# 35mm development process by a lab



## vegas2033 (May 19, 2016)

Hello,

I recently acquired an Olympus Om1n and I was wondering what is usually the development process from film to actual prints. I do not want to develop the pictures myself, I will get a lab do that but I was wondering how does it works when working with a lab (a professional lab NOT a Walgreens printing station for example).

Do you drop your films at the lab, get the negatives back, review the negatives and decide which picture to get printed? Do you print the entire roll? 

Also if anyone has a lab to recommend or dis-recommend on the New York City area (Manhattan preferably) that would be great.

Sorry for the newbie type question but I didn't find much information on the internet.

Thanks in advance


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## MartinCrabtree (May 19, 2016)

Most pro labs will process film and give you a contact sheet. Either digital or traditional. From there you can choose what you'd like printed. You can also elect to have the entire roll scanned and print from that.


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## limr (May 19, 2016)

vegas2033 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I recently acquired an Olympus Om1n and I was wondering what is usually the development process from film to actual prints. I do not want to develop the pictures myself, I will get a lab do that but I was wondering how does it works when working with a lab (a professional lab NOT a Walgreens printing station for example).
> 
> ...



Some of the mail-in labs will not return the negatives, though if you are developing at a local place, they'll usually return them - just ask. 

I just found a place in Manhattan that develops on-premises - even E6! Let me see if I can remember the name...

Pretty sure it was Sammy's Photo Lab, 27 Essex St, Lower East Side. Can't tell you if they are any good or not, but I took note of it because a) there are not too many local labs around anymore, and b) there are _really _not a lot of places that still develop E6 on premises.

I would suggest asking for scans only, no prints. Then you can decide which images you'd like to get printed and use the same lab or a different service like adoramapix.com or something.


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## jcdeboever (May 19, 2016)

When I was getting it done, they scanned them and put them on a CD. I now have the option to print them myself or upload to snapfish and have them printed. It usually runs around $10 a roll for no prints, negatives, and a CD. I'm doing them myself now to cut cost and control the amount of data and quality of the scans. I tried a few places and they all left something desired. Dust and dirt was a huge issue with a few. Dwayne's photo seemed to do the best job overall. 

Local camera store place was the worst and I was shocked. Ran into the owner the other night at the kids baseball game and he asked me how I liked them and he was embarrassed when I told him. I felt bad but he asked. I emailed him a few of the scans per his request and he gave me a $100 in store credit and apologized at length. 

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## vegas2033 (May 19, 2016)

Thanks a lot all for the quick responses.

@limr: I'll definitely check out Sammy's Photo Lab, thanks for the tips .

@jcdeboever : I don't picture myself developing yet so I will still have to go through a lab. Maybe in the future. Hopefully I can obtain decent results in a local shop.

Thanks again guys


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## jcdeboever (May 19, 2016)

vegas2033 said:


> Thanks a lot all for the quick responses.
> 
> @limr: I'll definitely check out Sammy's Photo Lab, thanks for the tips .
> 
> ...


Good luck, you may. The local one i used was very dusty and hairy. They probably just weren't maintaining their equipment. Owner said he didn't realize. At least he made good and he didn't have to do that but he insisted. 

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## vegas2033 (May 19, 2016)

@jcdeboever The question is will you spend your $100 gift card with them knowing that they have been careless in the past.

Best


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## jcdeboever (May 19, 2016)

vegas2033 said:


> @jcdeboever The question is will you spend your $100 gift card with them knowing that they have been careless in the past.
> 
> Best


Absolutely, good place to buy supplies. Nikon, Sigma dealer. They are great, just careless with their film processing. Hey, it's not what turns the lights on there. I wasn't mad until I started editing but I am always angry when in Gimp, my stuff just isn't that good yet. 

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## vegas2033 (May 19, 2016)

jcdeboever said:


> vegas2033 said:
> 
> 
> > @jcdeboever The question is will you spend your $100 gift card with them knowing that they have been careless in the past.
> ...



That's great if you can make use of it then . Best of luck with Gimp.


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