mframes

As I wrote a little while ago, I sent some HP5 film off to two labs in the UK for developing and scanning. I hadn’t use either of these labs before so I was very interested to see the results. I was not disappointed. To say I’m happy with the quality of the scans I received from both is an understatement. They are stunning. Both are professional film labs so there shouldn’t be any surprises, but it was very pleasing to receive them back and see for myself. I asked AG photo lab to provide me with medium resolution scans in tiff format. I never requested any preferences relating to brightness or contrast etc. The scans I received back were all quite flat but retained all the detail. I sent AG a quick email asking about this and as I thought, unless a preference was specified they provided scans which yielded the most detail therefore allowing the recipient the largest amount of flexibility to alter the images as they saw fit. I am completely ok with that. Full marks. I asked Exposure for standard resolution scans, neutral exposure and medium contrast. That is exactly what I got. I can see a subtle difference in the scans between the two labs and honestly, I prefer the slight increase in contrast from Exposure. What tipped the preference of these two great labs for me is the speed in which I received the results. I sent both labs my film on a Wednesday. Both first class post. On Thursday, AG emailed me to say they had received the film and had it queued for development. On Friday, AG emailed me to tell me that it was all done and that the scans and negatives were on their way back to me. I received the DVD and negatives on the Saturday. Three days! Wow! Exposure notified me by email the following Tuesday that they had received my film. I received a wetransfer email notification today which I used to download the scans from. I’ve not received the negatives from Exposure yet, but they’ll be in the post. So nine working days in total to receive the scans from Exposure. In fairness, they quote ten days turnaround plus one extra day for black and white film, so this was quicker than their estimate. Maybe when the negatives arrive it will be ten or eleven. But AG returning them back to me in three days? That’s a serious difference. Now film photography isn’t about speed. But let’s be honest, when the quality of the scans is impeccable (not an exaggeration) and I can get them back in three days after posting – that’s a winner for me. AG also make it ever so slightly easier to send them film (First Class Royal Mail only) by just allowing you to print off a pre-paid label, stick it onto your package and drop it off at your local post office. Exposure provide you address labels to print but no pre-paid postage. I don’t consider this a significant difference, but it feels slightly more fluid if you’re happy with First Class post. Both have similar costs for their services. No significant difference there either.

Would I be happy to use both labs again? Yes, but in all likelihood I will only be ending my film to AG. That is not a criticism against Exposure. I suppose when all is said and done, if you can get your results quicker it’s a compelling reason to choose one lab over another. I might test the water by asking AG to provide me with “neutral exposure and medium contrast” of some HP5 just to see what the difference looks like. I imagine it will be minimal, if I would be able to tell at all. With the AG scans, I do feel like I need to adjust the contrast of them slightly to adhere to my taste and to provide me with what I think it a representation of HP5 film. But HP5 does lean towards being a relatively low contrast film, so the scans from AG may be a very accurate representation of what they ‘should’ look like (although ‘should’ is very much personal opinion) and I could be way off in my opinion. Once images are in the digital domain, let’s face it – you can tweak them until the cows come home.

I’m extremely happy with the results from both labs. AG’s communication felt slightly better organised and smoother from a order processing perspective, and their turnaround time for getting the negs and scans back to me was unreal. I’m writing this having sent them nine rolls of Portra 400 120 today. They offer a courier collect and return service for just under £20 too. You select this when submitting your order, email them when your package is ready for pick up and the courier arrives (for me that was same day). This felt pretty well organised too and was another nod in their direction.

Here are a couple HP5 scans that I received back, starting with an unmodified scan from AG:

Here is the same photo with a contrast tweak to suit it to my liking:

Here is an unmodified scan from Exposure:

Here’s another unmodified scan from Exposure:

All very good indeed. Really good.

Interestingly, in all the scans I received back from AG and all but one scan from Exposure, the strange border seen in the first photos I had developed taken on the Makina and on the Fuji Acros 100 scans after my first attempt at fixing the bellows, was not visible. I thought this was a bit odd since I’ve not done any further repair to the bellows since I received the results of this test roll. Hmmm…confused by that…