Film processing service

Hey,

Has anyone had any experiences with mail order film processing services? Prices seem to be great, but hard to find any hard evidence on how they perform? Any help is welcome Central London prices vary between £16-£25 for processing, which is rather steep for me.
I'm a casual shooter, so no need for high-end, just a decent quality.

I have previously used Camden Kodak Express and Bethnal Green Snappy snaps, with very happy results from Kodak but not so much from Snappy.
Snappy had lots of dust on the film when developing, thus prints are covered in white dots making all dark areas look rather poor.

Cheers,
Aleks

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Pentax K-5 and co.

The best most consistent provider of online printing I have found is Foto.com .... The colours always exactly match my images as I see on screen, and that was never the case with others I've tried. The print quality and Fuji paper is all very good. They have a good range of fairly priced prints including very good value large ' poster prints" with hangers or frames if you want.

Postage is extra from Belgium, but well worth it I think. They take about 5-7 days to get to you.

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My Guides to the Pentax Digital Camera Flash Lighting System : Download here from the PentaxForums Homepage Article .... link
Pentax K7 with BG-4 Grip / Samyang 14mm f2.8 ED AS IF UMC / DA18-55mm f3.5-5.6 AL WR / SMC A28mm f2.8 / D FA 28-105mm / SMC F35-70 f3.5-4.5 / SMC A50mm f1.7 / Tamron AF70-300mm f4-5.6 Di LD macro / SMC M75-150mm f4.0 / Tamron Adaptall (CT-135) 135mm f2.8 / Asahi Takumar-A 2X tele-converter / Pentax AF-540FGZ (I & II) Flashes / Cactus RF60/X Flashes & V6/V6II Transceiver

This well established, family run company have always processed and scanned my film superbly, way better than 'Snappy Snaps'. They're reasonably cheap, especially given the high resolution of the scans they offer (Snappy Snaps are terrible in this regard)....

http://www.snapsphotoservices.com/

I have not had prints from them, just high res scans for computer editing and home printing.

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[link=https://500px.com/will_brealey/[/link]

Then there's the unfortunate film issue when traveling to places such as america.

Using most any type of mailing service almost guarantees that the film will be fogged by extensive xray devices. Between american TSA and other border protection agencies; one is also not guaranteed visual inspection of film

For colour (chrome & C41) I use Peak Imaging (Sheffield) and for mono I use the Ilford Lab Direct (Mobberly). I don't get prints - only processing & scanning.

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PPG Flickr

Seems like a rather extreme way to mess up a roll of film.

Thanks, I checked out the Foto.com, but they seem to only print no processing. So no go there unfortunately.

Checked out the Snapsphoto and seem awesome, £6 for prints is something I can live with

Thanks!

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Pentax K-5 and co.

I don't recall how i found it, but here's an Online Calculator showing how much it costs to have film developed and scanned at various places - enter the number of films in the appropriate boxes at the top and give it a second to update.

I have used AG Photolab:
free outward postage (download their freepost label)
£2.99 developing (colour C-41)
£4 medium scan (3084 x 2048 )
+ return postage

And there's a 5% discount for orders over £50. They were slightly slow the first time I used them, but nothing to complain about on the two most recent occasions. I've not tried their printing service.

WOWZER!

Someone went through a lot of troubles to make that calculator. Nice, will check it out next time when developing.

For now went with Snapsphoto, will let you know how that is.

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Pentax K-5 and co.

i use the Lomo store in Soho. process and scan for a tenner.

started using them when someone at my new job suggested it as i was having trouble with snappy snaps, etc when using a Lomo DIY Konstruktor. the friend said Lomo Lab were used to double images and badly wound on film.

link

if you mail your film they will email you a link to download them once processed. must admit, i get slightly preferentia treatment as they know me and they will (most of the time) send them to my dropbox as well - it does mean the excitement of picking up the pics is slightly dulled, but it's a nice touch.

you can get higher res scans too.

the Lomo site used to have a list of UK processing companies that users recommended - Snappy SNaps in Hammersmith was one and i had to go in there when a film jammed in a camera and they were very helpful and did a good job with the scans and printing (they didn't actually charge for getting the film out of the camera, so i was guilted into getting the pics developed!)

i didn't realise Snappy Snaps were so widely different, certainly the one in Kingston didn't have much of a clue when i took my first films in there and processed them without any real thought.

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Pentax k100d, k30d 18-55, Tamron 70-300, Tamron 500 mirror, pentax 10-17, 50 1:4, a manual 28, some extension tubes and a bagful of memory cards. That's all i need... and a load of film cameras too... that's it, honest.

OP didn't mention America, but in USA the United States Postal Service does not X-ray your mail.
Also I travel by air frequently in USA and have never been refused hand inspection of my photo film.

To avoid the wait for hand inspection I prefer to buy my film at my destination. This helps the local economy, too.
I then mail it to the lab before my return trip. My finished photos are often waiting when I arrive home!

Chris

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Bring back the latent image!

When I went to Romania this winter, at the border control and other important establishments, I tried asking and explaining that it's a film, took the lens off to show it's real; requesting for a hand inspection....nope, my 800 Portra got X-rayed good 10-15 times.

Thanks to everyone for suggesting great places and letting me know what can be done

Pentaxuser forum is awesome!

Aleks

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Pentax K-5 and co.

There are good places in central London for £10 including scan! Aperture in Rathbone Place is £8 for small scans (including processing) or £10 for big ones and they are very good. And Snappy Snaps in Wardour st are £10 for small scans and they do them in one hour! I use both all the time.

For postal use Bristol Cameras for cheap stuff £2.99 with scan! Or AG Photographic are great but a bit more expensive.

One of my favourite photographers (Phil Kneen - https://philkneen.wordpress.com/) uses these guys: http://ukfilmlab.com/uk-film-lab-order-form/

I've never used them myself but based on Phil's work they seem to be very good, especially the scans.

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Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3 & K200D, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses

I use the Darkroom UK. Expensive, but excellent quality especially for Ektar which is a fussy film.

As to airports, UK ones will not hand check film. I have, however, never had a fogged film. When I went round the world a couple of years back, I took to buying film along the way and mailing it back, but that was just being extra careful as I was doing multiple flights. A more normal there-and-back-again trip is no problem, certainly with films up to 400ASA which is what I use.

K.

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Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website

Looks like AG Photographic and Peak Imaging are the best bets? I'm in the UK for a couple of weeks next month so am looking for a develop and scanning service as I have collected about 5 or so rolls. And my little scanner is dead.......! Looks like you get a better resolution scan from AG though for a similar price? Any one else used them?

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K5, K200 and several film Pentax cameras!