Film Developing in the UK

I don't do a lot of film shooting. But my last few films I've taken/dropped off to https://jackslab.co/ here in Bristol. They do a point earning/rewards thing and I've been paying £12 for 35mm/24 develop and tiff scans via email. Negs can be collected, posted or binned.

I guess I haven't got anything to directly compare to, but certainly not had any issues.

They have the usual Instagram, FB etc too.
 
Filmdev will be closing for maintenance from 10 July to 31 July, apparently... (Notice on their front page, also on a tweet which apparently I can't link to from here!)
 
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Apparently Silverpan in Bristol are now tied in with Analogue Wonderland.
 
Quick question - if you plan to scan/process your own negatives at home as I do, is there any benefit to using one of the more specialised film processing centres for negatives. That is, if all you want are the negatives, can you use any old processing offering that happens to be the cheapest at the time, or are there differences in the way places produce them?
 
ChrisR said:
Article on Kosmo Foto about PPP Film Lab, a new film lab starting up in Birmingham. C41 only at this stage, but he has custom masks that provide 6% extra scan area and also XPAN scanning. I gather they do 35mm, 120, 126, 127, 620, 110 and APS! Could be interesting... https://kosmofoto.com/2023/09/ppp-film-lab-what-a-camera-repairer-did-next/ .

The lab is at https://pppcameras.co.uk/lab . He also does camera repairs.
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Always good news when more processing players come to the party but what I'd really be happy to see would be a one stop shop for b&w, C41, & E6 for 35mm, 120 and large format film.
 
py6km said:
Quick question - if you plan to scan/process your own negatives at home as I do, is there any benefit to using one of the more specialised film processing centres for negatives. That is, if all you want are the negatives, can you use any old processing offering that happens to be the cheapest at the time, or are there differences in the way places produce them?
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There are differences. I've certainly had water marks and scratches on some films. C41 processing is pretty standardised, but for black and white you might want to check what chemistry they use.
 
RaglanSurf said:
Always good news when more processing players come to the party but what I'd really be happy to see would be a one stop shop for b&w, C41, & E6 for 35mm, 120 and large format film.
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The Darkroom at Cheltenham?
 
PeteNaples said:
These guys in Edinburgh, are great.

amimage.co.uk

Film Processing

All types of Film processing, C41 processing, E6 processing, Slide processing, Black & White processing, Scanning slides, negatives, 5x4, 10x8, Scanning film, Print packages
amimage.co.uk
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I have just tried these, 24 hour turnaround at an extra £2 was indeed 24 hours. The scans look good and as long as the film is OK when I get it back (no reason to think it won't be as the scans are good) I will be using them henceforth for my E6 they do scans to large TIFFs which is what I like and the price is very reasonable IMO.

Thanks @PeteNaples for sharing their details. (y)
 
Topsy said:
I have just tried these, 24 hour turnaround at an extra £2 was indeed 24 hours. The scans look good and as long as the film is OK when I get it back (no reason to think it won't be as the scans are good) I will be using them henceforth for my E6 they do scans to large TIFFs which is what I like and the price is very reasonable IMO.

Thanks @PeteNaples for sharing their details. (y)
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I've had repeatable results from them, and heard nothing but good things.

IIRC they were born out of Trumps, which was one of the better Edinburgh labs, back in my young day.
 
ChrisR said:
Article on Kosmo Foto about PPP Film Lab, a new film lab starting up in Birmingham. C41 only at this stage, but he has custom masks that provide 6% extra scan area and also XPAN scanning. I gather they do 35mm, 120, 126, 127, 620, 110 and APS! Could be interesting... https://kosmofoto.com/2023/09/ppp-film-lab-what-a-camera-repairer-did-next/ .

The lab is at https://pppcameras.co.uk/lab . He also does camera repairs.
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The young man, Pierro, who runs PPP Cameras was on BBC's The Repair Shop last night fixing a TLR camera. Should be available on iPlayer if anyone wants to see it.
 
Mrs Snap said:
The young man, Pierro, who runs PPP Cameras was on BBC's The Repair Shop last night fixing a TLR camera. Should be available on iPlayer if anyone wants to see it.
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He looked pretty competent with what he did. He had obviously re japanned the lettering in dials many times before.
 
Topsy said:
I have just tried these, 24 hour turnaround at an extra £2 was indeed 24 hours. The scans look good and as long as the film is OK when I get it back (no reason to think it won't be as the scans are good) I will be using them henceforth for my E6 they do scans to large TIFFs which is what I like and the price is very reasonable IMO.

Thanks @PeteNaples for sharing their details. (y)
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Let us know how the negatives are when you get them back please Paul. I may actually get around to shooting some of the colour 4x5 film I have, and I'll consider these for developing it.
 
FishyFish said:
Let us know how the negatives are when you get them back please Paul. I may actually get around to shooting some of the colour 4x5 film I have, and I'll consider these for developing it.
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Will do Nige, they're slides BTW I always use slide film when testing kit or labs because I find them easier to assess on the lightbox. In this instance I was testing both the lab and 2 little used 35mm cameras I used a hand held meter and set exposure manually and took notes so I'll see it the exposures were accurate and will see the condition of the film from the lab.
 
There appears to be a new option in Brighton, with the Open Market Film Lab

Film Lab | Open Market Film Lab

www.openmarketfilmlab.com www.openmarketfilmlab.com

I know nothing about it; Sue spotted it when out photographing sheep in Brighton.... I shall be popping along for a look and a chat.
 
