Anybody here in NYC use GPS for developing 35mm Negs?

[Douglas B]

Grand Photo Solutions 42 W 17th Street, around the corner from Adorama.

I've officially scanned my first developed set of negatives, which is really exciting for me! However, I have observed something that I'm not really happy about, but since I don't really know anything about the semantics involved with developing and caring for film, perhaps these things are somewhat normal?

Upon inspecting the negatives right off the bat, I can see scuff marks on them. Some of the marks are light and others not so much , but there nonetheless. I've got tons of other negatives from older film that had belonged to family, and see no such thing as these kinds of scuffs/scratches. Secondly, on some parts of the scanned image, I see what appears to be.. I dunno, orange burn marks?

Here's a burn mark example. I lowered exposure to accentuate the marks.

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And two examples of the scuffs/scratches. Exposure lowered again:

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Considering that this cost me $8 and change, I don't think I'll be giving them my business again.


As it so happened, I went a bit uptown from GPS to 28th and Lex (was going to the movies) and saw this place called Photo Bar (114 E 28th) and decided to walk in and see what was up. The propriator of the shop is a really nice guy named Sean Yoo, and we had a great conversation about street shooting, lenses, film and scanning.

He seems really passionate about what he does and about photography in general, so right off the bat I wish I had gone there first. It's a smaller shop but to me, that means better customer service sometimes. He's quite fond of his scanning equipment, and judging by the examples on their wall, I can see why, even if it's not a drum scanner. It's also only $5 to develop and depending upon the resolution of the scan, the prices seem very decent as well.

Anyway, I can Photoshop those marks out so it's not the end of the world, but if I had to do that for every roll of film, I'd be super annoyed I think. Has anyone had a similar experience when getting negs back? The first thing I thought was "why did I pay for this?"

Doug

 

[Douglas B]

No opinions on this? After scanning the rest of the negatives, I've found that pretty much every single frame has scuffs and those orange-ish marks on them somewhere, as well as white dots. Before I start each scan, I wipe the glass with a lint free cloth and use my Giottos Rocket Blower to get whatever else may be on there, off. I also do that to the negative. Occasionally I"ll still find a piece of dust, but I can deal with that.

Doug

 

[mhcfires]

It looks like sloppy work to me. When my negatives look like that it usually means that I have dropped them on the floor or some such. That kind of work is unacceptable. I wouldn't give them anymore business. It sounds like the second place is the place to go.

I have been very happy with North Coast Photographic Services in Carlsbad, CA. I have used them for 35mm color negative (Ektar 100), 120 negative (Ektar 25 and 100) 120 Ektachrome E6 and 4x5 E6. Their work was outstanding, use priority mail for the return stuff. I have used them twice, will continue to use them. They are 45 miles from my home or I would walk my film in.

 

[mhcfires]

I received these scans from North Coast Photographic Services yesterday, they are unretouched except for sizing down. Ektachrome E100VS:

1.

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2.

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3.

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The sun was brutal, I don't have a lens shade on my old Rollei. I am quite pleased with the results. What pleased me most was the fact that there are no dust marks on the transparencies, no scratches or other funky marks.

http://www.northcoastphoto.com/


They have a price list and show services offered. I hope this helps.


m

 

[Douglas B]

Thank you Michael, it does help. I just wanted to know if I was overreacting or if I had a right to be upset about that level of service. Pretty much every frame has a mark, streak or that strange looking orange on them.

Don't know if it's even worth going into their store to tell them about it, at this point.

Doug

 

[mhcfires]

Thank you Michael, it does help. I just wanted to know if I was overreacting or if I had a right to be upset about that level of service. Pretty much every frame has a mark, streak or that strange looking orange on them.

Don't know if it's even worth going into their store to tell them about it, at this point.

Doug

If you paid eight bones for that sloppy work, you have a right to be upset. The negatives are probably scratched, as well as dirty. The scans I shared are from 120, but their 35mm stuff is just as clean. You should try the other place, especially if it is less. I am forced to do most of my work by mail since the nearest lab is 40 miles away.

 

[mrbeal]

FWIW the lines straight across the negative can also be a camera issue. If it were me I'd STILL take my negatives in and ask for a replacement roll of film. The orange splotches are probably from being dropped and STEPPED ON or something like that. The lines are either from the camera or the developer. Is this a new camera to you? pUT ANOTHER ROLL OF FILM THROUGH IT IMMEDIATELY TO SEE IF IT REALLY IS A CAMERA OR DEVELOPER ISSUE. (Crap, sorry about the caps) If you get the lines again it's more than likely a camera issue. Be brave and try to clean inside the back of the camera... a blower and brush should be sufficient. If if is a camera issue and the blower and brush don't work ask for professional advice. Good luck, I hope the issue was with the developer and you don't have any more problems going forward.

