[LargeFormat] A better way

[Hornford, Dave]

Brock,
Quality degradation is driving me to develop my own E6.
My favourite pro lab now crimps my 4x5s at each corner - something their
machine does. I can live with it as I follow the advice of some wise
soul on this list and don't expect to use the whole 4x5. Also, their
staff seem to be going downhill. I've had to stop their people from
opening the boxes I give them so they can put my unexposed film in the
little envelopes. And last month they thoughtfully turned on the
lightbox so I could look at the undeveloped slides I was picking up.
My second favourite pro lab is consistently shaky on meeting their
development schedule & has misplaced my order on more than one occasion.

As an experiment I tried Agfa's E6 kit, it was easy & quick & the
chemicals are cheap. The mistakes are mine.=20

Dave Hornford
"There is no sense in being pessimistic.  It would not work anyway."
   --- Anon




-----Original Message-----
From: Brock Nanson [mailto:brock@nanson.org]=20
Sent: August 7, 2002 11:03 AM
To: largeformat@f32.net
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] A better way



Dave,

I see you are getting plenty of replies on the question of what
equipment=20
is best for home development.  I would question why you aren't happy
with=20
the commercial labs!  I have had good luck this way and truly believe
they=20
will give more consistent results than the average home lab, unless you=20
are very fussy and careful with your technique (or buy really expensive=20
commercial grade equipment).  Black and white is a different story
because=20
I like the ability to adjust development times etc. based on how the
first=20
sheets come out, but with E6 I consider my time more valuable than the=20
cost of a commercial lab.  I would rather spend that time printing... or

sleeping for that matter!

I don't intend to insult those on the list that do enjoy processing E6 -

it's just not for me.

What problems have you had with the pro labs?

Brock