Film Developing in the UK

Well filmdev for me as they scanned my old Fuji 400h exp in 2007 very well (better than my scanning) but did notice had to adjust the exposure on many (h'mm same as Asda).....and am pleased with the 50mm and 150mm (h'mm might have been 200mm) ETR lenses I was using.
Peak shots coming up, scenery only ;)
 
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Mr Badger said:
I think so, but it's all relative when comparing the overall price. They also send a stiff cardboard envelope with the negs and padded envelope in, which fits through the letterbox, rather than a large one that the postie has to bend in half to fit through (despite it stating Please Do Not Bend!). Swings and roundabouts really. I'll more than likely return to Filmdev if I want a film scanning as well as developing, particularly if I'm in a hurry for the results. (y)
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Filmdev's default envelope is too large for my letter box, which means a pickup from town if I'm out... when I spoke to them about this they said to ask for a soft envelope in the comments section, which I now do. The envelope is fine, goes through nicely and protects the negs and CD.

I also ask for negs cut in 6s and TIFFs as well as JPEGs.
 
ChrisR said:
Filmdev's default envelope is too large for my letter box, which means a pickup from town if I'm out... when I spoke to them about this they said to ask for a soft envelope in the comments section, which I now do. The envelope is fine, goes through nicely and protects the negs and CD.

I also ask for negs cut in 6s and TIFFs as well as JPEGs.
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Well I had the smaller letter box size for years, anyway saw a nice large black wrought iron letter box at the bootie for a pound and just jigsawed a bigger hole in the door to fit........could you do the same?
 
Another vote for FilmDev here. Even moreso because I can sneak my rolls in with business post here at work, and send them for free! Sent my last lot off on Monday, got the scans on Wednesday - with a call as well, because there were some overlapped frames (expected). Really good service!
 
mothdust said:
Another vote for FilmDev here. Even moreso because I can sneak my rolls in with business post here at work, and send them for free! Sent my last lot off on Monday, got the scans on Wednesday - with a call as well, because there were some overlapped frames (expected). Really good service!
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They are very informative as when the guy phoned me said:- there were only 14 shots on my 6X4.5 (should be 15)...I'll have to look at the negs to see what happened as I can't remember if it fired accidently with the cap on.
 
scook94 said:
I sent mine midday Tuesday as well, except I sent mine 1st Class Signed For. According to RM Website they got them yesterday just after lunch. I got the phone call this morning about 09:30 to say that they were ready and to arrange payment. Judging by previous comments I'd half expected to hear yesterday evening but I guess with all the recommendations they've been getting on here they may be that wee bit busier! ;) (y)
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So after receiving the scans via download yesterday from Filmdev I uploaded them to DS Colour Labs at 12:55 yesterday. They say that before 13:00 they will process that day, true to their word they duly arrived in today's post. The scans were great but seeing them in my hands as prints is what it's all about, right? Totally delighted, thanks for the recommendations they were spot on!
 
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scook94 said:
So after receiving the scans via download yesterday from Filmdev I uploaded them to DC Colour Labs at 12:55 yesterday. They say that before 13:00 they will process that day, true to their word they duly arrived in today's post. The scans were great but seeing them in my hands as prints is what it's all about, right? Totally delighted, thanks for the recommendations they were spot on!
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I'm glad to hear that everything worked out well. :)
 
Found my way here searching on Google for a Lab to send some 35mm off to for dev and scan. Looking for local options instead of Canadian Film Labs or Carmencita, which seem to be very popular. Thanks for the FilmDev info, just about to pop a couple of Agfavista Plus rolls off to them now to see how they come out. Price seems very reasonable.
 
DaveWilliams said:
Found my way here searching on Google for a Lab to send some 35mm off to for dev and scan. Looking for local options instead of Canadian Film Labs or Carmencita, which seem to be very popular. Thanks for the FilmDev info, just about to pop a couple of Agfavista Plus rolls off to them now to see how they come out. Price seems very reasonable.
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Hi Dave, welcome to TP and in particular the film and conventional section. Filmdev have proven to be an excellent company that provide a great service and moxt people seem very satisfied with them, including myself.

