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Problems with Ilford Lab Direct


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I hate giving labs film because they insist on cutting in very small strips that do not fit scanners or contact printing frames or I have to fight to get them to return uncut.

 

I phoned the lab about this and the lab manager told me they only have neg bags that fit 5 neg strips. She advised me to send my own neg bag along with the film and a covering letter explaining what you want.

I have not yet tested her advice.

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I have to say why on earth would you send away a B&W film for developing only? I can understand f you don't have time to print them but develop only thats a strange thing to do.

 

I do it because I want the professional scans. The time involved in getting a truly quality hi resolution scan from a negative is a killer for me.

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I do it because I want the professional scans. The time involved in getting a truly quality hi resolution scan from a negative is a killer for me.

 

High quality, high res, from EVERY frame :eek:

I dare not enquire the price, but hey, your choice. You may get 36 keepers a roll, I wish I did, more like single figures, on a good day.

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I think if I got two keepers per roll I'd be very happy, and at 2mins each for high quality scan's that's five minutes including setting up. Of course you do need to do a lower resolution digital contact sheet, and depending on which scanner you have this can take just another five minutes or a more hefty twenty minutes. But how long does it take to go and post the film to Ilford, and if you don't you are processing the film yourself and that takes another hour with the accompanying messing about?

 

Steve

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High quality, high res, from EVERY frame :eek:

I dare not enquire the price, but hey, your choice. You may get 36 keepers a roll, I wish I did, more like single figures, on a good day.

 

No, of course I don't get 36 keepers per roll, but as Steve points out, there is the added hour or so of developing and messing around... Which I will do from time to time. But I have found Ilford to be consistently good at a price that equates to about minimum wage being placed on my time.

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Steve

 

Indeed I am :D that is the APUG group, the other day is for Facebook :rolleyes:

 

I will be the one wearing the bowler hat carrying yesterdays copy of "The Times" :D:D

 

Michelle says one group is always rowdier than the other, we must try hard!!

 

Perhaps I should put a thread in the meetings section?

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HARMAN technology Limited : Site Tour November 2013

 

Other forums are available :D

 

If you are free the last I had was that spaces were available, I see you are within striking distance.

 

michelle.parr@harmantechnology.com

 

50 places FOC

 

HARMAN SITE TOUR / Booking Details

 

Cheers i wish i could but im on a job with a dead line

 

Sent from my GT-I9100P using Tapatalk 2

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Absolutely your choice, I have used Ilford and been very happy. I have some of their scans on Flickr and some enlargements on my wall. I am also going on the factory visit/tour later this month.

 

Sounds interesting. I would be interested to hear your impressions after your visit.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Sounds interesting. I would be interested to hear your impressions after your visit.

 

The impressions:

 

The precision with which the emulsion is prepared, and coated so batch to batch variation and defect is minimal.

The tight, very tight QC.

The staff, never met more involved "ordinary" shop floor staff, really interested in the work and proud of the product.

The dedication to maintaining product. The challenge is not to research new emulsions but to maintain what we have as components (chemicals, even cassettes) cease to be viable from other makers because of the reduced volume, which we were assured is stable or increasing gently. Now making critical low volume chemicals "in house" as suppliers dry up.

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I would say I have never come across a happier group of workers dedicated to both the company, quality control, and the customer. The lengths they go to are considerable to iron out problems and make a perfect film or paper or processing service. It has to be seen to be believed, and a better day out than an Ilford tour is hard to imagine for anybody interested in how film survives in a digital age and why people are making it survive.

 

Sorry we didn't get to meet Chris, it wasn't a name badge occasion and it was a full day with little time between tours.. I was in Group 2 with Michelle as our wonderful guide.

 

Steve

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Sorry we didn't get to meet Chris,

 

Steve

 

"We seek him here, we seek him there

Those Frenchies seek him everywhere!

Is he in heaven? Or is he in hell?

That demmed Elusive Pimpernel?"

 

 

 

“Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste it's fragrance on the desert air.”

 

:D:D

 

Indeed a day to remember for any photographer, as I say elsewhere I now feel a personal responsibility to the staff we met, and those we didn't, to use Ilford products.

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