Please forgive this incredibly stupid question: are there any reasonably priced mail-order labs that still know how to do black and white? Thirty years ago, heck, even 20 years ago, every street-corner photo store seemed to do black and white perfectly. Today, even the "specialists" (like San Miguel Photo Labs in LV, NM) seem to do sloppy work, especially on smaller prints and proofs, and it's quite discouraging. I have no room for a home darkroom and no time to spend learning to develop and print even if I did. I open a book like "Worlds in a Small Room" by Irving Penn, and I'm knocked out by how great black and white can be. Even my own work as a teenager and young adult, printed locally when it was still available, looks better than most stuff I see today. Has anyone found a lab that remembers how to do it right, every time, with reasonably turn-around and reasonable prices? I realize 99% of you must be doing your own work, but perhaps there are printers here who are also doing mail-order. Thank you for your patience with my question.

-- Mark Hubbard (hubbard@humboldt1.com), March 27, 2000

Answers

I don't think that is a stupid question, and many photographers have the same problem getting b&w developed for a resonable cost. Have you looked into the c-41 process B&W films? It might be your answer. Both Ilford (who pioneered the technology) and Kodak produce a b&w film specifically designed to be processed in the most common commercially available color processing, called C-41. Unfortunately, I don't remember the names of the particular films at the moment, but you can contact Ilford and Kodak on the internet to discover the names, and then order them through B&H or any other large photo mail order company. After you have this film, in theory, you can drop it off almost anywhere for developing at their regular color prices, including at the one-hour photo places. In practice, however, some places will return your prints with an ugly yellowish cast instead of b&w, so I would ask around your area and find a place that has done this successfully (probably your custom labs have done it). Good luck!

-- Holly Whiteside (hollywhiteside@oberlin.net), March 27, 2000.

Heck, If you've been makin' b&w pictures for 30 years, why don't you do it yourself? There are too many variables (thank God) for anybody else to print your pictures "right"... But the real reason most labs don't do it is money (what else). B&W paper costs more than color paper, the technicians need more training (see above concerning variables) and now digital cameras all have b&w mode. It's certainly not going to get any more common than it is now.

Take a look in your local paper's classifieds, there's probably a good deal on a complete b&w darkroom from someone who just bought a Pentium III, a Nikon CoolPix950 and an Epson 1200 printer, and it should be selling for less than that printer costs ($495.00)... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), March 27, 2000.

In fact (I can't believe the serendipity) check out Mason's post right below this one (hit yer back button)... need I say more?... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), March 27, 2000.

In fact (I can't believe the serendipity) check out Mason's post right below this one (hit yer back button), need I say more?... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), March 27, 2000.

need I say more? (this is like "groundhog Day"... )

-- ... t (twm@mindspring.com), March 27, 2000.

Mark, Holly: Ilford's XP-Super is "chromogenic" B&W film that uses C-41 color processing. So is Kodak's T400CN. The problem with these, however, is that not many labs use the correct printing channel settings to get black-to-white tones, and usually wind up with a sepia, blue, or other tint. These prints are useful as proofs.

I've used Kodak's B&W Plus (C-41 processing), a consumer version of T400CN. It is only availble in 24 shot cannisters. However, it is apparently optimized for Kodak Gold 400 printing settings on color paper stock. The stuff I've shot so far are printed in B&W tones. If you can get over the "consumer" label, and 24 shot rolls, you've got B&W that can be processed and printed just about anywhere.

-- Jeff Polaski (polaski@acm.org), March 28, 2000.

I'm getting to ready to set up my darkroom again for my budding photography business and will be taking in black and white work. Contact me if you want more information.

-- Darron Spohn (dspohn@photobitstream.com), March 28, 2000.

Buy some standard Kodak print mailers from B&H and have Qualex do it. The mailers work for color and B&W. I don't have any suggestions for getting enlargements made.

I'd also suggest you give Darron a try. His long history of thoughtful answers on photo.net would seem to warrant giving him the opportunity to serve you.

-- Chris Hawkins (peace@clover.net), March 28, 2000.

Mark, another option I would SERIOUSLY consider is going digital, and doing it yourself. If you already have a computer, you can have a pretty nice digital photo set-up for about the price of a b&w darkroom set-up.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), April 03, 2000.