Film Developing in the UK

FujiLove said:
I've just noticed the UK Film Lab's scan resolution is higher than AG's for both small and medium (comparing medium to medium, 2048x2796 vs 3047 x 4097). UKFL small is similar to AG's medium, so that should be taken into account when comparing. The large scans are roughly the same size.
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Yes UK Film Lab's small equates to most companies' medium resolution scans, and looks pretty good value on that basis. Also, I think UKFL take more specific care with their scans, and give feedback with every roll on exposure etc. But I haven't used them yet: 10 working days from receipt is a bit of a problem for me, trying to do the POTY14!
 
There must be someone on here who has used AG and UKFL...and with similar shots. If not I guess it's up to me :)

The thing that makes it even more tricky to decide between them, is that for less than £8, AG will dev and print a set of 12 lovely square 5"x5" shots. And being a firm believer in, "you're not finished until it's printed", that's hard to resist. Hence my question about the paper that AG uses. Hmmm...may just have to send a couple of rolls of similar shots off to both and see how they compare.
 
Posted 3 rolls of c41 120 and 1 roll 35mm E6 to Genie on Tuesday morning, received the negs this morning (Thurs). Can't fault that for service!
 
If genie were any faster they'd send back the shots you were planning to take...
 
FujiLove said:
Has anyone used both AG and UK Film Lab for dev and scan? I'm wondering how the quality stacks up, especially as they seem to use some of the same scanning equipment. Assuming the resolutions are roughly equal, AG works out less than two thirds the price, maybe cheaper when you factor in AG's freepost envelopes.

Talking of AG...I got some sample paper through from them this morning (gloss, semi-matt and silk). Aside from the surface, is there any discernible difference in print quality? Just wondering if any of them produce a richer image. When I use an inkjet, the gloss surface usually comes out with richer blacks and looking generally more saturated. Is that the same with 'real' photo paper?
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I've used both and feel that UK Film Lab are in a completely different league than AG, so worth any additional expense.
 
skysh4rk said:
I've used both and feel that UK Film Lab are in a completely different league than AG, so worth any additional expense.
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Good to hear your thoughts on the matter RJ as to my eyes, your scans are some of the clearest and most vibrant posted on this forum. Do you rate UKFL in a different league because of the quality of the final output, their custom service or both?

We managed to fix the Jobo last night (thankfully we know an amazing electrical engineer), so I'm tempted to do a three way comparison when I get back from my holidays: AG vs UKFL vs Home dev + scan. May throw in a AG dev + print for good measure.
 
That would be an interesting comparison.

My problem with ukfl is that they keep the negd. Can you request they return them? I just like to have them to hand, I'm a bit OCD I know but hey, we are what we are.:D
 
Andysnap said:
That would be an interesting comparison.

My problem with ukfl is that they keep the negd. Can you request they return them? I just like to have them to hand, I'm a bit OCD I know but hey, we are what we are.:D
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I agree. My enlarger is still in pieces and there's no chance of it being used for months until our loft conversion is finished, but for some reason I want the negatives in my hands! I'll contact them and see what they say about returning them.
 
Do UKFL offer prepaid envelopes? That's another reason to use AG as they always send a jiffy bag so it is so simple to pop in the next lot and send them off.
 
srichards said:
Do UKFL offer prepaid envelopes? That's another reason to use AG as they always send a jiffy bag so it is so simple to pop in the next lot and send them off.
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It doesn't look like it, and they don't have a freepost address on the web site. My AG bags (and paper samples) arrived yesterday :)
 
Andysnap said:
That would be an interesting comparison.

My problem with ukfl is that they keep the negd. Can you request they return them? I just like to have them to hand, I'm a bit OCD I know but hey, we are what we are.:D
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That's a massive for me, I won't use them on that basis. I don't see why they have to hold onto people's negatives like that, pretty weird practise. Almost like they're trying to force people to only use them once they've started.
 
Andysnap said:
That would be an interesting comparison.

My problem with ukfl is that they keep the negd. Can you request they return them? I just like to have them to hand, I'm a bit OCD I know but hey, we are what we are.:D
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They return them after your pile of negatives reaches an inch thick or after a year has passed. If you really wanted them earlier though, you could just ask them to send them back.

UKFL aren't trying to keep your negatives, they're just trying to save you money by posting everything back in one batch rather than a series of small batches.

Yes, you might have to pay postage out, but you only have to pay return postage once a year.
 
