My First Experience With Ilford Lab U.S.A.

My First Roll of Film From Ilford Lab U.S.A.:

Hey everyone!  Just wanted to post something quick.  I recently sent in a roll of Fuji Neopan 400 to the Ilford Lab in California.  I mentioned them a few months ago, and I’ve been wanting to try them out for a long time.  But to be honest, film took a backseat to digital for a while, so I never had the chance to finish the roll of Neopan in my Leica M6.  I kept putting it off but I finally decided to just process it to see what I got.

For those who might be interested in trying out the Ilford Lab in California, all I had to do was go to their website, and fill in what I wanted them to do.  You can make prints, scans, etc.  You can even pay right there.  After that, I printed a pre-paid label, which I tapped to a padded envelop, and dropped it in the mail box.

My roll of film got to the Ilford Lab in just a few days (that’s from NYC), and even though they say that it might take up to five days to finish, my roll was actually processed and scanned right away.  The Ilford Lab sent me an email when it got there, and the next day, they sent me an email telling me it was finished.  I chose high resolution scans, so all I had to do was download them.  My negatives are coming back as we speak.  With the high resolutions scans, it costs about $30 but that includes the shipping both ways.  If you’re happy with medium quality scans, I believe it’s $10 cheaper.  Overall, the process took less than a week.

Yeah, maybe there are cheaper places but there are also more expensive places.  Bottom line is, I’m completely happy with the service I received from the Ilford Lab, and I feel like I got my money’s worth.  The scans came out great.  They’re clean, dust free, and best of all, everything was easy and convenient.  They’re clearly professional about what they do.

Unfortunately, I was planning on posting more images but I actually forgot what was on it, and most of the photos are of family and friends who just so happen to be pretty shy to be seen on this blog :).  So, here is a scan of my friend, and I thought it would be neat to post a shot with my Leica M 240 for a little comparison.  Obviously, this is not a real comparison test or anything because different lenses, ISO settings, etc. were used.  I just thought it would be cool to see both.

↑ Shot with Neopan 400

↑ Taken with my M 240.

It’s just been really fun and different to shoot film again.  I already have another roll of film in my M6, which I can’t wait to finish, so when I do, I will definitely be posting from that roll.  Thanks for stopping by!