Andy
 
Given my angst about dust and the proximity of the FPOTY17 date I popped a roll of Tri-X in with my Vista 400 off to Filmdev. Chose the same medium scans I get for C41, a bit pricy at £9 but cheaper than the opposition. Very pleased with the results; they use XTOL, like Peak do. Quite high contrast, possibly too much so for some tastes. Posted Thursday, got them Saturday, maybe b&w makes it slower!
 
FishyFish said:
I might just use Photo Hippo again, as they did the last roll perfectly well, but as Filmdev seem to be getting accolades at present, I wondered what their offerings re APS are.
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Peak also do APS. AG list a number of obsolete film types but don't mention APS. They might give a price...
 
Does anyone send 4x5 film for developing and scanning and if so who do you use?

Ilford appear to be a good option for B&W but I've also been searching for a colour option, hopefully I'll pickup an Epson V700 or V800 but that probably won't be for a number of months.

Cheers
 
I'm new to this forum, and have recently returned to shooting film.
I used FilmDev to get my last two rolls processed and scanned, and was very pleased with the service.
It occurred to me that quite a few of the members of this community also seem to use FilmDev, and as such must represent a steady, if not growing customer base for the company, so I wondered if there is any mileage in the idea of trying to negotiate a small discount for forum members?
I don't know who is in charge of the TP forums, but perhaps it's at least an idea that's worth considering, on the basis of 'if you don't ask, you don't get'.
Anyway, just a thought.
 
stevenelawson said:
I'm new to this forum, and have recently returned to shooting film.
I used FilmDev to get my last two rolls processed and scanned, and was very pleased with the service.
It occurred to me that quite a few of the members of this community also seem to use FilmDev, and as such must represent a steady, if not growing customer base for the company, so I wondered if there is any mileage in the idea of trying to negotiate a small discount for forum members?
I don't know who is in charge of the TP forums, but perhaps it's at least an idea that's worth considering, on the basis of 'if you don't ask, you don't get'.
Anyway, just a thought.
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No-one's in charge, but I did ask Filmdev if they would do a discount for TP. They thought seriously about it, looking particularly at Photo Express who do offer a 50p per film discount to TP members. However, they decided that their prices were competitive, specially since they didn't charge for return postage.
 
Filmdev are a good price for the quality and turn around. What we really need is a discount off the outrageously expensive cost of outward postage via RM.
 
ChrisR said:
No-one's in charge, but I did ask Filmdev if they would do a discount for TP. They thought seriously about it, looking particularly at Photo Express who do offer a 50p per film discount to TP members. However, they decided that their prices were competitive, specially since they didn't charge for return postage.
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Thanks for the information Chris. I didn't know about the Photo Express discount. As I said, I've only just started using FilmDev but I was very pleased with their service - my negs popped through the door today, and that free postage is a definite bonus, although the small parcel charge at the PO is a bit of a pain. I'm building up to developing my own film at home, but I'm not looking forward to the scanning process.
 
stevenelawson said:
Thanks for the information Chris. I didn't know about the Photo Express discount. As I said, I've only just started using FilmDev but I was very pleased with their service - my negs popped through the door today, and that free postage is a definite bonus, although the small parcel charge at the PO is a bit of a pain. I'm building up to developing my own film at home, but I'm not looking forward to the scanning process.
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Yes, scanning is a Dark Art! Each type has its own issues: C41 the orange mask mucking your colours about, transparency the shadows blocking up and hot colours out of gamut, and black and white... well, it's easier, but by no means easy to get the contrast etc working right.
 
Has anyone tried any of the other parcel companies for posting their film off instead of Royal Mail? I wondered if they might be more competitively priced? And some will collect the package direct from your door instead of having to take it to be posted.
 
All the ones I've looked at seem to be more expensive. If RM would allow a slightly thicker envelope at the large letter rate for under 100g then you could send several films for a quid .
 
