

I wasnt impressed with the quality of processing at Tesco (colour balance, density and scan resolution) so I asked the guy what resolution their machine scanned at. Unbelievably he answered "normal resolution"! This was further compounded by the poor lad's older colleague who said "Oh I thought it was whatever resolution your camera was set at!"<br>

The CD they provided has images as follows : Landscape format 6" x 4" at 300dpi, Portrait format 18" x 12" at 96dpi. SO I figure around 1200dpi at 35mm frame size.<br>

My questions are does the mix of scan formats cause a problem for me (the quality is lousy)? Does the 1200dpi scan seem low to you? What scan res should I expect from a good lab? What kind of scanner are they using ? Are they scanning the negs or the prints? Can any UK members suggest a lab that can give me affordable quality...i dont even want the prints - just the negs and the scans.</p>

[larrydressler]

<p>1200 DPI is good for photo album size. at the most 5x7 on a good day if everything went right.</p>

[bobby_fiend]

<p>So far this thread has been incredibly helpful in answering a completely different question. So, if I ever decide to go back to film, I now know that I should get a scanner and printer. However, I am hoping someone can address the original poster's question (or one very similar to it). Any recommendations for mail-in print & scan labs for black & white film? I live in Deep South Texas, and haven't found any labs I'd trust here, so far.</p>

<p>I'm strictly an amateur, and have a correspondingly small budget. Someplace that can print and scan a roll of 35mm B&W film (I have various brands: Agfa, Kodak, Fuji) for around--or under--$10-$15 per roll, returning a reasonable-quality digital image, would be great. Of course, I'd like the printing and scanning to be of the highest quality possible within that price range, but price is important. These are photos taken of a trip to Spain a few years ago, somewhere between art and snapshots. More like the latter. they're never going to be sold or put in an art gallery, but I'd like them to look OK if printed at 8x10. Slow is OK; if it takes two weeks to turn around, no big deal.</p>

<p>Please don't reply with "get a scanner." I have exactly ten rolls of film left in my life, and have painfully accepted the fact that I will probably never shoot film again, despite how much I loved it. And if you feel a need to reply with some version of "How can you live with yourself unless you [something much more expensive]", then that's OK. I understand the need to post such things. But what I'm really hoping for is a recommendation or two that will address my current problem.</p>

<p>Any ideas?</p>

 

[dave_s]

<p>You have resurrected an old thread, but North Coast Photographic may be the answer. I have only used them for C41, but they do regular B & W as well. Look up their website.</p>

[bobby_fiend]

<p>Thanks! I think that's exactly what I was looking for. I appreciate it.</p>