Miller's Color Film Processing

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I like millers. They are a good company and easy to deal with. When I told them i shot film they sent me a ton of mailers and a stack of pre filled developing/processing forms with my info and id number/barcode already on them. They have excellent prices, I think one of their selling points is that they haven't changed film processing prices in years (decade+) or so. I only wish they did slide films as they only offer c41 processing. They don't do black and white anymore but that's not a big deal if you do your own. Shipping to them is prepaid and you only pay for return shipping. Its a fast turn around and you can opt for rush too. All my color neg films go to them and I've always had good results.
 

mweintraub

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I, too, find it weird that they don't post their prices, but I understand if they had "wholesale" prices for businesses with tax IDs, etc and different prices for the public.

When I signed up, they approved me without a url to my website, or any proof. I just have to send them some photos and I'm in the club.

Hey, I don't care to run through these hoops if I get a good product at a good price, it was just a little different than what is required now a days.
 
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I would like to apologize to Jnanian (and APUG) for losing my temper earlier in the thread. I have no interest in doing battle with people on the internet and normally let things roll off my back, taking nothing personally. Honestly, I felt kind of attacked by the "elitist snob" and "liars" comments and perhaps misunderstood their intention or direction. Either way, I popped off and was uncharitable to say the least. :sad:

The point lost in all of this, of course, is that there is still a terrific lab offering C-41 processing with overnight shipping. It's a great deal, and a great service for film shooters. Getting an account isn't complicated at all.

Sincerely,

Parker
 
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Do they do E-6 chromes for 120 roll film (Velvia 50)? Price? I'm not a pro or an elitist film snob and I'm always looking for a good deal.

No E6, unfortunately. Price for 120 C41 to process, print 5x5 proofs and a low res CD is $11 a roll. This includes shipping both to and from the lab.
 

mweintraub

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No E6, unfortunately. Price for 120 C41 to process, print 5x5 proofs and a low res CD is $11 a roll. This includes shipping both to and from the lab.

If that's the cost for everything, then It might be the best deal out there. Wonder why they don't advertise those awesome prices more. Maybe they lose money on that package and don't want to just provide that service without additional hopes for printing from the pros.
 
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If that's the cost for everything, then It might be the best deal out there. Wonder why they don't advertise those awesome prices more. Maybe they lose money on that package and don't want to just provide that service without additional hopes for printing from the pros.

I made a mistake, it's actually less than that. :smile:

(10) 4x5 proofs from 120 Film is $8.01
(12) 5x5 proofs from 120 Film is $8.93
(15) 4x5 proofs from 120 Film is $9.96

Those prices include processing, CD and shipping(!).

The other important issue with setting up an account (which I forgot to mention) is that you need to have a credit card on file so they can bill you before they ship.
 

removed account4

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If that's the cost for everything, then It might be the best deal out there. Wonder why they don't advertise those awesome prices more. Maybe they lose money on that package and don't want to just provide that service without additional hopes for printing from the pros.

its because that is their "policy" ..:whistling:

huh, you mean you aren't a professional and they gave you their prices ? :munch:
i guess their policy doesn't really work very well ... ( see my previous post ) :munch:
 

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I tried their process and scan service. Their low res scan were very low quality - unusable for anything except web. I cant imagine that their high res scans were much more useful?

In regards to film processing, I guess you could use them for high volume film processing. But for fine art photgraphy or high quality portraiture - if they don't offer contact sheets or optical printing or professional quality high res scans - which they do not seem to - I don't see any reason to use them. One exception: If you shoot 6x6 MF because their 5x5 proof prints are actually large enough to be of practical value.
 

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Their low res scan were very low quality - unusable for anything except web. I cant imagine that their high res scans were much more useful?

Ahh... 'low res scans' ... 'unusable for anything except web'. They are LOW RES and that (and image thumbnails) is about all they are designed for.

"I cant imagine that their high res scans were much more useful?" That doesn't follow at all. You get what you pay for.
 

Andre Noble

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Yes you get what you pay for. Millers does have good prices on film processing.
 
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mweintraub

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Processing + Proof Prints + throwaway CD = < $10. I'm sold. I scan at home, so having the proof prints would be awesome.
 
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John,

You're a bit of a flame thrower, aren't you? Calling people "liars, jerks, idiots and a$$h*le$" via PM and then getting out of sorts when they return fire?

I apologized for losing my temper primarily because I don't like to play those games. Someone gracious might have just accepted that apology and then had cause to reflect on their role in the situation instead of lashing out via PM. But you... just seem very, very angry about something. I don't understand it, and won't waste my time trying.

