Film Developing in the UK

ChrisR said:
..., but I pay postage there (gone up to £3.30 these days, for first small packet).
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120 and 35mm films are just a tad over the thickness limit for large letter if you put them in a jiffy bag. I think the limit is 25mm if my memory is right. If you take it to the post office they charge you £3.30 for a parcel as it doesn't quite go through their gauge, but if you put the film in a jiffy bag and stick a 95p "large letter" stamp on it and stick it in the post box, it arrives no problem :) I sent two 120 rolls and a 35mm roll off the other day, all together in a jiffy bag with a 95p stamp on and had no problems, and it arrived at the lab the next day :D Or if you prefer second class I think it's 74p for a large letter
 
Yes, I sent 3 films off to Peak in one of there Freepost little boxes, definitely too big to go through the PO gauge, marked 2nd class, so I dropped that one in the box before going in. My worry is that if I don't put the full postage on and some jobsworth tests it, they might get lost, or seriously delayed, or turn up at the other end with some sort of penalty charge on them and not be accepted...
 
If you use a peasant envelope and not a Jiffy bag, they go through with a little wiggle. Always have mine tested and they always go through. Up to 4 X 120 films in a thin envelope.
 
ChrisR said:
I rang them today and had a long chat (possibly worryingly long; I felt he was telling me stuff I didn't ask, not letting me ask what I wanted to know... and didn't he have work to do?). Anyway, they are apparently a bunch of wedding photographers who shoot weddings on film (hey there @gazmorton2000 !), and for various reasons weren't happy with the services around and decided to set up for themselves. They have Fuji Frontier (or Frontera?) scanners. I wanted to know the scan resolutions, and I got this pitch that it scans at 300 dpi for a maximum of 12" width/length... I think he was saying that it scans at the resolution necessary to print at 300 dpi, and prints a max of 12". Hence the maximum scan is 3600 * 3600 pixels. That translates into about 2400 ppi for a 35mm scan, I think (1" by 1.5" approx). For 6*6 cm (or 2.25" square), it should max out at a bit under 1800 ppi. There were various caveats that I didn't understand, so treat this with a lump of salt at the moment. He did say they scan their own stuff at medium density, and it will actually print up much larger if you take the TIFF and work it in Photoshop.

Anyway, I've ordered 5*135 and 1*120, all scanned at medium, £5 per film, no return delivery charge, but I pay postage there (gone up to £3.30 these days, for first small packet). (Small scans would be £3 process and scan, large scans £8 I think.) They will call me when they get the films to discuss my requirements. They will post me a link to some small, un-sharpened, highly compressed scans, via something called "WeTransfer". When I've had a chance to look at them, they call again and we discuss... something, not sure, maybe whether I want TIFFs or JPEGs, larger/smaller, tweak the colour balance, sharpening, not sure yet. From what I can see, payment happens after rather than before processing. Again I'll tell you later. Then they post back a CD with the negs and scans. They can work out a profile with me (not sure he called it that), maybe like UK Film Lab does. As an example, he said one user felt his Portra was coming in with a slight magenta cast, so they add a hint of green to his scans to balance it out.

They cut into 4-neg strips, no filing punch holes, something about a supply problem. If you ask (I forgot!), they can cut into 6-neg strips (which they also prefer), but they'll have to return them in 120 sleeves, presumably a bit loose. Again no filing punch holes. I guess the idea is to re-sleeve them for your filing, ready in case you need to scan again. I can't argue too much with all of this, as my favourite C41 lab, Photo Express, does 4-neg strips, and I've only just started being bothered. But trying to get into a better filing regime, the lack of punch filing holes is a PITA.
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Hi Chris, yes, they are happy to discuss anything concerning your processing and scans. I found them useful, I have to say. And, extremely enthusiastic. Wetransfer.com is just an FTP service anyone can use and for these purposes a free way to get your images back to you as instantly as they can be uploaded by FilmDev (in small files). Like online contact sheets really. Plus, if there is something you're not happy with, they'll sort it out with your before sending your negs and the hi res files back on the CD. And yes, payment is after the processing, unless you send in a big batch of films, at which point they'll ask for deposit. They gave me the distinct impression that they are looking to build long-term relationships and go to the lengths they do at the start in order to find out what their clients need. It felt old school to me – in a good way. I hope you like what they send you. Cheers, JD
 
