Film Developing in the UK

Strangely I do seem to get much cleaner negs at home than I do even from Peak, and they are very good generally.
 
hello not been on in a while and only shot 1 roll of film in so long (had a baby!) but a quick question if anyone knows for sure

boots lets say, how do they produce their prints nowadays? are they digitally scanned?
 
I'm fairly sure that most of the developers now only produce digital prints nowadays. There are a few places that will print from the negative but they are special orders and probably cost a right packet.

Andy
 
RumpFace said:
For what it's worth, I never could get a clean neg, that's always a problem in home processing.
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My home developed negatives are always spotless. I've had very clean negatives from commercial processors, but never completely spotless.

You may need to review the handling throughout the process, or maybe increase the final wash?
 
Andysnap said:
I'm fairly sure that most of the developers now only produce digital prints nowadays. There are a few places that will print from the negative but they are special orders and probably cost a right packet.

Andy
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great. yes I'm absolutely convinced that the quality of prints is terrible compared to what you used to get
 
lapsang said:
great. yes I'm absolutely convinced that the quality of prints is terrible compared to what you used to get
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To be honest that's likely the result of the staff being poorly trained and replying on the system to automatically correct for exposure, contrast, colour etc - in "proper" labs they'll do manual adjustments which will give much higher quality. The advantage is that though that its way easier to correct for these using a digital system compared to optical printing where colour correction for white balance for instance is somewhat difficult, which is why daylight and tungsten films used to be needed. Because of the adoption of digital printing, tungsten films are no longer sold as the orange cast created by tungsten light can be easily neutralised.
 
freecom2 said:
My home developed negatives are always spotless. I've had very clean negatives from commercial processors, but never completely spotless.

You may need to review the handling throughout the process, or maybe increase the final wash?
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No, because I use a machine now and the film is never handled wet at all. :)
 
s162216 said:
To be honest that's likely the result of the staff being poorly trained and replying on the system to automatically correct for exposure, contrast, colour etc - in "proper" labs they'll do manual adjustments which will give much higher quality. The advantage is that though that its way easier to correct for these using a digital system compared to optical printing where colour correction for white balance for instance is somewhat difficult, which is why daylight and tungsten films used to be needed. Because of the adoption of digital printing, tungsten films are no longer sold as the orange cast created by tungsten light can be easily neutralised.
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Scanned, printed onto proper photographic paper which is then processed, beware inkjets or dye sub.
 
H'mm......asked at snappysnaps at Uxbridge (outer London) and they said it would be £5 to dev 120 film C41 colour, but at Watford they said it would be £3.50. Well as they look at printed info for prices you'd think all snappysnap shops would be the same :rolleyes: Well I said to the guy at Uxbridge that Watford is cheaper and he didn't care.
 
Snappy Snaps are a franchise and as such can set their own prices. There's a huge difference in the prices charged by Ealing, Chiswick and Central London branches. I use them all and which branch I use is usually based on location and not cost.
 
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Ah didn't know about the franchise, but for me I have quite a few rolls of 120 and most are about 12 years old, well after previous tests have thrown all the pro films away because the colours were impossible to correct, but the Fuji Superia films seem to be OK....Anyway as I'm retired and have a free bus pass would rather get two films dev for £7 (or better for £6) than £10 for somewhere convenient. ;)
 
Sent off a couple of rolls for process + scan to Peak today, will see how they do. Quite expensive but hopefully they're more reliable than AG. Seem to have a good reputation on here so hopefully it'll be good.
 
GlennW said:
Sent off a couple of rolls for process + scan to Peak today, will see how they do. Quite expensive but hopefully they're more reliable than AG. Seem to have a good reputation on here so hopefully it'll be good.
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I'd be surprised if you were disappointed, I've never used them for scanning but the processing is spot on and although it is a little pricey its consistency is worth what they charge.
 
GlennW said:
Sent off a couple of rolls for process + scan to Peak today, will see how they do. Quite expensive but hopefully they're more reliable than AG. Seem to have a good reputation on here so hopefully it'll be good.
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I agree with Nick re processing. They have done a few scans for me which were OK, but somehow I don't like the results of low res scans (1200 dpi) and the medium res scans are way too expensive. I send Peak black and white or E6 that I can scan myself and send the 35mm C41 to Photo Express.
 
