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Looking for good labs
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I thought I had found a decent lab but last time they refused to cut the film manually in 6-frames strips (because they had changed boss, they said) and gave me the film too tightly rolled into the plastic tube.
To make thing worse I couldn’t be happy with the scanning quality (see why) so I need another lab.
Sometimes I take a roll out of the camera and put it again later on, so it can’t be cut automatically.I’m looking for a professional lab which will:
– develop with a high quality standard
– cut my film manually in 6-frames strips
– scan the film at over 6MP with a good scanner, even if I develop the filmOf course money is not an issue, film photography was never a cheap hobby.
And if there is any lab where b&w film is still developed with its specific products (T-Max or Ilford) I want to know! :D
To give you an idea of what I was used to (in Tenerife, Spain) the lab I used to go to barely had amateur customers, being me one of its few ones just because my father was a professional photographer for some time. Otherwise I would never heard about that nice lab, which is in fact the very best in Tenerife and the only one which met my needs.
Gunnes
on wexford street are not bad
or hettys darkroom, but she has moved to kinsale in cork
Gunnes still do professional B&W processing, 135 and 120 at reasonable costs. I used to use The Colour Lab ( I thnk it’s called The Colour Lab) on Fumbally Lane about 5 mins walk away from Gunnes for my slides. They are reputed to be one of the best labs for slide In Dublin and again will cut them however you want them…although I did drop into them sometime last week to get some 120 slide processed and they seemed to be shut. I hope not!
when I couldn’t get to The Colour Lab, I used Photocare in Abbey Street (a Fuji franchise) who would process same day if the film was dropped in before 9am or 9:30am. I found Photocare to be surprisingly good for a generic photo lab. They would leave them uncut, mounted or unmounted too.Hope this has been some help.
Pete.
miguev wrote:
And if there is any lab where b&w film is still developed with its specific products (T-Max or Ilford) I want to know! :D
Hello Miguel and welcome to the forum.
You should contact Hetty and talk to her about your requirements.
http://www.hettysdarkroom.com/
27 The Avenue, Compass Quay, Kinsale, Co. Cork.
Telephone: (021) 470 6060.
Mobile: 086 251 0275.BTW Perhaps you should invest in a scanner of your own to get the quality you want.
Pete the colour lab on Fumbally Lane closed down about a month ago, which is a shame because they were great. They told me they might set up an internet service from thier house (think they live in Dun Laoghaire).
Much as I think Gunn’s is great I wasn’t too happy with scans I got there, but a friend of mine gets all his stuff scanned there and is happy. Miguev have you tried Repro 35 on Merrion Square? E6 only though…
Thanks Nialler, I cycle by them every day on Clanbrassil Street….it is really sad to see them go from Fumbally lane….The Colour Lab was a most unusual place and it will be missed.
Any ideas where to get a roll of 120 slide done in Dublin now?????
Yeah a real shame, particularly as they were straight across the road from my office! But they were good, did some great prints for me.
Repro 35 will develop 120 slide film for you, but there’s another lab in Portobello, Lennox Street I think, that does it too. Might be handier for you if you’re coming down Clanbrassil Streeet…
Wow, thank you all for this rich feedback,
I will have to write down the list and go for a walk to visit all these labs next Saturday!nialler wrote:
Repro 35 will develop 120 slide film for you, but there’s another lab in Portobello, Lennox Street I think, that does it too. Might be handier for you if you’re coming down Clanbrassil Streeet…
The lab on Lennox St is Photo Labs http://www.photolabs.ie/ I’ve been using them for years and they are an excellent film and digital lab,
Dave
I’ve left my first roll in Gunn’s after getting lost and gravitating towards it instead of findint it.
After the long talk I had with the lady I’m pretty confident I’ll be happy with the result.
Photolabs in Lennox St. was closed so I’m afraid I can’t go there when they are open.Thanks again for all your feedback :-)
Thanks for that Digital Beginner, I can never remember the name of the place.
Miguev, don’t worry about them being closed, they don’t do E6 anyway! Sorry I told you they did, I could’ve sworn it was so but I tried to leave a roll in yesterday and they told me they haven’t done E6 in about 3 years. I must have got something cross processed there and just gotten confused…
Sorry Pete, it was you I was telling about the E6 processing! Anyway I’m sure you get the picture :)
I have to admit, after advice from everyone here I used Gunns for my first roll of HP5+ to get it developed and scanned. I wasn’t overly impressed. The noise/grain was really golf ball size, which I believe is related to development time? I like the idea of grain but this was out of the world! The scans were then OK, but nothing wow. The biggest issue were hairs/scratchs in some. The second roll, the noise was much less for the same type film. But then they screwed up the scans by giving me far lower res than what I had asked for. I’m onto my 3rd roll now and I don’t know what to do. I wouldn’t mind using any place, including Gunns if the service was consistent, i.e. same noise, same clean scans, same size etc. But they seem a little flakey to me :?
ciaran, as far as the lady told me they have only two scan sizes: 1.6MB and 20MB (MB, not MP) both in JPEG.
The first one is similar to my 8MP camera and the second one must be for really big files and I don’t think it’s worth for me,
if I wanted a big print I’d go there for one made in a enlarger or I’d do it myself (provided I find a lab for that).
The roll I left yesterday is my first Ilford roll ever, I’m more used to T-Max, but I think the grain size could be
because they use Agfa Rodinal instead of Ilford or Kodak film developers.
Let’s see how it goes for me with an Ilford FP4+ 125 and a T-Max 400, I’ll appreciate your feedback on your own rolls.
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