Help! Lab ruined films. What to do?

railwayman3 · May 24, 2017

AgX said:
Well, I rather screw up things myself, than to fume about others.

Agreed. No one is perfect, least of all me, but it is unbelievably frustrating when you put time, planning and money into a special holiday, then have all your efforts and memories spoiled by Kodak (Box 14 Hemel Hempstead is not there now, but surely it should have been one of the biggest-name top labs back in the 1990's?) damaging most of the films.

If only I'd used B&W or C41, home processed one-film-at-a-time, I'm sure that even my own darkroom skills on a bad day would have at least managed a good proportion of usable pictures.

film_man · May 24, 2017

pbromaghin said:
It certainly will not lay flat in a film holder to do the projecting or scanning.

You may be able to scan them using some anti-Newton glass. It is just a piece of glass (well not just, it is anti-newton ring glass) that will make sure everything stays down flat. Depending on the holders it may or may not work but you could try it direct on the glass. Even if it doesn't work you'll still have the glass for the next batch of films.

Logan Becker · May 24, 2017

bdial said:
If they are cut, I'd try putting them in sleeves then weighting them under some books or a cool dry mount press or whatever. I had that happen to an uncut roll and had some success hanging it for a few days without soaking. If you soak them I believe you'll need to run them through a stabilizer bath so that they don't start growing things in a few years.
Hopefully the lab offered replacement rolls (not that it helps much for the one-chance images).

A cool dry mount sounds like a good idea to me.

pbromaghin · May 24, 2017

film_man said:
You may be able to scan them using some anti-Newton glass. It is just a piece of glass (well not just, it is anti-newton ring glass) that will make sure everything stays down flat. Depending on the holders it may or may not work but you could try it direct on the glass. Even if it doesn't work you'll still have the glass for the next batch of films.

Ooooh. You're right. I forgot about anti-Newton glass. I tried scanning with it in the past, but the scanner "knew" the holder wasn't there. I didn't try very hard to get around it, though.

film_man · May 24, 2017

pbromaghin said:
Ooooh. You're right. I forgot about anti-Newton glass. I tried scanning with it in the past, but the scanner "knew" the holder wasn't there. I didn't try very hard to get around it, though.

If it is anything like the V700 I had you can put the film straight on the glass and then the newton glass on top OR if you have a 4x5 sheet mask use that to just tell the scanner you're scanning sheet film. Obviously you won't get the frames marked, you'll get one big image which you then have to cut and fix but as a one off disaster recovery you should be ok.

foc · May 24, 2017

As has been said before every lab makes mistakes, it's how the lab handle it , that's what matters . BTW power cuts in a lab aren't that bad, 99.9% can be saved. It's usually a small mistake like a splice becoming undone that can cause big problems. Any lab worth it's salt, minilab or otherwise, will try its best to sort it out for the customer. ( I have been processing professionally for 38 years and I have seen most processing problems)

mshchem · May 24, 2017

You're in good company. Robert Capa had his D-day films melted in a dryer in 1944. Only 11 frames remain. "The Magnificent Eleven " I don't trust anyone else to process my films. And I have never used or will use a film dryer.
To bad

mshchem · May 24, 2017

Sirius Glass said:
I worked for Baker's Photo in Washington DC in the late 1960's. Mrs. Baker would told us that when people have a large number of rolls from a vacation or a big event that we were never allowed to have all the film processed in one batch or even in one day. We were directed to tell the customer that we would split up the film into several groups to be sent in separately and to tell the customers why.

Excellent advice for everyone.

Sirius Glass · May 25, 2017

Credit Mrs. Baker. I merely relayed the advice and acknowledged the source.

Kh5 · May 25, 2017

mshchem said:
You're in good company. Robert Capa had his D-day films melted in a dryer in 1944. Only 11 frames remain. "The Magnificent Eleven " I don't trust anyone else to process my films. And I have never used or will use a film dryer.
To bad

As a quick OT note: The last thing I heard of this a few years ago (from John G. Morris himself when we visited him during a workshop), was, that it now seems most likely, that there never were any pictures on those other three films that were supposed to have been destroyed. That Capa really only managed to take those eleven photos in those terrifying circumstances.

Sirius Glass · May 25, 2017

Kh5 said:
As a quick OT note: The last thing I heard of this a few years ago (from John G. Morris himself when we visited him during a workshop), was, that it now seems most likely, that there never were any pictures on those other three films that were supposed to have been destroyed. That Capa really only managed to take those eleven photos in those terrifying circumstances.

Meow. Talk about being catty.

darkosaric · May 25, 2017

mrosenlof said:
Well, if you are truly an error-free person! Me? *mostly* error free in the darkroom.

When Lab is bad - there is nothing you can do.
When is your bad - there is something you can do. And at least you know how fresh you chemicals are .

mshchem · May 25, 2017

Kh5 said:
As a quick OT note: The last thing I heard of this a few years ago (from John G. Morris himself when we visited him during a workshop), was, that it now seems most likely, that there never were any pictures on those other three films that were supposed to have been destroyed. That Capa really only managed to take those eleven photos in those terrifying circumstances.

I read that as well When in doubt print the Legend!

pbromaghin · May 26, 2017

jeffreyg said:
If you are looking to try a different lab, i've been using Denver Digital Imaging Center division of The Slideprinter through the mail for E6 processing. They also do C41. So far no problems. If some important negatives have creases that would affect a print, you might be able to correct and print digitally or correct and transfer to a disc or flash drive and have a lab print made.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

Yes, they have a great reputation and if/when I ever get that perfect shot to put over the fireplace (maybe half as good as what you produce on a bad day), they will be the printer of choice. For processing, if I don't do it myself, I will probably take it to Denver Pro Photo or Englewood Camera. They're both a lot closer on the south end of the Metro and have done good work for me in the past. That, and they love film. Both cameras that the ruined film was shot in were purchased at Englewood.

Help! Lab ruined films. What to do?

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