I have updated the Nifty 120/135 Film Dev/Scan Price Estimator as of this month. Probably should have waited a month or two to let new postage prices settle in! I was surprised that some labs have not updated their prices since 2022!

I have removed CC Imaging and Peak Imaging, which have not been functional for some time. SilverPanLab is now closed (merged with Analogue Wonderlab). Canadian Film Lab still offers free international postage for up to 10 films via a UK address. I left Carmencita off because of UK/EU postage issues, but if there's a demand I'll add them back in.

I have also added in A&M Imaging, an Edinburgh-based lab mentioned above, with reasonable prices and a dip and dunk facility, though I have not used them (@Topsy appears happy).

Please note, prices are only a guide as I may have misread their pricing structures (they are all different, and few are simple!), so if you pick a lab based on this, please check with their actual web site. Some have many options, and I've had to pick from their menu; you might choose differently. If you see an obvious error, please let me know. I have checked via another computer, and the locked/unlocked bits seem to be OK this time, but again, if the spreadsheet comes with an error, please let me know.
 
Exposure Film Lab, in Hereford. I have had good service from them.

The Darkroom in Cheltenham doesn't upload scans, as it takes too much time. They will only transfer your files to a CD.
 
Plain Nev said:
Exposure Film Lab, in Hereford. I have had good service from them.

The Darkroom in Cheltenham doesn't upload scans, as it takes too much time. They will only transfer your files to a CD.
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I didn't realise that about the scans, I've only ever used them for dev-only. I have not tried to indicate the different options for getting scans back, though I notice more and more are using WeTransfer as their lowest price option. The Darkroom are a good quality lab, AFAICS, can't remember ever seeing dust, scratches or chemical spills, unlike some very popular labs I've used.
 
ChrisR said:
I didn't realise that about the scans, I've only ever used them for dev-only. I have not tried to indicate the different options for getting scans back, though I notice more and more are using WeTransfer as their lowest price option. The Darkroom are a good quality lab, AFAICS, can't remember ever seeing dust, scratches or chemical spills, unlike some very popular labs I've used.
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I'm sure they do a good job. But, as I had gone out of my way already, I didn't fancy having to go back to pick up a CD. Just a practical consideration really.
 
Going to have a root thru the recommendations here as it's been a while sinc since I got a dev and scan and wanted to see what else is out there.

I contacted a company to check if they could cater for a 35mm colour film pushed from 200 to 800, one said they couldn't cater for that as they could only do pushed b&w and then another company said the following

"All colour film is developed at the same speed as it’s much more flexible than B&W film and professional film developers run on a series of cogs at an unchangable speed.But, we can develop your films and make any improvements to exposure if necessary in scanning!"

I don't know a lot about it but thought something was always changed in the developing if you had pushed a film and it made me hesitant to use them - but thought I'd ask the hive mind here (sorry if this is the wrong place for it)

it's out of date film just used for this and that so nothing special and high chance of being utter s***e anyway...
 
dan_yell said:
Going to have a root thru the recommendations here as it's been a while sinc since I got a dev and scan and wanted to see what else is out there.

I contacted a company to check if they could cater for a 35mm colour film pushed from 200 to 800, one said they couldn't cater for that as they could only do pushed b&w and then another company said the following

"All colour film is developed at the same speed as it’s much more flexible than B&W film and professional film developers run on a series of cogs at an unchangable speed.But, we can develop your films and make any improvements to exposure if necessary in scanning!"

I don't know a lot about it but thought something was always changed in the developing if you had pushed a film and it made me hesitant to use them - but thought I'd ask the hive mind here (sorry if this is the wrong place for it)

it's out of date film just used for this and that so nothing special and high chance of being utter s***e anyway...
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I think they might be right, insofar as it's liable to be processed by a machine. That's not to say that you can't monkey around with it if done by hand. You pays your money you takes your choice.
 
With filmdev I just tell them if there's been anything odd with the film eg film speed set wrong or it's very OOD. They did my geriatric Jessops film that had been in a hot loft for a decade or more. Turned out ok.
 
dan_yell said:
"All colour film is developed at the same speed as it’s much more flexible than B&W film and professional film developers run on a series of cogs at an unchangable speed.But, we can develop your films and make any improvements to exposure if necessary in scanning!"
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I see no reason to doubt this as a statement.

dan_yell said:
I don't know a lot about it but thought something was always changed in the developing if you had pushed a film
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This is also true.

There is no real contradiction.

If you know what happens in colour processing, you would realise why it both can be done and won't be.
 
Had a little look around but couldnt see the answer.

Does anyone know of a film lab that will scan the borders/sprockets?
I'd like to see the borders from my Pentax 645N as it prints the data, Aperture, speed etc.

Analogue Wonderland offer this but its... *gulp* £15 extra PER ROLL.... :eek:
 
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Jakemico AE-1P said:
Had a little look around but couldnt see the answer.

Does anyone know of a film lab that will scan the borders/sprockets?
I'd like to see the borders from my Pentax 645N as it prints the data, Aperture, speed etc.

Analogue Wonderland offer this but its... *gulp* £15 extra PER ROLL.... :eek:
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I guess they are fluid scanning on a glass platter for which £15 per roll extra sounds inexpensive given the extra work needed, as a side effect, your negatives will be truly flat when scanned.
 
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