Today’s Post by Joe Farace
“Speed, Quality, Price—choose any two.”—Old Photo Lab Axiom
In my YouTube channel video, Photo Lab Comparisons, Part 1, I compared my experiences with two photo labs and how each processed a roll of Fuji’s 35mm Neopan 400 Professional film. The video looked at the first part of the equation—speed aka turnaround time—and I declared it a tie because it depended on what kind of film you were having processed, black and white or color negative. The Darkroom in California processed that roll of Fuji black and white film and delivered scans in 12 days, while the Mike’s Camera in Colorado took 18 days. On the other hand, Mike’s Camera’s turnaround for color negative film or any other C-41 film, such as Ilford XP2 Super, is three to four days.
As far as quality is concerned, it would be a tie as well except for some extenuating factors that I’ll get too shortly. Both Mike’s Camera and The Darkroom delivered clean, scratch free and undamaged negatives and they were both delivered cut into strips—uncut on request—in similar inexpensive negative sleeves that photo labs have been using since Mathew Brady’s days.
According to the National Archives, negatives can be stored using the same high quality papers and plastic that pass the ANSI IT9.16 Photographic Activity Test. PAT was developed by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and is a test that determines whether or not a storage material will cause fading or staining in photographs. “Fortunately, many negatives now return from the photo lab in plastic pocket pages that appear to be safe for the films (they frequently are polyethylene).” If the National Archives are happy with the kind of sleeves photo labs use, who am I to say…
Where the two labs really differ is presentation: Mike’s delivers everything in sturdy Kraft paper-looking materials that would seem to easily withstand mailing, even though they typically get handed across the counter to a customer. Everything about the quality of the materials and presentation that’s used is first class. Initially, I found that the Darkroom’s materials, while not as well produced, weren’t too bad, although both use similar polyethylene (?) sleeves.
Over time The Darkroom started using smaller, flimsier packaging. When I asked them about this on March 20, I was told “We currently are having a supply issue with our supplier of the white film wallets negatives are returned in. An order is in for them and we are just in a holding pattern and making do with back ups until they arrive.” But as of my last order. just a few weeks ago, this has not changed and USPS put it’s own spin on the last mailing. I retrieved the envelope from my mailbox covered with skid marks from some kind of rubber-tired vehicle! While the negatives survived, the packaging inside the envelope was a little worse for wear, which is not directly. This is not directly the Darkroom’s fault, but the situation points out a disadvantage of mail order processing—the Post Office’s handling. (There are other, more expensive mailing options as you will see next.)
Now we come to price: Mike’s Camera offers two levels of scans: standard (1024×2048) or high-res (2000×3000)
- Develop & Scan: standard $19.99, high res $26.99, index print included
- If you join Mike’s Film Club the prices are:
- Develop & Scan: standard $14.99, high res $20.24
- Scans can be delivered on a CD, flash drive or emailed at no extra charge
The Darkroom offers three levels of scans: standard (1024×1536) enhanced (2048×3072) and Super Scan (4492×6774)
- Develop & Scan: standard $12, enhanced $15, Super Scan $20, index print included. Scan are uploaded to The Darkroom’s server for download.
- If you want your film returned; I don’t consider this optional: $5.95 first class mail, Priority Mail $9, FedEx 2-day $15, FedEx Ground $14
- DVD with order $4, Flash drive with order $10
What Have we Learned today: If you get the High Res scans from Mike’s Camera and a CD, a roll of film processed and scanned costs $26.99. If you get the Enhanced scans from The Darkroom, a CD and have negatives mailed back to you (why wouldn’t you?) it costs $24.95. If you skip the CD, its just $20.95 so Mike’s Camera is slightly more expensive. Unless…
I join their film club then the price would be $20.24, so then they would be cheaper. Since I’m already paying The Darkroom $18a year to archive my scans beyond the 60 days they’re normally stored, the $24.95 for the film Club cost isn’t so bad. The $6.95/year difference is more than made up for the fact that I can get CD’s at no extra cost and archive my own scans instead of having them on-line in the Cloud.
Going forward I’m going to join Mike’s Camera’s Film Club and, you know, see what happens. I’ll let you know. Mike’s processing and scanning can be slower but the quality of the processing is consistent and of a high quality, This along with the higher quality of the packaging materials being used, along with the no-extra-cost CD, plus the fast turnaround for color negative has won me over.
Now…if anybody reading this has some better alternatives. I’m always open to trying a new lab. Click the CONTACT button and tell me about it…
If you would like to send me some 35mm film to review or any other film photography gear that could be used for these posts or in my YouTube videos you can mail it to: Joe Farace, PO BOX 2081, PARKER, CO 80134