Thanks for everyone who offered their opinions. I just received my first shipment of film back from Millers and I am very pleased with everything. But, as a long time customer, that was pretty much what I expected. :D

P
 

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not sure how to respond without saying something not so nice
my rather sordid comments were in response to the nasty names you
have made it a point to call me in a public forum ..
peeing dog .. cry baby and others ( which have since been sanitized )
because i think the policy of a lab that claims to only work with "only professionals",
but will give their prices to people who claim they are pros ( and aren't )
is pathetic, .. so then you began insulting me, and my friends who are the owners of pro labs that dont have this policy.
also pathetic.

i had you on "ignore" because i want nothing to do with you
and i asked YOU to put me on your ignore list as well so you won't have anything to do with me...
yet you continue to goad me and mention me in your posts.

please leave me out of your commentary and your posts.
and yes i called you an a...hle because it seemed fitting seeing the way you were acting and looking back
i would say the same thing. ive been here since the early days and only now have had to use my ignorelist
because of not so nice posts, people and a pm box full of hateful mail.

so please do me and yourself a favor. leave me out of your posts and put me on your ignore list.
 
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Bob Carnie

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Closed shops like this are usually in the wedding industry, and are offering bulk services for repeat clients.
Nothing wrong with this, I supply niche products to one of them here in Ontario. Millers is just protecting their interests. As I move forward with my lab I will not list as many spread-sheats about pricing, but rather take projects on their merits and quote accordingly

As a lab owner I can say that we are hesitant to list prices these days, as the whole photo finishing world has turned upside down and any wanker with a inkjet printer and a website can become a master printer and lab.
Very easy, strip the price lists of long established labs copy multiple labs web services and there you have it .


My film pricing and cd scan is double what Millers is, and I do not apologize, I am doing one shot Jobo and since in my city Toronto Image Works offers this bulk service and do it well I am not interested in competing where there is so little work. So I have a few clients , plus my own work that is done here and we are happy with this arrangement.

I am considering to be one of the last wet labs standing and have young partners in place that love wet work, to make this dream a reality. When the only main lab in Toronto
stops doing C41 then I will consider buying a dip and dunk machine and get my process and scan pricing where Millers is. Then it makes sense and you the photographer will either have to do it yourself, which btw is exactly what CatLabs specializes in , or send your film to regional labs which btw is how we started in colour processing.

I think E6 has pretty much gone, when C41 goes is debatable, and is the chemistry to process c41 stable enough for long term storage, if its stable in cold storage then at some point I probably will make a huge investment in chemicals and Colour Negative film.

The issue of how long the material can keep in storage is one I am interested and I am not capable of providing that answer, I would like to think 20 years but I am not sure.


One of the policys of these closed shops is , providing a valid card at the time of ordering , and the understanding the moment the job ships the client is billed,, I really am impressed with this and think this is the way to go.
 

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ford

Go to your local Ford or Toyota dealer and try to find out how much they paid for the car you want to buy. They won't tell you. If they did, it would be harder for the to con you out of too much money for the rustbucket. That is called business.
 

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Enough of the bickering, this is a free counrty, we are all entiteld to our opinions, Miller is free to do what they want, no reason to attack those who have different opinions or get the last word in. Regarding Miller's, if that is the way they operate, not a problem. I may give them a try myself and I am impress with all of the those who have personal experience with them sharring their thoughts.
 
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That must be a southern thing. I have never heard of that, at ANY pro lab, yet.

Honestly, being a professional photographer full time for 17 years now I've probably had about three labs that didn't ask me to open an account. It's really no more difficult than getting a membership at Costco.
 
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As a lab owner I can say that we are hesitant to list prices these days, as the whole photo finishing world has turned upside down and any wanker with a inkjet printer and a website can become a master printer and lab.
Very easy, strip the price lists of long established labs copy multiple labs web services and there you have it .

It is a brutally competitive industry. One of my neighbors is a long time Atlanta lab owner who ran a large finishing lab that was advertising and competing on a national scale. Bankrupt. The commodity photo finishing lab is doomed.

Costco is now setting the commodity photo print price baseline so low that almost no one can compete. The bigger players like Millers charge much more because they provide superior service and quality that commodity labs can't match.
 

CatLABS

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Honestly, being a professional photographer full time for 17 years now I've probably had about three labs that didn't ask me to open an account. It's really no more difficult than getting a membership at Costco.

I guess i must be doing something wrong... I have never seen that, anywhere. Maybe i was going to the wrong places...
If there is a lab so prestigous that it is a closed club for select members only, why even bother, i mean why does any one need to work in order to give someone else business....??

