Anyone used North Coast Photographic recently?

[Arthurwg]

Thanks for that AEK. Yes LTI looks good. Reasonable prices as well.

 

[calico]

Just had my second bad experience with NCPS. They informed me that somehow another roll of 35mm Tri-X I sent them managed to "touch" other film while in the processor, and half of the roll was badly damaged. Yes, they refunded the cost of that processing, but not the cost of the film, the postage or my other expenses when making those pictures. Well, that's it for them. So can anyone recommend a competent mail order lab that I can use? Very aggravating.

I have been trying different labs for b&w developing.

I did not like NCPS either, but for different reason. My FP4 negs were thin, seemed to be underdeveloped (see earlier part of this thread). It may have been due the Clayton chemistry they use.

I have been happy with Richard Photo Lab. No problems with developing, good communication, prompt.

Usually happy with The Find Lab, but last batch of negs came back pinkish, which, as I understand it, has something to do with washing time and can be remedied by putting the negs in the sun.

I do NOT recommend Praus Productions. I tried them recently because a number of people here spoke so highly of them. I had used them many years ago. Sent three rolls of 120 FP4. Came back with weird deep scratches on both sides of all three rolls of film. The scratches went in all directions, some slanted across frame, were not like a scratch a roller or something in machine would make. They were oddly shaped -- some curved or squiggley, some straighter. Very weird. It was as if someone took an X-acto knife to the film and made the scratches by hand. As I said, on both sides of the film. Owner blamed Ilford which seems highly unlikely to me. I have had film from same batch from Ilford developed which did not have scratches.

I had bad experience with LTI some years ago (also see earlier in this thread). But they probably have remedied that problem by now (they were using a hardener when fixing FP4 which caused horrible residue on film).

 

[wblynch]

I don‘t always use a lab to process my film
But when I do, I use The Darkroom in San Clemente, Cal.

 

[Arthurwg]

I tried The Darkroom earlier this year. I found them very amateurish , especially the way they insisted on returning negatives without proper pages,

 

[Arthurwg]

I did not like NCPS either, but for different reason. My FP4 negs were thin, seemed to be underdeveloped (see earlier part of this thread). It may have been due the Clayton chemistry they use.

That was my previous experience with NCPS. Thought I'd give them another try.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I had been using NCPS myself. I used to use LTI Lightroom in NYC which is a pro developer. They do dip and dunk, push and pull if desired, and use XTOL, or at least they used too. Call them for what they're doing now.

For the first time in years, I'm using them again and I just sent 4 Tmax 4x5 sheets to them and did speak to them first. They still use XTOL and do dip and dunk. The mailing was convenient as they print out a USPS mailer with no postage required and I can drop it in the mail. I imagine they include it in their $9 shipping fee covering both directions but I'm not sure about this.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

For the first time in years, I'm using them again and I just sent 4 Tmax 4x5 sheets to them and did speak to them first. They still use XTOL and do dip and dunk. The mailing was convenient as they print out a USPS mailer with no postage required and I can drop it in the mail. I imagine they include it in their $9 shipping fee covering both directions but I'm not sure about this.

Apparently there;s a separate charge for the mailing to them they add on when billing.