Labs for mail order processing eastern US

[madsox]

As implied, I'm looking for recommendations for a lab that can do processing of film, and would like to stick to the eastern US just to keep shipping time down a bit (I'm near Washington DC). Roll film, a mix of 35mm and 120, all B&W so far but probably back to color too eventually. I'd like to be able to get contact sheets with the processed film, but that's not a requirement, just nice-to-have.

Quality and price are more important than speed, and eventually I'll get some new developing tanks and learn about current chemistry, but for now it's just a roll here and there so having someone else develop them makes sense.

So, who does anyone recommend? I'll add links to this post as I get them, maybe that will be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[Roger Thoms]

Praus Productions does high quality work. https://www.4photolab.com/

Roger

 

[TomR55]

Off the top of my head ... Colourworks in Delaware, http://www.colourworks.com/film_processing.htm, and Old School, at https://oldschoolphotolab.com/ should still be in business. And, of course, Dwayne's Photo at https://www.dwaynesphoto.com/.

 

[MarkS]

I wonder if Chrome, in Washington DC, is still in business?
Otherwise Edgar Praus, as mentioned above, does superb work.

 

[madsox]

I wonder if Chrome, in Washington DC, is still in business?
Otherwise Edgar Praus, as mentioned above, does superb work.

Oh, I'd forgotten about Chrome - they were good back in the day! Also District Photo, another of my go-to places. They both faded away years ago, with Penn Camera and some others (Strauss, I think it was? Nikon shop in Northwest... )

Although I see a place called Dodge Chrome, I wonder if they're related? https://dodgechrome.com/film-processing

 

[Sirius Glass]

I am puzzled by the comment that the shipping costs [US Postage] will rise with further distances. Shipping time may rise but even that is suspect since much of the mail still goes by air, but the cost for small packages of slides or negatives and prints is not a function of weight, to a limit.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I am puzzled by the comment that the shipping costs [US Postage] will rise with further distances. Shipping time may rise but even that is suspect since much of the mail still goes by air, but the cost for small packages of slides or negatives and prints is not a function of weight, to a limit.

Why not?

 

[Sirius Glass]

Why not?

A quick visit to the USPS website or a local post office will answer that question.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

A quick visit to the USPS website or a local post office will answer that question.

You made the point and should explain it. I don't know what you're talking about.

 

[Sirius Glass]

You made the point and should explain it. I don't know what you're talking about.

The post office offers packaging that are fixed price regardless of weight.

 

[madsox]

So anyway, back to the OPs point, he (me) is factoring in the *time* of shipping back and forth, so keeping to places east of the Mississippi is preferable. Most of those are probably in the Boston-NYC-WashDC corridor. Got a few suggestions here to start with, let's get some more!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

The post office offers packaging that are fixed price regardless of weight.

I assume you're referring to fixed price Priority Mail. Those prices are often higher than if you price up the package by weight especially if it's just a few ounces like film would be. Are there other classes I'm not aware of?

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

So anyway, back to the OPs point, he (me) is factoring in the *time* of shipping back and forth, so keeping to places east of the Mississippi is preferable. Most of those are probably in the Boston-NYC-WashDC corridor. Got a few suggestions here to start with, let's get some more!

LTI Lightside in NYC but they don't do E6 chromes. Only color and BW negative developing and printing (digitaland analog). They're a pro lab but competitively priced.

LTI - Lightside, home, main,

LTI/Lightside: photography services for artists, professionals and enthsiasts for over 30 years

www.lti-lightside.com

Projects of theirs both fine art and editorial/advertising and the various photographers they've worked for.

LTI Lightside

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

I assume you're referring to fixed price Priority Mail. Those prices are often higher than if you price up the package by weight especially if it's just a few ounces like film would be. Are there other classes I'm not aware of?

Here's an example of Priority vs regular mail. Example was 6 ounces in one of those bubble type envelops would cost $5.40 (second from bottom) vs. a lot more for Priority fixed pricing. Although I selected NYC to NYC Zip codes, the pricing is the same to anywhere in the country although I don't know if it's the same to Alaska or Hawaii.

Retail Postage Price Calculator Mail Services

postcalc.usps.com