 

[Douglas B]

So, I got back from Hungary this past week, and had my F3 with me, loaded with a roll of B&W. Some generic brand that was recommended by one of the guys at Adorama. (name slips me right now) Anyway, I had the film developed over at that other place, "Photobar" over at 114 E. 28th Street NYC.

I can't say I'm thrilled about this experience either, but the results are certainly different in both good and bad ways. For one thing, those lines are not existent in any of my photos, which is great!

On the other hand, here are the negatives (pun not intended): (oh, none of these are from Hungary btw.. had started the roll in NYC and finished it in Hungary)

Is it normal that a studio make such a tight roll of the negatives that they're almost impossible to uncurl? And is it too much to ask for, to have negative holders included, when paying $8.71? I found this to be a royal pain in the rear... and now have to get some gloves so that I don't get finger prints on my negs.. should have to begin with, but never thought that they'd be such a pain to get in my negative holder for the scanner due to the curling!

Now on to the worst part... At first, the scans appeared to look really good, even without employing any processing, straight from Epson's native software (Epson Scan, not Digital ICE). But after the first few scans, I saw something a bit alarming. Here's a good one (IMO) :

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And another good one. No blemishes or issues that I can see:

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Then, this is what I saw:

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At first, I thought it was actually the lights beaming up from the fountain floor, and that the metering had exposed it that way. I even thought it was kind of cool...sorta. Then these:

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This next one was a flubbed shot... should not have been taken, slipped!

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So, what are some thoughts here on this? I can physically see these on the negs, so it's not a scanning mistake, which I thought it might have been. Anyway, off to work..

Doug

 

[Douglas B]

Bump. Bueller? My wife seems to think it's because the negatives were wound so tightly, which might make sense.

Doug

 

[mrbeal]

It could be that the negatives were wound tightly... any little bit of dust inside would/could scratch the negatives. Why were they wound and not cut is my question? Did you ask for them to be left as one long strip? That's not unheard of...
Try again and let a drugstore develop them for you... you couldn't get much worse from them.

 

[Douglas B]

It could be that the negatives were wound tightly... any little bit of dust inside would/could scratch the negatives. Why were they wound and not cut is my question? Did you ask for them to be left as one long strip? That's not unheard of...
Try again and let a drugstore develop them for you... you couldn't get much worse from them.

Bingo. I finally heard back from the proprietor and here is what he had to say:

Hi Doug,
You got some pretty good images out of the roll, and I'm feel really sorry that has happened to your work.

Your roll was stuck in the developer, that's why you see the bending marks on your negatives.

As far as I remeber, the beginning part of the roll has broken perforations (the holes placed in the film).
but frankly, most of time it works well with even broken holes. unfortunalty yours got stuck in the muchine.

I'm willing to help you if you need more retouching on those images, or I can offer you free develope with hi-res scan for your next roll. I think I remeber that I told you this when you picked up the roll.

if you dont mind I'll like to give you a call to discuss more about this matter.
please let me know when is the best time to call.

best regards

I haven't emailed him back as of yet. Here's what bothers me though, and I plan on telling him this: Even though I did not specify that I wanted them to cut the film into strips, when I opened the thing, I could immediately see that it was certainly wound way too tight. And there of course was no holders for later.

I just do not believe what he is saying, simply because I don't see what being [stuck] in a developer and being wound tight enough to cause permanent bend marks have to do with one another for one thing. Also, no one said one word to me about anything when I picked the roll up, so had I not brought this to their attention, obviously nothing would have been said to me, either.

Had he just been up front about things from the start, I'd not be angry or let down the way I am now. Even if he had no idea of how it happened, I'd rather hear that (since it could have been his partner who developed it) than have him try to fabricate some story to make up for not knowing.

Needless to say, I won't be trusting them with my film in the future, which is a shame. Is it really this hard to find a place who still believes in integrity, even though the film business isn't thriving the way it used to?

As far as bringing film to a drug store... How vastly will ones experience differ from place to place? Will some places take special instruction such as pushing or pulling etc? Are there known good places who use a variety of chemicals and such?

Doug