houdel Loc: Chase, Michigan USA

I'm trying to find a good professional lab to get my film processed. I want someplace better than the local Walgreens, Walmart or Meijers 1 hour photo lab; a place that can develop film correctly and give me good, high resolution scans of my film. I live in Michigan and have been sending my film to a lab in San Francisco for processing.

I have no complaints with the lab; I am satisfied with the results and my 35mm images come back as ~18mb TIFFs. The problem is the turn around time, averaging 17 days. The lab turn around is only 2-3 days but the mail service is taking about a week in each direction.

Can anyone recommend a good, professional lab in the mid-west or east coast where I can get a faster turn around? I have done several Google searches for local labs but all I turned up were a few labs that don't process film anymore, one lab in Grand Rapids that only does film in Wednesdays if and when they have enough film to bother turning the equipment on, and one lab in St. Ste. Marie that only does slide film.

I guess I am going to have to send my film further out. Any suggestions for a lab that does quality developing, high res scans and has a quick turnaround time?

Wahawk Loc: NE IA

American Color Imaging in Cedar Falls, Iowa
http://www.acilab.com/

They are one of the top Pro Labs in the country, used by many top Portrait, School and Sports photographers and have very good print packages available as well.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

It doesn't look like they do any film processing... no mention of it in their services.

SpeedyWilson Loc: Upstate South Carolina

Here's a place in Chicago:

http://www.cswfilmsystems.com/

I know nothing about it, but I'm sure you can find out what you need to know.

houdel Loc: Chase, Michigan USA

Got to look deeper. They do developing & digital printing, but no scanning or optical printing. Funny, they have to scan the film anyhow to make a digital print????

Steve M Loc: Chester, NS, Canada

houdel: A friend at work uses Costco. He says the prints he gets are top notch and would go no where else. He uses digital to hard copy, but they process regular film as well. I assume there is Costco in the States. Don't like what you see, make them print them again.

Steve

BBRambles Loc: Ohio

I live in Ohio and am a frequent user of Jack's Camera in Muncie, Indiana for ALL my photo processing including many large prints i.e. 48x48, 37x56 etc. Greg is Fantastic!
www.jackscamera.com.....they do it all!

twowindsbear

What problems have you had, or are you having, with the photo labs at the local Walgreens, Walmart or Meijers 1 hour photo lab? Do they offer the services that you want?

The 'theory of operation' is exactly the same, between a 1 hour photo lab & a 'big' photo lab - the only difference is scale. The 1 hour lab's film developing machine may have the capacity to process 20 rolls per hour, while the 'big' lab may have the ability to process 20K rolls per hours.

The main thing is to have an operator that follows 'The Manual' on using the test strips to make SURE that the developing machine is in good working order before, and during, processing a customer's film.

And, there is always the option of paying extra to overnight your film to the lab and to overnight the negatives & scans back to you.

houdel Loc: Chase, Michigan USA

This is my biggest concern. I want professional lab quality processing to get the best detail & color out of my film. See my remarks below about similar two rolls of expired 35mm film, one processed at Meijers, one processed at the pro lab in SF.


I took a roll of 120 film to Mejiers to have it developed & scanned. It took just short of two weeks to get it back as they send it to a Fujifilm lab in TN. I got back my negs and prints, no scans, their lab doesn't scan 120. No big deal this time as it was just a test roll shot with expired film to try out my new Mamiya RB67 and there wasn't any important images on the roll. I scanned the prints and got decent enough scans for what I needed, but had there been some serious images on that roll I would have been pissed.

The 35mm rolls processed in house at Meijers were only so-so, ~6mb JPEGs and poor color on expired film. A similar roll sent to the lab in SF came back as ~18mb TIFFs with perfect color.

When I talked to the folks at Walgreens about developing & scanning 120 roll film, I got a deer-in-the-headlights response. They were totally lost. Haven't talked to the folks at Walmart yet.


Don't really need overnight, priority mail both ways would be fine with me. The folks in SF sent my pics back in a 9"x12" padded envelope regular mail with $6.23 postage on it and it took a week to get here. A 9"x12" padded priority mail envelope would have been $1.28 cheaper and been here in two days. When I emailed them about this issue I got no response. If they aren't interested enough to respond to a customer's concerns they don't deserve my business.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Film; what's that?

Can it be exported into Lightroom? :)

Can you right click the cannister and save the images? :)

LPigott Loc: Monterey Peninsula, CA

I learned on this site and from a local professional ... Costco! Check their website. Full refund if not happy!

houdel Loc: Chase, Michigan USA

I quite a live a ways past BFE; my closest Costco is 80 miles away so bringing my film there for processing is not much of an option. I did check their website; lots of digital processing options, photo mugs & similar gifts etc., but saw nothing related to film developing or scanning. Every page in the photo section began with "Upload your photos". Maybe I missed something?

houdel Loc: Chase, Michigan USA

Film is an archaic medieval process of capturing images on thin strips of acetate. The practitioners of this ancient craft sometimes congregate in groups known as covens and avoid digital photography forums in fear of stoning. These lost souls allege that their "film" process achieves greater dynamic range, color saturation and sharpness than digital photography, a claim much ridiculed by the far more enlightened digital aficionados.

Bear2 Loc: Southeast,, MI

Meteor Photo & Imaging, Troy, Michigan. Best in the midwest. Used them many times when making images for the Big 3. 248-583-3090.They are expensive.
Duane

Tim Stapp Loc: Mid Mitten

I've had good luck with "PhotoEvo" in Grand Rapids. Google them and get their phone #. I believe they do mail ins.