BW prints in 1 hour labs?

Folks, I have a problem... I don't have enough time to work in the darkroom or with my scanner.

I have some 1,000 BW negs developed waiting to be printed, not my usual kind of photos worth an exhibition at MOMA but just so many images that I took when I traveled, photos of my family, colleagues etc.

What could be a good option to have so many images well printed at reasonable costs in reasonable time in small formats between 4x5" and 8x10"?

What about 1 hour labs? I am afraid they are specialized on C41 films and can not create good results from unmasked traditional BW films.

What about Fuji Frontier labs?

Other options?

cmo said:

Folks, I have a problem... I don't have enough time to work in the darkroom or with my scanner.

I have some 1,000 BW negs developed waiting to be printed, not my usual kind of photos worth an exhibition at MOMA but just so many images that I took when I traveled, photos of my family, colleagues etc.

What could be a good option to have so many images well printed at reasonable costs in reasonable time in small formats between 4x5" and 8x10"?

What about 1 hour labs? I am afraid they are specialized on C41 films and can not create good results from unmasked traditional BW films.

What about Fuji Frontier labs?

Other options?

Click to expand...

What's your location?

Anyway, assuming your negs are 35mm, you might actually give the 1 hour labs a try. For developing, they are mostly C-41 only, but for printing, B&W might work pretty OK. I've gotten some pretty good results at my local one-hour photo with B&W. To be precise, that was XP2, so technically, still C-41, but the prints I got from them are pretty neutral regarding (lack of) colour. This lab only does 10x15 (cm, so that's roughly 4x5", isn't it?), and they prefer the negs uncut for faster and easier printing.

(As a side note: you've got me confused; you seem to make a distinction between 1 hour labs and Fuji Frontier labs... My 1 hour lab *has* a Fuji Frontier and nothing else... :confused::confused

Bottom line: just give it a try; if you like it, bring more film; if you dont, try something else.

They can scan/print "regular" b&w developed negs - I did it with my first couple of rolls before I got a scanner. I had it done at a local Wal-Mart, who has a Noritsu, and was warned by a staff member that they would turn out "sandy" (I'm assuming she was referring to grain).

Note, however, that as with regular scanning (they don't print optically, it's all scanned anyway), dust/scratch removal in the scanning processes doesn't work with traditional b&w films, so you'll likely see more dust and/or scratches than with c-41 films done at these same places. (For me it didn't matter - I had scratched them myself in the developing process, I just wanted to see what they looked like )

Also, it wasn't cheap - something like CDN$7 or $8 just for scanning.

I've had quite good results from the local 1-hour lab. As I only fine-print about 10-20% percent of my negs, it's a good way to get quick 4X6 reference prints. I figure if I were paying myself to do it, it would be a lot more than $7 CDN for the prints and a scan.

cmo said:

Folks, I have a problem... I don't have enough time to work in the darkroom or with my scanner.

I have some 1,000 BW negs developed waiting to be printed, not my usual kind of photos worth an exhibition at MOMA but just so many images that I took when I traveled, photos of my family, colleagues etc.

What could be a good option to have so many images well printed at reasonable costs in reasonable time in small formats between 4x5" and 8x10"?

What about 1 hour labs? I am afraid they are specialized on C41 films and can not create good results from unmasked traditional BW films.

What about Fuji Frontier labs?

Other options?

Click to expand...

CMO
I my opinion, the operator has much more to do with the quality than the equipment in the lab. Is the printer (person) a photographer or just after school help that doesn't know a f-stop from a hole in the ground . The trend in photofinnishing has been trying to automate more, so that a ten year old can press a button and print a roll (or a cd or memory card, ect.).

The pressures on labs just to survive is temenous. If you find a good lab, suport it and let them know you aperatate their effort.
Michael