daniel mahlknecht Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Hi, does anybody have experience with sending single8 films to Retro Enterprises in Tokyo for processing? I have bought 10 rolls of fujicrome R25N at FFR-Film in Germany included processing. I have sent 2 rolls for processing to Tokyo, an appearently they have arrived and have been processed there. They were sent back to Italy (according to Retro Enterprises) on the 26 July 2010, but still nothing has arrived. Customs don't appear to have recieved anything and italian post service appearently also not (Italian Postservice isn't very trustworth, but I have never lost a package before). I have also asked Retro Enterprise if there was mayby a tracking number for the package, but since then they did not replay to my emails anymore. Before this I always sent to Fuji Photex GmbH in Willich Germany, and I always got my films back (last time I did so in 2008). Now I'm not sure what to do with the remaining 8 rolls, I wanted to shoot a short fiction with them, but risks are to high, that they might also get lost... Actually I had shot on the 2 missing rolls the test trailer for the fiction... Mayby having them sent to an other country like Germany works better? Has anyone tried this? thanks daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andries Molenaar Posted October 31, 2010 Share Posted October 31, 2010 Shipping and return from Netherlands to Japan and vs worked OK and fast. Japan post is utterly reliable and troubles are certainly caused at your own side. Or improper addressing of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel mahlknecht Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 Actually I also think that Italian post ist the weak link in the whole cain... Wrong adress can't be, as I always include with every roll that I send a printed out return address(so twice in this case), that has yust to be glued on the outside of the envelope. Actually the last hope is to belive that italian postservice is yust incredibly slow (which certainly is thru), and that they are yust trying to get into the Guinnes Book of Records... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignacio benedeti Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 Dear Daniel: I send film for processing in regularly basis to Retro in Japan. Usually, by post, I receive the processed films in about 3 or 4 weeks (Spain to Japan, processing, striping and return), but only ONE WEEK with DHL. CINEcerely, Ignacio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Howell Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 I've used Retro Enterprises a number of times; whilst in Tokyo I dropped a large amount of film to them in person and found them to be very pleasant to deal with and their service was always very fast and efficient. Upon my return to London I tried sending some more film to Tokyo in the mail for processing but would not get any replies to me emails which I thought was really strange; after a couple of weeks I finally managed to contact them sent my film and everything was fine. Maybe try contacting them via Skype or even phone and ask how they shipped your film, if it was sent by EMS (Express Mail Service) there should be a tracking number. I'm not 100% sure but I think the communication problems are possibly down to a filtering problem at the other end as I've had similar problems when emailing friends in Japan. If you are shooting with the recently discontinued Fuji R25n or RT200n I believe that Retro Enterprises are the only lab in the world that can still process this film, they are to Single8 what Dwayne's is to Kodachrome! However, the newer Cinevia/Velvia film can probably be processed at any number of labs around the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel mahlknecht Posted November 3, 2010 Author Share Posted November 3, 2010 To my first email they answered and told me that it was shipped with air-mail. When I asked for a tracking number I didn't get no reply, but probably a tracking number doesn't exist anyhow. I met Tak once at Waaghäusl in Germany, and I'm sure he works very well. I was yust wondering if there were any similar experiences and maybe solutions that I had not thought of. Next time I will have the films shipped back to my brother in Austria, so no more worries abouth italian post service... thanks Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniel mahlknecht Posted November 3, 2010 Author Share Posted November 3, 2010 If you are shooting with the recently discontinued Fuji R25n or RT200n I believe that Retro Enterprises are the only lab in the world that can still process this film, they are to Single8 what Dwayne's is to Kodachrome! However, the newer Cinevia/Velvia film can probably be processed at any number of labs around the world. Actually I really like the FUJI R25N, so as long as possible I will probably stick to it. I have used the Cinevia and although I liked it, it can not be compared to the R25N (also runningtime is longer because of the polyester base). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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