Processing of Velvia 4X5 Quickloads

[mike_lee6]

Could someone plese recommend a reliable source for processing Fuji Velvia 4X5 Quickloads, either mail order or preferably in the St. Louis, MO metro area? I have tried a couple of local labs and have been disappointed. Several of the sheets (from both labs) have had what appear to be some sort of alligator clip or somthing being applied and showing up as a black dotted line in the image area. This has ruined several of my images. Thanks for your help.

[michael_kadillak3]

Oh yes, the infamous film drying metal clips that the lab technician

uses without considering what it can do to the image area. It can

happen at any lab at any time. I am regularly told that good help is

hard to find. You can talk to the counter person about this situation

till you are blue in the face and it is still pervasive. Fact is that

many labs set up to process their usually in the mid morning and

later in the evening. The faster the lab gets it in the juice and

dryed, the quicker they call it a day. Rarely will a lab technician

take the time to read the comments on the order. If you find one that

does, get to know them on a first name basis.

 

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Here is a possible alternative. If you shoot any volume at all, pick

up a good used JOBO processor, a drum and some chemistry and do it

yourself. Several of my fellow photographers that shoot Velvia have

gone this route and the results are fantastic. They buy the chemistry

in various volumes and use a preservative that they spray on top of

the remaining chemistry to keep it in top shape for the next batch.

When you look at what you are paying at the lab and the tima and gas

to and from, you will find it is both economical and very rewarding.

Plus, you will not use those damn alligator clips in the image area

when you dry your film. Good shooting!

[mike_lee6]

Thanks for the info Mike. At the very least, now I know what's going

on. Now I have to decide what to do about it.

[don_oconnor]

I tried Phoenix Color Imaging...Phoenix AZ.

 

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They did a good job with quick turnaround and provided slip cases for

each 4x5. The price is very low at $1.10 per sheet, although the

marks you mention show on the film. It is at the very edge of the

image and I'm not sure how less of a "grip" could be taken and still

hold the film. They have an 888 toll-free telephone number. They

return by priority mail at a cost of around 6 bucks.

[dk_thompson]

The clip marks you describe are from the sheet being attached to a

rack for a dip & dunk line. This is completely normal, and unless

you're expecting to get a clean full frame image on a sheet of film, I

don't see a problem with this unless it's actually say more than a

eighth inch or so into the film. If you go with d&d, you have to give

them

some slack on the edges of the film. Your other options would be to

use a lab doing roller transport processing, or going with rotary tube

yourself...of the 3, a good pro lab (Q-Lab) using a d&d processor will

probably be the best.

[william_stone]

Mike - My E-6 lab (Carl's Darkroom in Albuquerque, NM) has two

different kind of racks they can use for 4x5s...one rack has the clips

parallel to the 4" side of the film and the other has clips prallel to

the 5" side. I have found usage of the racks with the clips parallel

to the 5" side of the film results in the holes/blemishes being much

closer to the edge of the film and therefore less instrusive into

the image than the other racks. This is so with my Velvia Quickloads,

anyway. So, I always request that they use the racks with the clips

parallel to the 5" side. You might check with your labs on this.

Good luck...Bill

[todd_caudle]

Another thing to consider when selecting a lab is the chemistry they

use. One lab I use bragged about their Fuji chemistry and how it made

for better color. I was skeptical. So I shot several images of an

alpenglow sunrise in the Flat Tops Wilderness in Colorado, had the

film split between two labs I normally use, and was astounded at how

much more vibrant the Velvia processed in Fuji chemistry was.

Furthermore, the other lab has one or two bad clips that left

diagonal clip marks in one corner, effectively turning my 4x5 image

into a 2.5 x 3.5. Not good for someone like me who really composes

using the entire GG. Luckily, my Fuji chemistry place is VERY careful

with their clips. Just in case you want to check into them,

http://www.accentphoto.com/

 

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They also do amazing digital Fuji Chromira prints. And no, I'm not a

stockholder!

[gwrhino]

I learned long ago that the slide mount (for the finished

transparency) intrudes onto the image area to a small degree,

effectively covering the clip marks. Of course I learned then to make

the composition a tad looser for the same reason.

 

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http://georgestocking.com

[john_hennessy]

To avoid clip marks completely you need to use a lab that uses roller

transport rather than dip & dunk. The dip & dunk advocates claim such

a process is cleaner and the roller transport method results in

scratches. I have never read an objective review of the relative

merits of either. My experience is that I have never seen a scratch

but the clip marks, bullet holes, etc. sometimes wipe out 1/4 to 1/2

inch along two sides leaving the adjacent area seriously dimpled as

the same time making scanning sharply a problem.

