Lab in UK/Ireland with not too bad scanning abilities

[pcsaba1981]

I fall in love with analog photography one or two years ago.
I live in Ireland, I sent my negatives to the UK.

To be honest I didn't fall love with the labs I tried. None of them (I tried two labs with my slides) were able to scan slides in proper quality.

I didn't asked for professional service, I admit. I just wanted to have a scan which is share-able on the web.
But they were not able to scan Velvia, none at all. The projected slide looks beautiful, the colors are very natural. By the first lab Velvia 100 scans were unnaturally red, furthermore obscure and over-saturated at the same time. Velvia 50 was not too bad. I tried a second lab with another roll of Velvia 50. The scan was purple instead of blue, the colors were not even close to the projected colors.

Any recommendations? Should I use Provia instead, or sell all my analog stuff and by a 5D?

 

[Ricardo Miranda]

I don't know what labs you tried, but I'm very happy with mine: Snaps Photo Services in Bournemouth.

 

[mr rusty]

They don't do slides, but for neg film develop and scan, photo-express in Hull are both good value and good quality.

 

[IndifferentCamera]

When I shot slides, I used Transpacolor and Peak Imaging, both very good but never perfect as no lab is perfect. Transpacolor were superb at getting a print from a slide, by the way. If either of these are the labs you tried then it is either bad luck or a sign of the times. Try them and then if you are not happy you should buy a Plustek scanner or similar and get control. Scanners are not considered 'analogue' on this site, unfortunately.

For colour neg, I like Photo Express as Mr Rusty says, very very quick and quality is good. Ag are very slow, good quality. Peak are famous for quality but very expensive, especially a CD with P and P. Photoexpress should start doing 120 if not slides, IMO.

Jon

 

[pbromaghin]

You'd probably be better off scanning yourself. You can get a good used flatbed for 50EU or less with the original software and you're in business. I scanned Velvia for years and it comes out beautifully.

Here's a couple from my gallery:
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[Peltigera]

I use Palm Labs in Birmingham for films that are particularly important. If you have concerns, you can phone them and talk to the chap who is dealing with your film. http://www.palmlabs.co.uk/film-processing-services/film-processing

 

[Peltigera]

[QUOTE pcsaba1981]"or sell all my analog stuff and by a 5D?"[/QUOTE] Go and wash your mouth out with ID11