Has RGB Lab gone out of business?

[Andy_Alderslade]

Hi,

 

I called RGB Lab in Hollywood on 323 469 1959 on my skype phone, and got a recorded message saying the number had been disconected.

 

Just wondering if this was a temporary problem, but when business numbers are 'disconected' it tends to mean they have gone out of business.

Does anyone know if this is true?

 

Many thanks,

Andy

[Francis Kuhn]

Andy,

 

They are out of business. I went in there (I think it was about this time two years ago) and they told me they weren't getting the volume of business needed to continue. Apparently most of their processing income dried up as more amateur photographers started switching to digital.

[Andy_Alderslade]

Oh dear, bad news i guess, thanks Fran for the info.

 

 

 

 

Well I guess the next question is, does anyone know of a lab that processes and prints motion picture film in 35mm stills cassettes?

[John Holland]

Andy , dont know any over here , need a small lab really , you could try Buck Labs , they may be able to help , just a guess though , good luck . John Holland. London

[Charles MacDonald]

Oh dear, bad news i guess, thanks Fran for the info.

Well I guess the next question is, does anyone know of a lab that processes and prints motion picture film in 35mm stills cassettes?

DALE Labs in Florida was doing it.. Only one that came up last time this was a thread.

[Mark Heim]

A&I in hollywood processes motion picture stills. It's a new service, only been doing it for a few months so im not sure about price or anything.

[Brad Grimmett]

A&I in hollywood processes motion picture stills. It's a new service, only been doing it for a few months so im not sure about price or anything.

Really? Very good to know. They do good work. Do you know if they're selling the stocks spooled as well?

[Charles MacDonald]

A&I in hollywood processes motion picture stills. It's a new service, only been doing it for a few months so im not sure about price or anything.

Do they only deal in person or also by mail, and if so is there contact info or a web site...

[Francis Kuhn]

Do they only deal in person or also by mail, and if so is there contact info or a web site...

 

Charles,

 

Here's the link with info for MP film processing:

 

http://www.aandi.com/mp_stock.htm

 

BTW, they are a very good lab. I have used them for over 15 years.

[Brad Grimmett]

I guess since it says, "Come in today for your free roll" they're spooling MP stock. Cool. And a free roll? Cool.

[Alessandro Machi]

Andy,

 

They are out of business. I went in there (I think it was about this time two years ago) and they told me they weren't getting the volume of business needed to continue. Apparently most of their processing income dried up as more amateur photographers started switching to digital.

 

That's not necessarily true.

 

Many photographic businesses in Hollywood started several decades ago, and many of them decided to buy their land outright versus renting space. Now, the land is worth anywhere from 10-50 times more than what they originally paid for it. These owners didn't feel like it made sense to keep working as they got past retirement age. That doesn't mean they couldn't keep the business sucessfully going, it just means when someone offers you well over a million dollars for a piece of land that originally cost well under a hundred thousand dollars, it may be time to retire and relax.

 

If anything, even if RGB was doing less volume, owning the land meant a significantly lower overhead and that would actually be a reason to keep the business because it would be mean less of a workload as the original owner got older. The primary reason RGB closed down was the owner didn't feel the need to work anymore, especially because they probably were offered a nice amount of change for his location.

 

I think RGB was subliminally helping Kodak. Film can't be going out if RGB is still around. But now that RGB is gone, people mistakenly think it was because of digital. It had more to do with the age of the owner and the value of the land on the open real estate market.

[Brad Grimmett]

That doesn't mean they couldn't keep the business sucessfully going, it just means when someone offers you well over a million dollars for a piece of land that originally cost well under a hundred thousand dollars, it may be time to retire and relax.

The primary reason RGB closed down was the owner didn't feel the need to work anymore, especially because they probably were offered a nice amount of change for his location.

I think I remember reading that RGB was leasing the land and that the landlords either raised the rent a lot or were selling the land, which is why they closed down. After a quick search I found this link confirming this.

[Francis Kuhn]

That's not necessarily true.

 

The primary reason RGB closed down was the owner didn't feel the need to work anymore, especially because they probably were offered a nice amount of change for his location. But now that RGB is gone, people mistakenly think it was because of digital. It had more to do with the age of the owner and the value of the land on the open real estate market.

