Help me with the lingo!

[LittleMan]

I'm looking at getting my film developed/prints printed at River City Silver here in San Antonio.
For the development they say they use the Kodak's Flexicolor C-41 chemistry.
First of all.. I have no idea what this means.
then they say that it's

Color Negatives (C-41)
Process only Process & Contact 35mm 36exp.
$3.40------------------- $9.95

What is the difference between Process only and Process and Contact?


Then they say:
Push or Pull processing add $2.50 for roll films, 50% for sheet films and half day for service.
What is this?

Just some questions from a confused person... :meh:

All I'm developing is the normal 35mm roll of film... I want cheap machine copies of the negatives so I can see which I want enlarged and copied.

Their website is here: River City Silver

Thanks!!

 

[Big Mike]

C41 is just the name of regular color negative film processing. Every one-hour/drugstore/wal-mart machine lab is C41.

I don't know for sure but I'd think that when they say 'contact'...they mean that they will give you a sheet with all of the images on it. A lot of places these days will include that with your prints anyway. It's just another 4x6 print with all of the shots on it...and reference numbers. If you wanted to just get the film developed and have a contact sheet made...it should save you the cost of getting prints made of all the shots.

Push and pull processing is when you ask the lab to over or under develop your roll of film. There are various reasons you might do this. Lets say you had ISO 100 film but it was just too dark so you override the ISO setting on the camera to 400 and shoot away. You would be underexposing the film by two stops...you would ask the lab to (push I think) two (or maybe just one) stops to salvage the photos. I really don't know anything about push/pull so I'll shut up and let someone better explain it.
Typically, you shouldn't have to worry about it though...color negative film is pretty flexible and if you exposure is off...the lab will still be able to get a decent print out if it.

 

[LittleMan]

Thanks BigMike!
btw, from looking at their site do you think it's too expensive or what?

The two professional photographers in the area that I talked to (and my art teacher) go to River City Silver for everything. So I'm guessing it's ok for the quality.

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Big Mike]

Just from the sounds of it...they are probably a decent lab...meaning that hey don't have poorly trained and poorly paid kids working the machines...like you would find in a Wal-mart. If you are getting good recomendations...that's a good sign.

I like to use a decent lab for getting prints...but if you are strictly getting the film developed...then a cheaper place might be OK...but then again...a good lab is a lot less likely to loose or damage you negatives. I stopped taking my film to Wal-mart because the negative were getting scratched up too often...probabaly because of poor maintenance of the machines.

Another good thing about a good lab is customer service. They should have no reservations about making re-prints if you think they are not up to snuff.

It's up to you...do you want to pay the little bit extra for good quality & service? It can add up but typically you get what you pay for.

 

[LittleMan]

I stopped taking my film to Wal-mart because the negative were getting scratched up too often...probabaly because of poor maintenance of the machines.

That happened to me in HEB.... my favorite photo out of the bunch had a scratch right across the face, on the negative... so that really sucked.

 

[summers_enemy]

If only more people had Big Mike's attitude I can't tell you the number of people I encounter on a typical day that want professional lab quality but don't want to pay more than $4 a roll :roll:

Odds are if you're getting recommendations off people, it's a nice place to go. I'd be tempted to take one roll there, and one roll to a smaller chain store and compare though to see if you're really getting your money's worth

 

[LittleMan]

If only more people had Big Mike's attitude I can't tell you the number of people I encounter on a typical day that want professional lab quality but don't want to pay more than $4 a roll :roll:

Odds are if you're getting recommendations off people, it's a nice place to go. I'd be tempted to take one roll there, and one roll to a smaller chain store and compare though to see if you're really getting your money's worth

Well, I am definately going to try these people out.
I understand how you get what you pay for!