But - there is after all a reason we process all our own films.

As bob carnie said, its better to be the member of a one man club, with your own processing gear, otherwise, send work to the many small labs popping up across the country and world, offering top notch service, that so called "pro" labs, with their archaic business models and antiquated equipment can only dream of.
 

CatLABS

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It is a brutally competitive industry. One of my neighbors is a long time Atlanta lab owner who ran a large finishing lab that was advertising and competing on a national scale. Bankrupt. The commodity photo finishing lab is doomed.

Costco is now setting the commodity photo print price baseline so low that almost no one can compete. The bigger players like Millers charge much more because they provide superior service and quality that commodity labs can't match.

Printing / processing = not the same thing. You can get perfect 4X6 prints in seconds at any wallgreens printed on a dry fuji/nuritsu/epson machine for next to nothing. Optical printing is long gone anyways so what difference does it make?

Most costco and 1hour desks at stores no longer have wet anything, no minilabs no film processing.

Photo finishing is not doomed, its just transformed into something that is different.
The concept that one is a "pro" photographer, as opposed to someone who is just a plain old photographer is whats doomed, and for good reasons, none of which are the fact someone is grinding down the price (after all thats the basis of free market capitalism) and a natural occurring thing in all aspects of life.
 

Bob Carnie

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Sample case

Photographer sends film to a mini lab that processes via roller transport, but then scans and applies Digital Ice program to hide dust and scratches.
(Digital Ice programs were available to the large and mini labs for over 15 years.)
They then pull off brilliant 4x6 proof prints or even 8x10 prints, photographer is very happy .
Two years later , photographer comes to me with their cherished images, and ask me to make a series of 16 x20 silver gelatin prints.

I make the prints on my condenser enlargers, with Apo lenses, with level glass carriers resulting in beautiful prints with heavy scratches due to scratching in process.
Client thinks I am a shit, because the proofs were lovely but the prints are scratched , and I have already charged them for my services.
Very early in my printing for others day this was a common occurrence , if it wasn't scratches from other labs it was improper processing that usually resulted in poor shadow detail.
What is a poor boy to do, WELL I started to refuse foreign film negatives (film processed by others) , I was called arrogant, snobbish, reclusive,, ***Dinesh can add a few more names***.


This indeed started an exclusive club of clients who had me process, contact, scan and print only for them, it works and today I have clients that have been working with me with film and paper since 1991 till now.
Today this has changed for the good in my life as most files we print have been retouched and expectations are quantifiable. If I am printing from negatives it is very probable I have processed the film and can only look at myself if there is a problem.

I have kept my prices consistent to the other labs, and unlike Millers my doors are always open to walk in clients without accounts, but as you see from above I do have my policy's in place that can cause issues to clients expecting something different than what I offer.

GTA Imaging in Toronto is exactly like Millers and they offer top rate service to clients like the OP , but they have a pay up front policy (which I really like) but they do not offer film services, and No I do not provide those services for them.
Their pricing structure is based on long term client loyalty and that is what the OP is suggesting here. They have adjusted their markup to reflect continuous loyalty, much like Starbucks or even better Tim's. (for non Canadians, Tim's is a monster coffee chain here - started by the late great Toronto Maple Leaf defenceman Tim Horton.

I see nothing wrong with these models of Labs, in fact my first job in photofinishing was that of custom printer for Custom Colour Labs, here in Toronto, and I printed the large custom prints for commercial photographers across Canada and into the States. There was no walk in clients and everyone was on Account , and we were 40% cheaper than the more niche labs in town.

Like Omar (CatLabs) suggests , at least I think he is suggesting
We will eventually end up with large Labs like Millers or GTA's spread out over NA where the photographer will send out work and get it back in due course and be able to up charge the service and make the spread.

Or, smaller niche labs like mine, Toronto Image Works, Icon who service a professional, art, and retail client base .

Not to mention there will always be Mini-labs offering cheap and cheerful ink jet prints on systems to make you happy , happy , happy.
Just do not expect your local mini lab to offer you quality film process, or high end editing , printing services.

Not much has changed over the last 50 years , except the fact that the Manufactures (Epson, Cannon, Nikon, HP, Phase) (Sony, IPhone, Flicker) (Adobe Elements Lightroom Photoshop} has made photography assessable , easy , fun, safe, sexy , for every person on the globe today. There is good and bad elements .
But do not be mistaken, before digital there was 100, krillion trillion negatives shot that did not deserve the light of day, We are (capturing) a huge percentage more images today, but thankfully they are not being printed, but ending up on the web.
 
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