FujiLove said:
Good to hear your thoughts on the matter RJ as to my eyes, your scans are some of the clearest and most vibrant posted on this forum. Do you rate UKFL in a different league because of the quality of the final output, their custom service or both?
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The scans are great, they'll happily make adjustments to the scans to suit your preferences (e.g., colour balance, contrast, etc.), and service is always good.
 
Andysnap said:
That would be an interesting comparison.

My problem with ukfl is that they keep the negd. Can you request they return them? I just like to have them to hand, I'm a bit OCD I know but hey, we are what we are.:D
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When I tried them, I slipped in a stamped address envelope for them to return to me and they happily obliged. I don't quite trust Royal Mail with a years worth of negatives in one go.
 
skysh4rk said:
They return them after your pile of negatives reaches an inch thick or after a year has passed. If you really wanted them earlier though, you could just ask them to send them back.

UKFL aren't trying to keep your negatives, they're just trying to save you money by posting everything back in one batch rather than a series of small batches.

Yes, you might have to pay postage out, but you only have to pay return postage once a year.
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It does make a lot of sense if you want everything digital after development. Also, they seem to be geared up for the pro users (seem to be a hell of a lot of wedding photographers on their Facebook pages!) so that will save them a fortune in postage when they are processing hundreds of rolls a year. I'm definitely going to give them a go and see how they compare to my home dev. The quality of their scans is simply amazing, but I'm not sure how much that makes up for the satisfaction of getting the wet film out of the Jobo tank :)

One thing I have noticed about the images coming out from UKFL is (and this not meant to be any sort of criticism) but they have a very particular 'feel'. Has anyone else notice this? I don't know what it is...the contrast, colour balance or sharpening, but when you look at the images posted on their web site and stuff on here, it all has a very particular look. They all seem quite bright, vivid, high contrast with a tendency towards being high key and look sharp as hell. Is it just me? I noticed the same thing when I looked at some work done by Richard Photo Lab (http://www.richardphotolab.com/). Maybe they are using the same scanning workflow? Or maybe they are both doing a good job and not churning out crappy home scans! ;)
 
FujiLove said:
One thing I have noticed about the images coming out from UKFL is (and this not meant to be any sort of criticism) but they have a very particular 'feel'. Has anyone else notice this? I don't know what it is...the contrast, colour balance or sharpening, but when you look at the images posted on their web site and stuff on here, it all has a very particular look. They all seem quite bright, vivid, high contrast with a tendency towards being high key and look sharp as hell. Is it just me? I noticed the same thing when I looked at some work done by Richard Photo Lab (http://www.richardphotolab.com/). Maybe they are using the same scanning workflow? Or maybe they are both doing a good job and not churning out crappy home scans! ;)
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I think I've noticed the same "feel" to their scans. @osh posted some Portra (I think) done by UKFL; it was completely different from the shots we've seen from him earlier, and much closer in look to RJ's work. I know you'd expect Velvia to look very different from Portra, but I have certainly seen more punchy Portra elsewhere.
 
sparty said:
Posted 3 rolls of c41 120 and 1 roll 35mm E6 to Genie on Tuesday morning, received the negs this morning (Thurs). Can't fault that for service!
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That's good to know, as Genie are currently cheapest for 35mm E6 medium res process and scan... (IIRC they are cheaper than AG's low res process and scan as well, but clearly a lot faster).

What did you think of the quality of the results? (No good being fast and cheap if the result is carp...)
 
ChrisR said:
I think I've noticed the same "feel" to their scans. @osh posted some Portra (I think) done by UKFL; it was completely different from the shots we've seen from him earlier, and much closer in look to RJ's work. I know you'd expect Velvia to look very different from Portra, but I have certainly seen more punchy Portra elsewhere.
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Yes, those are the other shots I saw earlier this week. The funny thing is, I remember thinking, "ah, another set from RJ", before I read the thread. Looking at both together I'm thinking it's a combination of a well exposed negative, a fairly high contrast scan, a little sharpening and their own slightly subdued colour profile. Whatever it is, it works brilliantly on screen, and I assume also on an inkjet.
 
sparty said:
Posted 3 rolls of c41 120 and 1 roll 35mm E6 to Genie on Tuesday morning, received the negs this morning (Thurs). Can't fault that for service!
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Do genie mount the E6 negs or leave them in the roll?
 
Doesn't look like they mount slides or there'd be a charge in their price list.

