Color and B&W lab in or near Northern Suburbs of Chicago

[mallik]

I got vexed with film processing at Wolf Camera and such. I had

devastating experiences with mail orders (to A&I) having lost very

precious exposed films. Guys, can you help me with a proven good

color and B&W lab in Chicago. I live in Arlington Heights (Northern

suburbs of Chicago). I don't mind some travel as long as it is after

work hours. Surprisingly I have not found useful pointers on the Web.

I have so many exposed films that I have not processed at this time,

unable to decide where to process. Help please . . .

[dave_pinner]

Photochrome on Busse Hwy in Park Ridge does good work. For more specifics, check their web site... www.photochrome.com.

[mark f]

Solaris in Schaumberg does excellent work. I believe they are open on Saturday mornings. www.solarisphoto.com

[gary_keith]

helix has to be three steps up from wolf in quality. highland park,libertyville, wilmette and oak park are some of their locations. i generally have had good experience with them. good luck!

[mike grossman]

Excel Labs are on the north side. On California near Peterson. I hear very good things about this place, though I haven't tried them yet. For B&W, I've had good luck with Dalmation Lab, http://www.photogs.com/dalmatian/. They're in North Carolina, but sometimes it's easier to mail things off than deal with Chicago area traffic.

[patty_mac]

I use A&I all the time for slides - for the last 2 years, never a lost roll. I do however throw a bunch of rolls in w/ the mailers in a priority mail envelope/box. They come back much faster also. Just an idea.

[mallik]

I have tried on some of the suggestions here. Unfortunately some didn't work out.

 

Solaris: They are open only on work days and upto 6PM. They have drop box but pick up can be only on work days. And then they don't do print film processing with 4X6 proof. So couldn't use this.

 

Photochrome: They are also open on work days only and upto 6PM. So cannot use their facility.

 

Helix: The location closer to me is Libertivelle. They are open on Saturdays upto 4 PM. Color print film processing is done locally at this branch, instead of sending to Helix, Chicago. I have examined the processing done by them, and found them to be of very poor quality. B&W and slide are done at main office thru drop off here. So I gave a slide film of mine, to test for now.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. Let me know if you have any other suggestions. I can send to A&I thru non-USPS modes, but have had troubles earlier with them even tracking, what they said they have received. I am surprised a big city like Chicago cannot provide me with a workable solution.