Thanks Jonathan, sent first class two days ago and still have not had that "film received" phone call, which is worrying. Anyway I'm quietly hopeful, about their part more than my shooting. In fact since it was landscape and a couple of films were at sunrise, and having looked at my last set of sunrise shots, they may well need a bit of intervention at scanning, so the chance to chat after viewing the "digital contact strips" could turn out very useful.

EDIT: Got the phone call later in the morning! They will cut in 6s (had remembered anyway), which means I can re-sleeve and file.
 
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gazmorton2000 said:
If you use a peasant envelope and not a Jiffy bag, they go through with a little wiggle. Always have mine tested and they always go through. Up to 4 X 120 films in a thin envelope.
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Hi - be very careful about posting films in regular envelopes (if that is what you mean) - we have had envelopes arrive on several occasions, but minus the film. The film breaks out and is lost in the Royal Mail somewhere.

We have found that the very tough poly padded bags we give out for free (with free first class post) have worked superbly. We always send a new one back with each order - but if anyone needs one to get them going, we can send one out no problem, just drop us a line with your address .

And then you don't need to worry whether it is a large letter or packet - it's free to you, regardless!

Matt
 
gazmorton2000 said:
If you use a peasant envelope and not a Jiffy bag, they go through with a little wiggle. Always have mine tested and they always go through. Up to 4 X 120 films in a thin envelope.
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This might explain the amount of empty thin envelopes we get...
 
Within the next week or two (after getting back from our visit to Edinburgh) I'm planning to update the handy price estimator. I'll take out Genie (who have stopped processing film) and add Filmdev. Are there any other known changes folk have spotted (1st class small packet has gone up to £3.30, I know tha one)? Or any other companies who should be added? I think the one @Carl Hall was using works on a different model and can't easily be compared.
 
Oh well. Guess I've been lucky so far then. Definitely not going up to a Jiffy bag though and trebling the postage costs.
 
ChrisR said:
Within the next week or two (after getting back from our visit to Edinburgh) I'm planning to update the handy price estimator. I'll take out Genie (who have stopped processing film) and add Filmdev. Are there any other known changes folk have spotted (1st class small packet has gone up to £3.30, I know tha one)? Or any other companies who should be added? I think the one @Carl Hall was using works on a different model and can't easily be compared.
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Yeah I've recently been using Photoghost who use a subscription service. Basically it's £25 a month which covers you for up to ten C41 films (35mm or 120). You post the film at your own cost and then the scans are added to their dropbox in your personal folder a couple days later (quite often it's the day after I post them!). They actually keep all of your old scans in the dropbox too as an archive, rather than deleting them after a couple of weeks. They've recently changed their ways and now don't post films back to you immediately, but keep them filed away until you want them, at which point you pay £7.50 to get the lot back. (I would assume it's a move to compete with UKFL who do the same). This subscription covers you for regular scans around 1800px which is ideal for web use, but if you'd like "hand scans" which are 3000px or so then it's an extra £6 per roll on top of the subscription.

No idea how you're going to compare this to other sites that work on a cost per roll price though :confused:
 
excalibur2 said:
Your link 10 bags for £!.22 but o_O the same company are offering 25 bags for £1.74 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00O58LUXO?psc=1
Might be worth investigating the best deal on the net for people posting film.
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to be honest I just linked the first smallish ones I found as an example, but yes yours is much better value :) I won't be buying any for a while though as I have a box of 25 A5 sized jiffy bags which I bought off ebay to get through first :LOL:
 
Filmdev sent me scans of a 135 frame and a 120 6*6 frame at all their sizes from small to extra large:

135 small: 1818*1228 pixels
135 medium: 2988*1972
135 large: 4547*3047
135 extra large: 5444*3649
120 small: 1559*1559
120 medium: 2173*2173
120 large: 3330*3330

They don't do extra large in 120. Medium will probably do for me, I think.
 