 

Hi Alessandro,

 

 

 

Actually, that day I walked into RGB with some shot rolls to process one of the old-timers working the counter told me they were closing the next day. I was really shocked. He said it was because their business the previous two holiday seasons was off by something astronomical because of their customers switching to digital. He also told me their sales numbers for the prior two years and the drop off was astounding--I want to say it was something like 60-percent. I can't say I remember the exact figures, but it was huge, as I recall. He also said they wanted to continue but the rent on the property was so high they could no longer afford to stay there. They had apparently looked into other locations, but the strict environmental laws (not grandfathered in when you change locations) had made it nearly impossible to find a suitable building. He didn't mention anything about owning the property or selling to retire, but maybe he had his facts wrong. Not to disagree, this is just what he told me. Maybe it's incorrect. He also said they were looking for someone to purchase their processing equipment.

 

Anyway, I was really disappointed to learn they were closing, but I'm surprised (and happy) to hear that A&I are doing MP processing. I'm going over there tomorrow and I'll check it out, maybe stop by Kodak and Fuji to get some sample rolls for a test.

 

Happy New Year.

 

-Fran

[Andy_Alderslade]

Little update here,

 

Called A&I to check they would deal with a UK customer to develop MP picture film as stills - they said yes.

 

Sent film to them, several weeks latter I get an email saying they cannot process this film as its MP film, I say what and send an email with the link to the MP page:

 

http://www.aandi.com/mp_stock.htm

 

they didn't bother to reply, so i called them and they said that they have never processed MP film, and they knew nothing of that webpage.

 

So now very confused...

 

But apparently Dale Labs does, so hopefully i'm going to get it processed there.

 

 

Anyway find out what happens in the next exciting instalment....

 

...coming soon.

[Alessandro Machi]

Hi Alessandro,

Actually, that day I walked into RGB with some shot rolls to process one of the old-timers working the counter told me they were closing the next day. I was really shocked. He said it was because their business the previous two holiday seasons was off by something astronomical because of their customers switching to digital. He also told me their sales numbers for the prior two years and the drop off was astounding--I want to say it was something like 60-percent. I can't say I remember the exact figures, but it was huge, as I recall. He also said they wanted to continue but the rent on the property was so high they could no longer afford to stay there. They had apparently looked into other locations, but the strict environmental laws (not grandfathered in when you change locations) had made it nearly impossible to find a suitable building. He didn't mention anything about owning the property or selling to retire, but maybe he had his facts wrong. Not to disagree, this is just what he told me. Maybe it's incorrect. He also said they were looking for someone to purchase their processing equipment.

 

Anyway, I was really disappointed to learn they were closing, but I'm surprised (and happy) to hear that A&I are doing MP processing. I'm going over there tomorrow and I'll check it out, maybe stop by Kodak and Fuji to get some sample rolls for a test.

 

Happy New Year.

 

-Fran

 

 

Sure, it's definitely going to be a diminishing return type of business, however the info I had gotten was that RGB actually owned their own land but that the owner had been running the lab for a very long time, (since the 50s or 60's). He could do much better just selling the location than he could try to find a new owner to run it.

 

Little update here,

 

Called A&I to check they would deal with a UK customer to develop MP picture film as stills - they said yes.

 

Sent film to them, several weeks latter I get an email saying they cannot process this film as its MP film, I say what and send an email with the link to the MP page:

 

http://www.aandi.com/mp_stock.htm

 

they didn't bother to reply, so i called them and they said that they have never processed MP film, and they knew nothing of that webpage.

 

So now very confused...

 

But apparently Dale Labs does, so hopefully i'm going to get it processed there.

Anyway find out what happens in the next exciting instalment....

 

...coming soon.

 

I'm really shocked at the shoddy service you appear to be getting. I haven't been to A & I in several years but in their heyday they were doing a huge volume of processing in many different formats, just ask to speak to the president, a call from the U.K. should carry some weight.

[Adam Butterworth]

DALE Labs in Florida was doing it.. Only one that came up last time this was a thread.

 

I can't find anywhere on their site that mentions MP film. Know of any other labs that might sell Motion Picture film in still cassettes?

[Jim Keller]

I can't find anywhere on their site that mentions MP film. Know of any other labs that might sell Motion Picture film in still cassettes?

I had very good luck rolling my own with an inexpensive bulk loader. A 100' spool is a 100' spool.