 

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Ferrari Color in Sacramento uses roller transport at $1.40 a sheet but

has a $30 minimum order to keep amateurs in their place.

[steve_swinehart]

You want an objective review of roller transport vs. dip-and-dunk? I

can give you real life examples -

 

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I've had film processed by roller transport and dip-and-dunk. IF the

roller transport machine is kept clean they work fine. However, I

have had more film ruined in roller transports in various ways than I

have ever had ruined in a dip-and-dunk. A dirty roller transport can

do the following: put grunge (chemicals, dirt, etc.) onto the film,

and it can scratch the film as well. Also, if you've ever been the

victim of an "accident" where the film goes off the rollers and into

the transport mechanism it can chew up the film.

 

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I've had all of those things happen at custom labs using roller

transport processors and at Kodak (you remember, they send you a new

roll of film with a letter telling you that they try their best but -

every so often something just "happens" and they aren't

responsible). The last time I used a lab with a roller transport

film processor, there was a dirty roller that put a spot on the film

at regular intervals.

 

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The person at the counter tried to tell me that I had a problem with

my camera, but couldn't explain why the spot changed size (it was

rubbing itself off on MY film), and why the spot appeared at

different places on the frame, and also between the frames, but at

the same distance from the top of the frame.

 

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When I asked for a ruler and measured between the spots - guess

what? They were always at the same distance, kind of like the

circumference of the dirty roller. They were most magnanimous and

didn't charge me for the processing and offered to process the next 5

rolls of film for free - I never took them up on the offer.

 

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The worst problem I've ever had with a dip-and-dunk was having a roll

of film drop off the film clip and stay in the first developer too

long. About 1/2 the roll was unusable but the other half was OK.

With the newer dip-and-dunk machines, the film racks are monitored as

they move between tanks and if a piece of film is not in the rack,

the machine sounds an alarm.

 

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I also used to work for a company that processed nearly 10 million

feet of film per year in a roller transport. They ran the highest

quality control and they never ruined film from dirty rollers.

However, even they had splices let go (the processor took 1,000 foot

reels) and the film would be ruined as it was fed into the rollers -

usually somewhere in the bowels of the processor where it took at

least 45 minutes to retrieve.

 

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Nothing is perfect - but, my experience at the average custom lab is

that you're safer with a dip-and-dunk than with a roller transport.

[dk_thompson]

I have to agree with Steve...it's a fact of life that even in the best

labs, accidents do happen....that's why you always double up on your

best exposures and NEVER send all your film out at once, never for the

same run, etc. I can remember doing a pretty complex interior shot

several years ago, that took about half a day to light...our Q-Lab, a

great lab with the best service I've found locally, dropped a rack on

the run & ruined all the film on that rack...well, lucky for us we

still had the second set...likewise, I've seen 120 roll film that had

pretty bad scratches the length of the entire roll from a Hope

processor...(or even worse, contaminated fingerprints from someone

handling the film prior to processing). I use roller transport print

processors & those are tough enough to keep clean for RC prints, but

it doesn't much crud to get on a roller & mess up your film...There

are problems with rotary tube processors as well, so there's no

foolproof process at all....I hate to sound like a jerk here, but when

I read some of these comments about lab techs all I can think of is

how unpopular you all must be to the guys in the back...I learned long

ago never to shoot to the edges of sheet film, and as someone who runs

a standard deep tank line, all I can say is that no matter how careful

you are, accidents do happen....what I look for in a good lab is one

that will readily admit & alert you to a problem run, and one that

handles your film with gloves....I'm more concerned with greasy

fingerprints on final CTs than a couple of clip marks on the edge.

[dk_thompson]

Oh yeah, about roller transports....in a previous lifetime, I worked

in a lab using a leader-card type Noritsu machine for c41...and can

remember some pretty horrific film runs that would be perfect

halloween stories....I get goosebumps thinking of them now. Before

that I some experience using an old kreonite machine, and a Kodak

Versamat as well...all those machines can be really buggy to use, and

they do have to be kept spotless. The comments about labs speeding up

film runs so they can call it a day are ridiculous as well, because E6

takes about 40 minutes or so to run in wet time, most labs run on a 2

hour interval, or run the d&d lines continuously. But the process

still takes a set amount of time....you can't "soup it fast". My

suggestion would be to go out and spend a thousand bucks or so on a

decent rotary tube setup & some 6-step kits, maybe a densitometer, and

figure out how "fun & easy" it really is. If I have offended anyone

let me add:

Opinions expressed in this message may not represent the policy of my

agency.

 

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end of rant