ChrisR said:
Filmdev sent me scans of a 135 frame and a 120 6*6 frame at all their sizes from small to extra large:

135 small: 1818*1228 pixels
135 medium: 2988*1972
135 large: 4547*3047
135 extra large: 5444*3649
120 small: 1559*1559
120 medium: 2173*2173
120 large: 3330*3330

They don't do extra large in 120. Medium will probably do for me, I think.
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How did you get on with the FilmDev scans? Did they come out as you required? They still seem a very economic option for dev/scan, although I've not yet fully explored everyone else's posts and recommendations.
 
jjdoyle said:
How did you get on with the FilmDev scans? Did they come out as you required? They still seem a very economic option for dev/scan, although I've not yet fully explored everyone else's posts and recommendations.
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Very well, I'm processing 6 films now (in between scanning the 3 other Lake District films). Communication really good, the medium scans look excellent. The only annoying thing is they are scanned last first, which is a bit distracting once in Aperture. Lots of places do this, though.
 
ChrisR said:
Yes, I sent 3 films off to Peak in one of there Freepost little boxes, definitely too big to go through the PO gauge, marked 2nd class, so I dropped that one in the box before going in. My worry is that if I don't put the full postage on and some jobsworth tests it, they might get lost, or seriously delayed, or turn up at the other end with some sort of penalty charge on them and not be accepted...
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Just to say Chris,that it is freepost so does not matter the cost in paid by the licence provider.
 
OK, I've had a chance to look at the Filmdev scan properly, and I think they are very good. You'll see some in the Lake District pics thread in due course. I did discuss with them, that at first glance I thought they were a bit on the flat side, lacking detail in clouds etc. He said they prefer to scan flat, but there was some sort of enhancement preset on the scanner, that would presumably boost contrast a bit, He offered to use it, but in the end I decided to go with the flat scans, and do any contrast boosts myself. That seems to have worked out OK. He asked if I wanted TIFFs or JPEGs; I opted for JPEGs, and in the end he added the TIFFs as well; only 8-bit TIFFs though, quite a bit bigger and I'm not sure there's a real advantage for me, so I've just used the JPEGs. I think they must be using a very fine setting on the JPEGs though, as they are quite large (can't tell you how large at the moment, as Aperture is updating its Vaults, and goes unresponsive while it does that EDIT: 7 to 11 MByte for 6 mp scans).

One slight hitch: the TLR scans were mirror images (spotted on the "digital contact strip" that they supply by FTP). We discussed that, and and I thought he was going to change them, but he did ring on Saturday and sent the DVD on Monday, which maybe explains why they were stilled flipped. Only a moment to flip each one in Aperture, though. They also sent the results in two large folders: one for all JPEGs and one for all TIFFs. Most of the films were identifiable by a separate filename prefix (R1 to R5) but two 24-shot films shared the same R5 prefix. Didn't take too long to separate them.

One oddness: I couldn't get the Mac to recognise the DVD at first. I loaded Disk Utility in the end and somehow got it recognised from there.

One good thing: after I'd quizzed him about cutting into strips of 6 rather than 4, he had got onto their supplier and obtained some samples, so all mine came in 6s. Nice Kenro punched holders that file easily. He said they would have to use up their old stock of 4s, but I suspect if you ask for 6s you're get them, and the 4s will go to those who don't ask.

Altogether, quite a good experience. 5*135 and 1*120 C41 process and medium scans for £30 is pretty good. I would certainly use them again.
 
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medwaygreen said:
Just to say Chris,that it is freepost so does not matter the cost in paid by the licence provider.
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Freepost is freepost to the sender wether it's one roll in a Jiffy bag or a bunch of bricks in a box.
 
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I have updated the nifty dev/scan price estimator, adding Filmdev and Ilford Labs, and removing Genie and Fujifilm (the latter points you to PhotoHippo, but since I've not heard of anyone using them I just deleted it). In the process I may have introduced errors, so please let me know if you find any!
 