Most pro labs will mount 35mm slide if you ask for them mounting, but it will cost extra, I don't know of many labs that will mount 120.
 
Think I'd have to diy in that case. Mathers of lancs do seem to offer gepe ones for a reasonable price. Makes medium format transparencies an expensive proposition to store safely.

Haven't found any cheap cardboard ones. Probably more tricky with large negs to do adequately.
 
srichards said:
Do genie mount the E6 negs or leave them in the roll?
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I opted for process only so they were cut into strips. They will mount them but it's a more expensive service.

ChrisR said:
That's good to know, as Genie are currently cheapest for 35mm E6 medium res process and scan... (IIRC they are cheaper than AG's low res process and scan as well, but clearly a lot faster).

What did you think of the quality of the results? (No good being fast and cheap if the result is carp...)
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I didn't opt for scans, I probably will next time.
 
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Just got some negs, scans and contact prints back from Palm Labs in Birmingham.
1st time I've used them. Very happy.
Actually recommended to me by AG. As Palm are able to process 5x4
6 negs £56.80 delivered.
Thats £2.50 develop
£5.00 scan
£1.25 Contact
Plus post £4.30
 
GlennW said:
Sent a roll of colour to Peak for process & scan. I found the film randomly during a house move and shot it at the weekend. It's gotta be 15-20 years old or so, so it'll be interesting to see what's happened in that time. Might have held up ok, might get something crazy and awful or something crazy and good. We'll see :D
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Got this back end of last week, slightly slower than usual but that's due to the bank holiday. As usual Peak did a good job.

Film seems to have held up reasonably sensibly. Not familiar with the film so unsure if it's perfect but I can't see anything alarmingly abnormal.
 
I was surprised to discover yesterday that the big Sainsbury just on the East side of Exeter has on-site film processing (C41). I think it's about £4 per film and £1 for a CD...
 
ChrisR said:
I was surprised to discover yesterday that the big Sainsbury just on the East side of Exeter has on-site film processing (C41). I think it's about £4 per film and £1 for a CD...
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Just checked on the AA Route Planner and in my car the fuel costs are approximately £72 for the return journey, I may as well use Peak :D
 
Just got my negs back from Ilford. £6.50 per roll all in as they have included postage both ways with the dev costs. They've included an envelope and address sticky labels and an order form so they're on the ball for next time :) Sent Monday, notified as arrived in lab Wednesday. In my mitts Friday. Scans can be sent via CD or download link. I just did dev only as I'm cheap.

I'm just amazed there are 12 squares of what looks actual something on actual film :D

It'll be interesting to see whether vuescan and the canon make a decent job of the scans as previous goes with MF have been pretty disappointing.
 
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scanned in lab Wednesday...
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I was confused by getting scans AND being dev-only, but I'm guessing the first scan was basically checked in for processing?
 
ChrisR said:
I was confused by getting scans AND being dev-only, but I'm guessing the first scan was basically checked in for processing?
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Yes sorry. Will amend. I meant notice arrived that it had arrived in the lab and had been checked in :)
 
How long does UK Film Lab usually take to notify you by email that they have received your film? I posted one off first class last Thursday, but haven't heard anything from them yet. Posting film gives me the jitters.
 
FujiLove said:
How long does UK Film Lab usually take to notify you by email that they have received your film? I posted one off first class last Thursday, but haven't heard anything from them yet. Posting film gives me the jitters.
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I heard from them within a couple of days from posting my films. I would imagine it was on the day that they received the film.
 
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FujiLove said:
How long does UK Film Lab usually take to notify you by email that they have received your film? I posted one off first class last Thursday, but haven't heard anything from them yet. Posting film gives me the jitters.
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I posted mine on 28 August from Kenilworth, got the receipt email on 29 August, paid the same day and got my email re the scans on the last day they predicted, 12 September. All told, 15 days from start to finish. That's nearly twice as long as the average time I had with AG Photolab; OTOH it is the service they advertise!

I think you should contact them about your film. Seems way too long to me!
 
Worse case is that it was collected on Friday and UKFL got it yesterday but haven't got around to scanning it in today yet. I wouldn't panic until tomorrow.... RM24 seems to be very unreliable at the moment. Half the things I post for next day do not arrive until the day after so it should really be called RM36!

This is why I'm leaning toward Ilford as they send you envelopes and you get it all back the same week. It's a bit more than AG but the turnaround is great and the freepost envelopes make it so convenient.
 
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