ChrisR said:
I agree with Nick re processing. They have done a few scans for me which were OK, but somehow I don't like the results of low res scans (1200 dpi) and the medium res scans are way too expensive. I send Peak black and white or E6 that I can scan myself and send the 35mm C41 to Photo Express.
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What are photo express like for turnaround and dev quality?
 
srichards said:
What are photo express like for turnaround and dev quality?
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I try and keep records of posting and return for all the companies I have used, and Photo Express is fastest, averaging 2.9 days for the 17 batches I have noted (that figure includes random weekends as well). For a while I was posting Monday arvo and getting it drop on the mat Wednesday morning.

I'm very happy with the processing; don't remember any scratches or water marks, and the scans are excellent. Colour is MUCH better than I can do. They use Noritsu Koku scanners if that means anything.
 
srichards said:
Good, quick and reasonably cheap. The holy grail :)
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Almost, from the positive feedback Chris has given Photo Express I would certainly use them but they only process c41 35mm film and I've never had a batch of one type of film.
 
GlennW said:
Sent off a couple of rolls for process + scan to Peak today, will see how they do. Quite expensive but hopefully they're more reliable than AG. Seem to have a good reputation on here so hopefully it'll be good.
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I got these back on Friday. Sent on Tuesday, so arrived on Wednesday, so 1-2 days turnaround. Very impressed with the speed of service!

Quality is decent on the negatives and scans as well, so very pleased overall. Worth paying the little extra it seems!
 
Will be giving Photo Express a try this week with a couple of films. one is just a test film. Price for dev and scan seem good.
 
bambam said:
Will be giving Photo Express a try this week with a couple of films. one is just a test film. Price for dev and scan seem good.
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Don't forget to take 50p per film off as a TP member discount. I write what I've done in the notes on the order form, and include my TP username. Every little bit... (Oh and it's C41 only of course...)

Which reminds me, I finished my long-saved roll of Velvia 50 last week, while in Scotland (but annoyingly I didn't have the camera with me during a perfect sunset at Crinan :( ). I was trying to work out where to send them, and went for safe and quick and pretty cheap, Peak with no scan. They've come back today, 4 days as usual. Not checked them yet but I'm slightly apprehensive of scanning problems. Anyway, after they'd dropped in the post I remembered that Genie do the absolute best price for medium res E6 processing, under £9 compared with over £12 (and up to over £21), but I couldn't remember what their turnround was like. I've since checked and the two batches I sent before took 5 and 8 days respectively. Depending on how easy the scanning is, I may be kicking myself later!

(Being away, I wrote out the Peak order form by hand and it worked fine. The Genie one requires you to print something out from their online order process which is a bit of a block.)
 
ChrisR said:
Don't forget to take 50p per film off as a TP member discount. I write what I've done in the notes on the order form, and include my TP username. Every little bit... (Oh and it's C41 only of course...)
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Didn't know that! Haven't sent it off yet so will have to open the envelope and change the total. So you just add your TP user name?
 
bambam said:
Didn't know that! Haven't sent it off yet so will have to open the envelope and change the total. So you just add your TP user name?
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I put this in the Comments box: "Talk Photography member ChrisR, discount 50p per film (min order £5)".
 
Sent on Monday, dropped through the letterbox on Wednesday- that's pretty impressive!
Scans look good, will have a proper look and post some later on.
 
bambam said:
Sent on Monday, dropped through the letterbox on Wednesday- that's pretty impressive!
Scans look good, will have a proper look and post some later on.
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Was that Photo Express?
 
I might try genie. Noticeable scratches are on negs but might be some crud in camera. Need to do an alternate. I do like dip n dunk :)
 
Just had a quick look at Ilford direct. For B & W it is £6.50 a roll dev only but that does include a freepost to send and RM 1st return at that price. They do proper dip n dunk for b & w as well. You can order HP5 & FP4 for £4.99 a roll at the same time too. For one offs that seems like a good deal to me. Contact print is also £1.50 a time so much cheaper than AG but I don't know whether you'd get machine dev for that. I know they use a machine for C41...
 
