Develop & scan in the UK

[mr rusty]

Hi

Which labs are people using and can recommend for a C41 develop & scan service for MF in the UK? For 35mm I use photo-express in Hull which is £4.50 / film scanned at approx 6Mp (3000x2000) and their quality is really great, but they don't do MF. I am looking for a reasonable cost service with at least 3000x3000 scan size. I have tried a couple, but haven't been particularly excited by the cost/quality.

And, please no suggestions about creating a darkroom. Its not an option for me.

 

[paul_c5x4]

I've heard good things about Peak Imaging over in Sheffield, but have never used them myself. About £16 for 120 gets you dev & scan, 24.8Mb TIFF files.

 

[film_man]

For scanning I tried Peak (I use them for all my processing), Bayeux plus a couple of other places. Generally, unless you are prepared to spend £££ you are not going to get that good a quality. The Peak scans were good but not £16 good, although that was a couple of years back so things may have changed.

Generally, the most cost-effective way is to get your own scanner for the basic stuff and if you want something done really well then send just that frame. Unless of course you have the money and shoot low volume.

 

[Alastair_I]

I generally go dev only (Jessops if I'm impateient, a local indpenedent if I can wait) and scan myself (Epson V500). No darkroom required, and you can always send off that special negative to be drum-scanned when required.

 

[mr rusty]

Hi

thanks for the replies so far.

I am not interested in scanning myself. For 35mm I get a great service at a very competitive price, and I am looking for a similar service for MF. The reason I shoot film is it works for me - I like taking pictures, I like the discipline film entails, and I like using older equipment, but I have no interest in either spending hours in a dark room or fiddling with computers; I want to send the films off, get them back, send most to my family, and perhaps do something a bit better with one or two of the best images. So, I am looking for a good, but not professional dev & scan service at a reasonable cost.

 

[film_man]

Well I'll be very interested to find out myself where I can get good 120 scans because so far from what I've seen, anything less than £15/roll is not really worth it and at £15/roll, the 100+ rolls I shoot a year mean only one thing: scan myself or give it up.

 

[stavrosk]

Bayeux is just too expensive.

 

[Alastair_I]

I can get dev and scan locally for c. £7/roll at a very reasonable quality of scan for general printing and sharing, more than good enough for emailing to family.. but no 6x9, which I like to shoot on old folders. It's a local independent who occasionally shoots MF himself and might fire up the developing machine twice a week (or not at all). Not much use to you.. but if that's all you're looking for you might spend a week touring round the last of the side street independents in your area (if there still are any).

I have been reliably told that Jessops could do dev and scan/print of 120 in-store if your local store was provided with the correct masks for their scanner. But for commercial reasons they view this as a "professional" service and so do not provide the correct masks to smaller stores.

 

[chrishayton]

I see you are Lancashire based. I live in Manchester and use Advanced Photo on John Dalton off Deans Gate for my 120 Processing. He does very high res scan and Dev for £10.99 which is fair being the only place in town. He will even cross process for an extra £2.

Regards
Chris

 

[mr rusty]

Thanks Chris

They sound interesting. What do you call high res? £10.99 sounds about what I wanted to pay. I'll probably give them a try.

Cheers

 

[rulnacco]

Try Genie Imaging in Wandsworth, South London:

http://www.genieimaging.co.uk

I send all my colour film to them. They usually have a two-day (maximum) turnaround time, and the quality is high--they use dip and dunk processing.

They are currently running a special (it repeats often) of £5.99 + VAT for developing and scanning 120 film. Their usual price (without scanning) is £1.99 + VAT per roll. As I have an Epson V750, I usually just get the film processed and scan it myself.

 

[mr rusty]

Thanks for this link. Looks very interesting - good price and high resolution scans. I'll give them a try. Cheers!

 

[Wishy]

Try Genie Imaging in Wandsworth, South London:

http://www.genieimaging.co.uk

I send all my colour film to them. They usually have a two-day (maximum) turnaround time, and the quality is high--they use dip and dunk processing.

They are currently running a special (it repeats often) of £5.99 + VAT for developing and scanning 120 film. Their usual price (without scanning) is £1.99 + VAT per roll. As I have an Epson V750, I usually just get the film processed and scan it myself.

Having used them, I really can't recommend them.
- They work very hard for the 1.99 headline price, but they get you everywhere else.
-- Price is plus vat, none of the other labs quote ex vat prices
-- The postage is totally disproportionate to their costs, and go up hugely as you add rolls, despite sending 1 sleeved negative being broadly the same cost as 10.
-- You have to pay postage to them. I don't have a problem with that, but it needs to be menitoned when comparing prices. Its about £1.30 these days for a "Parcel", as 35mm film is over 25mm wide. 120 is touch and go.
-- They insist on recorded delivery, despite this adding very little protection against the item going missing. Which means I've got a trip to the delivery office
- They charge extra for push pull (The darkroom don't) AND at this point, another "Item" is added to your basket and (you guessed it), up goes the postage price again!
- Turn around times - My experiences have been 3 working days and 6 working days. That's just film processing, not scanning

Basically, you might save 1/4 over the price of peak by the time you've totted up the extras. But the most unforgivable thing is they forgot to push my film after charging me extra to do it. And yes, it was clearly marked.

These days I do my own, but I've never had any trouble with Peak and the Darkroom, but after 2 batches (the unpushed roll being the in last batch) I've stopped using them

 

[MamiyaJen]

Most students at uni use Farnell's in Lancaster. I've only used them once to dev two 120 films but they were fast and friendly. Here's a price list Dead Link Removed

 

[UKJohn]

There is also Palm Labs in Digbeth Birmingham who offer a friendly, reliable and fast service. I can't recall prices off the top of my head but they do do a variety of packages.

 

[Wishy]

There is also Palm Labs in Digbeth Birmingham who offer a friendly, reliable and fast service. I can't recall prices off the top of my head but they do do a variety of packages.

I've only heard good things. They really shoot themselves in the foot not making prices available online.
From what I recall, the prices were marginally higher than peak and the darkroom, so I've not tried them.