RumpFace said:
Freepost is freepost to the sender wether it's one roll in a Jiffy bag or a bunch of bricks in a box.
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Though I'm sure Peak would appreciate it if you didn't include a spare housebrick or two with every roll you submit - or send in your cut sheets sandwiched between a pair of lead plates "just in case" of the post office deciding to begin "x-ray" investigations on their parcels :LOL:
 
Mark @TheBigYin I've just looked at some of the original resource links. The link for Spectrum fails, and I think should simply be http://www.spectrumphotolabs.co.uk . Also, the Print Lab appears to be link to a Manchester company of that name that does not offer film processing. Could you fix these on the resource page, please?

Also I noticed that the Resource page and the OP in the discussion thread now differ; could a comment be included in the latter that it may be out of date, see the resource page instead? (I may not understand quite how these things work!) Thanks
 
@ChrisR - done the Spectrum link... Can't actually see a "Print Lab" link anywhere ... point me in the right area could you ?

as to the "resource" and the "initial page" being different - i'll cut/paste the edited "resource" into the first post once I sort the "print lab" problem for you...
 
TheBigYin said:
@ChrisR - done the Spectrum link... Can't actually see a "Print Lab" link anywhere ... point me in the right area could you ?
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Oh dear, I meant The Print Room, got the name wrong, sorry!

Thanks Mark
 
ChrisR said:
Oh dear, I meant The Print Room, got the name wrong, sorry!

Thanks Mark
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Right - deleted that link, and I've basically copied the "resource" text back into the original "first post" as well, so they should be back in step now... Have to admit, I thought that any edits in the "resource" would have been folded automatically back into the initial post, but apparently not - at least if I make them they aren't...

Should be fixed now anyway.
 
Processing is not the problem AFAIK nobody is actually producing 126 anymore but some folk have been loading 35mm film into old 126 cassettes.
 
Got my second batch of films back from Filmdev this week, and I'm very happy with them. This time the frames were sequenced in the correct order. Very quick, too. Posted Monday (in a plastic envelope similar to those discussed here, with a Large Letter first class stamp, 92p IIRC), email with the download link for the highly compressed "proof sheet" scans received Tuesday. I think he rang me Tuesday for the money too, but I was in a public place so he tried again Wednesday morning and I got the envelope with the negs (sleeved in 6s) and DVD on Thursday. £10 for two films, nice medium scans.

@TheBigYin could we add Filmdev.co.uk to the resource and front posts, please?
 
What's everyone's opinion on Kodak Express for developing? The first rolls I got were great, but the last ones I got done have marks all over the pictures. I'm pretty sure it's not dust on the lens. A few have pointed out on the forum it looks like an issue with scanning/negatives.

Example:
 

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cp35 said:
What's everyone's opinion on Kodak Express for developing? The first rolls I got were great, but the last ones I got done have marks all over the pictures. I'm pretty sure it's not dust on the lens. A few have pointed out on the forum it looks like an issue with scanning/megatives.

Example:
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It's a franchise operation isn't it? So results could vary a lot depending on who's operating the gear (like Snappy Snaps and Max Spielmann). I'd guess they were mostly getting single use cameras and Mom and Pop shots rather than anyone demanding high quality. I'd suggest one of the "send away" labs listed in the first post of this thread would give better, more consistent results.
 
Thanks Chris, I will check that out. Might not be relevant, but my first visit a lady developed them who I had a brief chat with, and she seemed very knowledgable (was into film herself quite heavily) the second visit, a younger guy, couldn't have been older than 20 developed it. That's when the issue appeared. Don't want to appear 'ageist' but experience may have been a factor I'm thinking.

Just e-mailed them anyway with examples, so will be interesting to see what they come back with.
 
Have a look at your negs and see if there's evidence of marks/dust/crud on them, if they look clean send them back for a re-scan.
 
Just had another look at the negatives and there are no marks on them. Just got an e-mail from Kodak and they confirmed that it looks like dust from the scanner in the shop.

They've asked me to bring back the pics for a re-scan.
 
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Decided to try Peak for the first time today, but I'm finding their online ordering process to be quite long winded and a bit confusing tbh. Hopefully their price and process time are worth the effort!
 
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