Boots are now planning on restructuring their photo services which it seems will involve removing a large number of minilabs from stores. I think cewe central lab services will still be available for the forseeable future. All this should be implemented by the end of July. No more wet lab prints in store annoys me more than the loss of the dev machine as I hate DNP prints.
 
Have generally used AG and been happy wth them but this week was pretty good. Posted Thursday, got an email saying they received on Friday and i got the CD this morning (Sat)!
 
cambsno said:
Have generally used AG and been happy wth them but this week was pretty good. Posted Thursday, got an email saying they received on Friday and i got the CD this morning (Sat)!
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That's great news, good to hear AG seem to have really upped their game.
 
As I said before, I've found AG to be pretty fast of late, I've been receiving the negs back a couple of days after posting them, which is ideal for me as I prefer to scan the negs myself rather than have a CD or download scan, so as to keep my costs down for 'every-day' type shots. I also find the postage paid padded envelope more convenient for sending the films off.

Mind you, as with any postal service, it's going to also depend on how long it takes to deliver in either direction, rather than just the lab turn-around time.
 
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I only favour FilmDev over AG because I prefer having scans via the Wetransfer download link, rather than on a CD. Both equally fast, and good-quality service - price is similar too.
 
mothdust said:
I only favour FilmDev over AG because I prefer having scans via the Wetransfer download link, rather than on a CD. Both equally fast, and good-quality service - price is similar too.
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But as mentioned, I would prefer a smaller envelope for return of negs (not that it won't go through my letter box) but to arrange more conveniently on a small shelf numbered to match jpgs on my computer.. h'mm gap in shelf 8.5", envelope width 9" :eek:
 
excalibur2 said:
But as mentioned, I would prefer a smaller envelope for return of negs (not that it won't go through my letter box) but to arrange more conveniently on a small shelf numbered to match jpgs on my computer.. h'mm gap in shelf 8.5", envelope width 9" :eek:
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Moon on a stick! ;)
 
excalibur2 said:
But as mentioned, I would prefer a smaller envelope for return of negs (not that it won't go through my letter box) but to arrange more conveniently on a small shelf numbered to match jpgs on my computer.. h'mm gap in shelf 8.5", envelope width 9" :eek:
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I've just measured the sturdy card envelope AG use to send my negs (and CDs when required) back in, and it's 10.5 inches x 6.5 inches or thereabouts. So not only should it arrive flat though the average letterbox, it should fit on Brian's shelf too. :)
 
I found out that Brentwood BOOTS lab is NOT closing with the other 220 in-lab ones so my favourite technician BILL still has his job ! He must be the BEST BOOTS photo technician in the whole of Southern Essex !
 
Sadly, the ASDA in Coryton, Cardiff, no longer develop. The minilab gave up the ghost and as expected, they decided not to fix it.
 
abdoujaparov said:
This one is still in the ASDA photo department, three months after it stopped working. I imagine they're hard to sell, and a bugger to move, so they end up collecting dust.
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I'd reckon they'd disappear on ebay quite quickly. If the mini labs weren't so large I'd have one in the dining room by now :D
 
srichards said:
I'd reckon they'd disappear on ebay quite quickly. If the mini labs weren't so large I'd have one in the dining room by now :D
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You do see them on eBay, but I don't think I've ever seen one with a bid on it. Here's one - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fuji-Digi...081913?hash=item4d5526b539:g:82kAAOSwr~lYtZbN - but I can't imagine there's a market big enough to buy all of ASDA's and Boots's cast-offs.

Not only are they huge, though, I believe they need a lot of film through them, otherwise the chemicals are going to go off before you get your money's worth.
 
abdoujaparov said:
This one is still in the ASDA photo department, three months after it stopped working. I imagine they're hard to sell, and a bugger to move, so they end up collecting dust.
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What I don't get is the girl at Asda said "Asda don't own the dev and scanning equipment but rent them or lease or whatever" so she must be wrong otherwise it would have been taken away.
 
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