Premiere U.S. B&W Film Lab

K Borowski · October 4, 2006

Working on a 16mm Short, B&W, as a portfolio piece before taking some filmmaking classes next semester. Could anyone tell me a lab that is renown for their B&W neg processing? I've heard a lot of stories (don't know whether they're true or not, but you know what they say about rumors. . . ) that many labs don't give two shits about B&W, process it at very high temps, in exhausted chemistry sometimes, because it isn't 35mm color neg and therefore can't be important. I don't care if there is a higher price for perfection, I just want perfection technically. Now hopefully my cinematography can approach the same level of compotence the processing I desire will have.

Regards,

~Karl Borowski

steve hyde · October 4, 2006

...I have had good experiences with Alphacinelabs in Seattle. They run black and white at least twice a week.

Steve

K Borowski · October 5, 2006

Steve, my biggest problem is with a strobing, "pulsing" effect that I can see in even big-budget films such as "Patton". It often shows up in shots with the sky in them. Have you ever encountered this phenomenon with them? Also, do you know approximately what they charge per foot of 16mil?

~Karl

steve hyde · October 5, 2006

Hi Karl,

No I have not seen any strobing on any of my black and white reversals that they have processed. A couple of times I have gotten spotting. (lots of white chemical spots). They charge .17 per foot for b&W reversal and .15 for color negative.. I suggest calling them for more info. Alpha is a high volume lab so turn around is fast.

http://www.alphacine.com/

hope this helps,

Steve

Jon-Hebert Barto · October 6, 2006

Never used them, but judging by their name they must "care" about B&W film. And since they are not too big I'd also imagine that they care very much about their end results.

http://www.blackandwhitefilmfactory.com/

I'm a huge fan of B&W, for many reasons. Other people on this board have mentioned them with kudos. I have the site bookmarked for when I get around to filming some tests.

Let us/me know how they treat you and their quality of work if you do go with them, it would be appreciated.

-Jonnie

Sam Wells · October 6, 2006

I had this problem one time; Tri-X reversal.

I won't go into the tree of details, lab was one I'd had great resluts with, only happened on one Kodak emulsion # --- the lab claimed you'd get it with unexposed film run through their processor (I first thought my mag might have caused pressure fogging) and that other emulsion numbers they saw no problem -- I sent some of the same emulsion to a different lab - no problem, Kodak couldn't duplicate the problem (but thy replaced all of tht emulsion I'd bought...)

Never did come to a definite conclusion, next emulsion batch & everything was OK.

It must have just been the right, well wrong combination of things...

-Sam

Will Montgomery · October 7, 2006

I've had several thousand feet of Double-X negative processed by Forde labs in Seattle with GREAT results. I really like that stock by the way. They process B&W negative for $.16/ft.

http://www.fordelabs.com/rates_bw_rev.htm

As with any important projects, have a lab do some test processing for you to judge quality. Don't tell them its a test, just send it through their normal proceedures.