Best Mailorder Processing

[vince]

The home I recently moved into, I don't have a spare room to make my prints. I plan to process the b&w, but aim to find a good mailorder to send my negs off to, to get 8x10 prints of what I like!

I also shoot a few rolls of color that I don't plan to process.

My question is, am I stuck with the choice between a high priced pro and wal-mart? Are any of them mail-order companies any better? Does anyone on-list use a mailorder co with sucess?

[Speed]

The home I recently moved into, I don't have a spare room to make my prints. I plan to process the b&w, but aim to find a good mailorder to send my negs off to, to get 8x10 prints of what I like!

I also shoot a few rolls of color that I don't plan to process.

My question is, am I stuck with the choice between a high priced pro and wal-mart? Are any of them mail-order companies any better? Does anyone on-list use a mailorder co with sucess?

First, check for a local photo-developer like Half Hour Photo. While they aren't up to the standards of a full blown "pro" lab, they do better work than Wal Mart. I've established a relationship with the Half Hour Photo in my town, and if I'm not happy with the results, they will re-print them for me.

The closest E-6 lab I found near my home is ASAP Photo. I have been VERY pleased with their services and they are very reasonably priced. You can contact them at asapdigital@earthlink.net for prices and more information on their services.

Another option is to look in Outdoor Photography magazine. Over the course of several months, I gathered information from 15 or so labs. The prices run the gauntlet from "discount" labs to Color Folio, which is the lab Galen Rowell used. Of course, they were also the most expensive lab I came across. Big bucks! $$$$$$$$$

I only used one of the labs I found. That was Linhoff Labs. The prices were reasonable, and the prints were gorgeous, but I asked for a photo CD, which they did not make - and they didn't charge me for it either. I wrote the company and asked why didn't I get my CD and I never heard from them. I won't be using them again, but if you want good prints at a reasonable price, give them a try. If you want a photo CD as well, keep looking!

Good luck in your search. Hope this has helped.

[vince]

Yep, I just spent $40 on 5 rolls of color film, the prints wasn't that great, so why did I spend all my money? I was thinking these $2.99 labs have the same set-up as these 1 hour places for half the price. Maybe I was wrong. Anyone used Snapfish.com, Ofoto.com or Photothru.com? If any of them have dust control, it can't be bad... huh?

[stew]

Yep, I just spent $40 on 5 rolls of color film, the prints wasn't that great, so why did I spend all my money? I was thinking these $2.99 labs have the same set-up as these 1 hour places for half the price. Maybe I was wrong. Anyone used Snapfish.com, Ofoto.com or Photothru.com? If any of them have dust control, it can't be bad... huh?

Vince,

I have tried both snapfish and ofoto for my digital prints. Snapfish has supplied me with 8x10s and below, and I have so far used Ofoto only for one 16x20 print. I am fairly satisfied with both companies so far, but unfortunately I can't do a side-by-side since I don't have one print of the same size that came from each place! I have two comments though, one about each company. Snapfish tends to chop the prints a little bit "off" - not crooked, but the border may get cut like 1/16" a little more on one side than the other. I put a little bit of black border on each photo using PS so for me it's not a problem, but since you're getting film developed it might affect you. The Ofoto print (16x20) looked fantastic, didn't appear to be chopped, and was a very good quality, but slightly more expensive than snapfish.

I know you're not digital, but hope this helps you.

-Stew