Please help with E^in Europe

[iulian]

Hi everyone!

I am in need of your help. I sent my last two batches of E6 for processing in Germany through a friend, but the lead time is getting two long even for vacation snap (almost three months). My friend takes them to MediaMarkt and the price is peanuts (2 EUR / 120 film) but the wait is killing me.

So the question is: Does anyone know a lab that is willing to process E6 (at good quality) for a reasonable price (not 2 EUR but not 20 either) and is willing to ship it within the EU ? (I would pay postage both ways)

I have thought about home-processing, but I'm in over my head with B/W, starting my photo-printing business and a kid that's due to come one of these days (most likely tomorrow) so that is, for the moment, out of the question.

Thanks!

 

[Marc B.]

Knowing your exact location in Europe would help others assist you.
Are you in Germany, now?

 

[BMbikerider]

There is a company in UK which is very highly regarded and that is Peak Imaging. They run a 24 hour turn around and for UK customers the price of processing and returned unmounted E6 films is around £4.50. If you go onto the web and Google 'Peak Imaging' you will get their address and what they do.

I have just spoken to that company and the cost of postage is more than the processing itself. For processing it is £4.94 (unmounted) Mounted is approx £2 more and the airmail return postage is £7.50. The rate of exchange Pound/Euro makes the full cost for unmounted E6 approx 18 Euros. It will be at most a 3 day service.

 

[darkosaric]

Here in Warsaw cheapest option is Rossmann - they are good also. You leave it in any store and come back after couple of days.

http://www.rossmann.com.pl/

 

[janalwin]

I bring my E-6 films to the local photostore (http://www.combigroningen.nl/). They send it out to a the Fuji-lab somewhere in the south of the Netherlands. I get them back within a week and it costs only 2,50-3,00 euro (only developing).

I sometimes bring them to the HEMA-store in town (http://www.hema.nl/Foto/snelservice-analooog.aspx). I'm pretty sure that they send it to the same lab. Some price, but I get it back a bit quicker.

Quality is ok. But last year they messed up with the framing. I had to reframe a lot of slides.

There doesn't seem a way to send film to the lab directly.

Regards,

Jan Alwin

 

[Henning Serger]

So the question is: Does anyone know a lab that is willing to process E6 (at good quality) for a reasonable price (not 2 EUR but not 20 either) and is willing to ship it within the EU ? (I would pay postage both ways)
Thanks!

Hello Julian,

I can highly recommend Photostudio 13 in Germany: www.photostudio13.de .
Excellent professional quality (dip and dunk machine; Kodak Q-Lab quality control) at very reasonable prices:
4,31€ for 135
3,75€ for 120 (both without VAT).
They develop E6 every day, and your developed films are sent back to you just after developing the same day.
They also do shipping to other countries.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[iulian]

Wow!
Didn't expect so many answers. Unfortunately, I live in Romania, so the customized mailers/prepaid mail/other local systems won't work for me. I need someone who can receive orders from abroad and who ships internationally within the EU. I could, for instance, send a package with the films and receive the same package with them developed.

Thanks anyway, I will look into the options already presented. I know a few others who would like to do E6 but are scared because oa a lack of processing, so if I find a good lab with decent prices I might even offer this service commercially at no added cost

 

[Henning Serger]

Wow!
Didn't expect so many answers. Unfortunately, I live in Romania, so the customized mailers/prepaid mail/other local systems won't work for me. I need someone who can receive orders from abroad and who ships internationally within the EU. I could, for instance, send a package with the films and receive the same package with them developed.

Julian, no problem with sending Photostudio 13 a normal package with films. No prepaid mailer necessary.
But as you live in Romania: I remember an apug member reporting about a good E6 lab in Bukarest, Romania's capital. I'll send you a pm.

Best regards,
Henning

 

[MartinP]

Congratulations with the imminent arrival of your child.

There should be no problem with any lab sending you back processed E6 from within the EU, unless you mean this is blocked somewhere in your local postal system? After all, films are inert and not subject to hazmat restrictions at all. It would also be a surprise if there is no lab in your own country. You could contact Kodak professional services for addresses of registered Q-labs, or at least look at this link for their lab-seeker. It is very likely that there are far more, perfectly adequate, labs which are not in the Q-Lab system though, so you could enquire at your film-supplier too.

 

[iulian]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Studio13 replied with some good quotes so I will probably use them.

What I meant about the mailers is that most labs have a setup for nation-wide processing and they may not be interested in international orders.

The lab in Bucharest is my last resort. All my taxes go there so I prefer the rest of my money to go elsewhere I will send them a test film, but not these ones since some of them have pictures important to me and I project them. I also plan to project some of them at work among the dslr enthusiasts there, to showcase what film can do so color casts and scratches would defeat the purpose

 

[iulian]

I sent my films to photostudio13.de and they came out great! Good development, no scratches, only a few bits of dust (I think from the paper in the envelopes by the looks of it).
Only minus for me was no credit card/paypal, because my bank charges me 10 EUR for each international transfer, regardless of the sum, but your case might differ, so this is not a big thing.
All in all I highly recommend them.

 

[AgX]

I
Only minus for me was no credit card/paypal, because my bank charges me 10 EUR for each international transfer.

I'm puzzled. Romania participates in the uniform bank account billing system, that means that international transactions fees can't be higher than a national transaction.(Based on EU Rule(EG) Nr. 2560/2001)
10 € would hardly be what a Romanian transaction costs. Maybe though in your case you were not having an account at that very bank but depositing money cash. For alien customers fees may be quite high.


EDIT:
about the implemantation of this EU Rule utmost contradictory statements have been published.

 

[pekelnik]

The swiss photostudio13 charges 12CHF/roll of 120. That is about 10e. Talk about a price difference...

 

[iulian]

The charge is 10 EUR only for international transactions. Or should I say it's 0.3 % of the sum, but 10 EUR minimum. It was OK when I bought the 8k EUR Fuji Frontier, but with 30 EUR film development costs it's a lot. Romania is very apt at bending EU rules to better suit the various companies and state organizations
I read that in Russia you pay customs tax for goods over 500 EUR. Here you pay 24% VAT for non-EU imports over 10 EUR and customs taxes (from 0 to 30%, depending on the item) after 50.

Anyway, if I had a deal with someone who can send to a Fuji lab it would be great and I could get more customers. Otherwise people will stick with C41. I plan to do C41 at home (my company is also registered at my home) with a Noritsu V30. Using a set of prices from the UK which are probably more than I will pay for chemicals it seems the cost per film will be under .50EUR

 

[AgX]

Here you pay 24% VAT for non-EU imports over 10 EUR and customs taxes (from 0 to 30%, depending on the item) after 50.

This is about EU standard.

(In Germany the VAT is 19%, within the EU it differs between 15% and 27%. The limit below you do not have to pay VAT and tax is 22€ in Germany)