[Charles MacDonald]

I can't find anywhere on their site that mentions MP film.

I think it is offered as a service to their old customers, they send it out to be porcessed once a week, and then do th eprints/slides/scans in house.

 

They also offer the slides from negs from any film, and use VISON print film to do so, they even credit it on their slide mounts.

[Andy_Alderslade]

The plot thickens....

 

I got an email yesterday saying that they actually do process MP film, its just a lot of the staff don't know it yet.

 

And they say US customer service is better than in the UK ;)

 

 

So now A&I definetly do process MP film, plus they will scan it, as well as print and mount it as slides too.

 

 

I called Dale Labs (though I got confused how there was a Hollywood in Florida) and they said they still process MP film as service - however they don't print it.

 

 

Anyway, when I get it back I'll post some samples.

[Andy_Alderslade]

Now the final installment....

 

A&I after a little confusion have really proved themselves. I'm really happy with their work on these, and for a good price too.

 

Here are a few examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Charles Haine]

Andy,

 

what stock did you shoot?

 

Was it the Fuji 500T by any chance?

 

I ask only because of my other experiences with A and I:

 

http://www.cinematography.com/forum2004/in...showtopic=21793

 

charlie haine

[Kenny N Suleimanagich]

UNFORTUNATELY

[Charles MacDonald]

More bad news!

 

Got some slides back from Dale Labs today, along with a note that they will no longer offer the "Slides from Negative" option. The reason that they give is that they can no longer get spare parts for their their "specialized machines" so that they cannon reliably maintain their equipment.

 

This leaves ZERO as the known suppliers who will accept a still camera rolls of MP negative film, and print it on MP stock.

 

:angry: :( :(

[K Borowski]

I have a Phototherm Sidekick set up right now to do ECN-2 and the print film process too.

 

That's too bad about Dale, thought they'd be a competitor. Heard from Rob at Cinelab that they have sent them some of their stuff. Guess that must mean they're completely pulling out.

 

Here's the deal: Barring further trouble with machines, chemistry obtention, and the time to get everything tested and up and running, I should be ready to run customer film in two weeks.

 

Processing the film isnt' the problem, it's printing it. Right now I am doing it frame by frame, lining the film up by hand.

 

So ECN-2, print stock, I can process very efficiently and quickly, but I am still looking for a more efficient means of dealing with the critical copying step in the middle.

 

Of course, I can do very high resolution scans from ECN-2 quickly.

 

 

I wasn't planning on being the only guy in the country set up to do this, but I'd happily take any former Dale customers in two weeks.

 

Anyone interested send me an e-mail. Jon Bowerbank and I were trying to do some tests with what he was shooting last summer. Hopefully he will chime in and have some more stuff to send me.

 

The offer from last summer stands though: A free roll, processed, scanned and printed for every new customer. That only includes one-light printing though, lined up to a grey card or max three different grey cards for different lighting situations.

 

karl_quicksilverfilms@yahoo.com

 

 

P.S. Thanks for the update Charles: I am going to call Dale right now and leave them a VM for mid-August. . .

[K Borowski]

Just left a voicemail at Dale. Seems as if they still offer the service, at least according to their phone message, so if anyone wants film done there still, you may still have time.

 

Hopefully I will be hearing back from them on Monday.

 

As I said in the message I left, the achilles heel of my operation is the lack of an efficient contact printer. Unless I can set up a video analyzer channel for this process, I am going to have to make cinex strips and trial-and-error expose the grey cards before one-liting each roll.

 

Basically, my setup is this: I have a slide-copier with a 35mm still camera mounted on the back. I have to manually line up and color correct, and there is no built in video analyzer or color correction control. II habe some subtractive filters for printing but that is iit.

 

Another big issue is rem-jet removal. I've been advised by Rob at Cine Lab that removing after the process is a bad idea, but because I have basically a motorized drum processor, not a roller-transport machine that is typically used in the development of motion picture film.

 

So, barring an inability to deal with rem-jet removal and efficient optical printing, I hoep to start taking printing orders on the 17th of August, 2009.

 

Oh, one other thing, I am also looking into trying to offer prints from slides from 35mm still film too, but I don't know if I have to further modify the print developer process to allow me to do this. I think that still film is higher-contrast than ECN-2, which would cause a contrast mismatch if I didn't somehow alter the contrast of the print stock itself.