My CPP2 is currently in pieces waiting to have it's motor fixed :( :( :( so as much as it pains me, I think I'll have to send a few 120 films off for processing. I only need C-41 processing, so what's the consensus on the best value, reliable service at the moment? I had a look at UK Film Lab, and they look great, but I can't stretch to £10 per roll (plus I don't need scanning). AG Photographic look like a bargain at £2.99 process only, or are they a bargain for a reason?! I see Photo Express gets a good write up above, but it looks like they only do 135.
 
Ag photo quality is apparently excellent but they can take flipping ages, not always but sometimes they are glacially slow. I always use Peak Imaging, great quality, good price and I've never waited longer than 5 days and its normally three.
 
Andysnap said:
Ag photo quality is apparently excellent but they can take flipping ages, not always but sometimes they are glacially slow. I always use Peak Imaging, great quality, good price and I've never waited longer than 5 days and its normally three.
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Thanks Andy - useful to know AG is good but can be slow. I'll have to weigh my impatience up against my bank balance when it comes time to process.
 
Try the handy price estimator; I plugged 5 rolls of 120 C41 into my own version, and AG was cheapest at £17.43 and freepost (but the warnings about slowness should be taken into account). Club35 next at £22.25 with freepost (genie looks cheaper but you pay postage to them). Peak is £26 something, freepost. I don't have any data on how long Club35 take. As noted, Photo Express don't do 120.
 
ChrisR said:
Try the handy price estimator; I plugged 5 rolls of 120 C41 into my own version, and AG was cheapest at £17.43 and freepost (but the warnings about slowness should be taken into account). Club35 next at £22.25 with freepost (genie looks cheaper but you pay postage to them). Peak is £26 something, freepost. I don't have any data on how long Club35 take. As noted, Photo Express don't do 120.
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Thanks Chris - I'll check that out. Probably go for AG as I'm not too bothered about waiting a while. After all, I wait weeks to finish a film.
 
ChrisR said:
Try the handy price estimator; I plugged 5 rolls of 120 C41 into my own version, and AG was cheapest at £17.43 and freepost (but the warnings about slowness should be taken into account). Club35 next at £22.25 with freepost (genie looks cheaper but you pay postage to them). Peak is £26 something, freepost. I don't have any data on how long Club35 take. As noted, Photo Express don't do 120.
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Chris - that estimator is fantastic.
Nice one.
 
If you have scans then AG have a very good noritsu scanner. They also offer better resolutions at less money. Last two films I've sent were back in about 7 days. Both dev only but with contact sheet.
 
Sent a roll of colour to Peak for process & scan. I found the film randomly during a house move and shot it at the weekend. It's gotta be 15-20 years old or so, so it'll be interesting to see what's happened in that time. Might have held up ok, might get something crazy and awful or something crazy and good. We'll see :D
 
srichards said:
If you have scans then AG have a very good noritsu scanner. They also offer better resolutions at less money. Last two films I've sent were back in about 7 days. Both dev only but with contact sheet.
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Has anyone used both AG and UK Film Lab for dev and scan? I'm wondering how the quality stacks up, especially as they seem to use some of the same scanning equipment. Assuming the resolutions are roughly equal, AG works out less than two thirds the price, maybe cheaper when you factor in AG's freepost envelopes.

Talking of AG...I got some sample paper through from them this morning (gloss, semi-matt and silk). Aside from the surface, is there any discernible difference in print quality? Just wondering if any of them produce a richer image. When I use an inkjet, the gloss surface usually comes out with richer blacks and looking generally more saturated. Is that the same with 'real' photo paper?
 
I must be looking in the wrong places but I can't find prices on the AG site for process and scan only. Can someone please point me in the right direction.
 
I've just noticed the UK Film Lab's scan resolution is higher than AG's for both small and medium (comparing medium to medium, 2048x2796 vs 3047 x 4097). UKFL small is similar to AG's medium, so that should be taken into account when comparing. The large scans are roughly the same size.
 
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