Slide development at RGB Color

[hyun]

There was a thread that RGB has a tendency to snip off part of your last frame (part furthest from the tongue of the film). This is because they use a metal weight to hang the film during drying and that weight has to eat into part of the film to take grip.

Q: Does that happen for ALL slide development labs?

Q: RGB Color snipped off part of my frame while it was cutting the strips of film to put into the sleeves. What do you think is the usual compensation for that sort of carelessness? Free 1 roll development?

Q: Of the 2 RGB Color branches, which is better, and why?

thanks ...

 

[denizenx]

hmmm gross... how about shooting 35 frames then? or still snip?
is it open soon? I still got my test roll to dev...

 

[maddog]

None of mine are snipped. I go to the Beach Road outlet.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by hyun
There was a thread that RGB has a tendency to snip off part of your last frame (part furthest from the tongue of the film). This is because they use a metal weight to hang the film during drying and that weight has to eat into part of the film to take grip.

Q: Does that happen for ALL slide development labs?

Q: RGB Color snipped off part of my frame while it was cutting the strips of film to put into the sleeves. What do you think is the usual compensation for that sort of carelessness? Free 1 roll development?

Q: Of the 2 RGB Color branches, which is better, and why?

thanks ...

Hi

just curious....are u a Nikon user? :devil:

i dun think it's to do with clipping them during drying. The dip and dunk method is supposedly superior, but it requires that they clip your film in order to start processing it. Not all labs use that process, from wat i understand. ColorLab does not.

i have never had the problem when processing film shot with my Canon system, since my camera limits me to 36 frames (i believe all Canon EOS systems do that) and no more. the only time i actually encountered the dreaded clipping is when i used my Leica M6 and shot one particular roll from frame 0 to about 38 frames - the last frame was slightly bent at the end, presumably due to the clipping. but that was never really bothered me since

1) i'm not supposed to be shooting from frame 0 to 38
2) i usually rewind when i hit 36 or 37.

I only go to the Beach Road branch (out of convenience than anything) and i've gotten to know the lady there well enough that she usually knows wat i want and need before i even said it. the service is excellent and all my slides, negs and black and white go there now, and no where else.

RGB produces the cleanest negative or slides in my experience. Someone mentioned it must be due to the chemical they used, but watever it is, the service is good, and FAST, and their rates for pushing film is dirt cheap. (pushing is something i do quite often)

As for accidentally snipping off your frame, well i suppose accidents and mistakes do happen. ColorLab once mounted a roll of slides for me so poorly that the slide mounts are coming apart for some of the slides. So i guess human errors are inevitable!

 

[kongg]

Hmmmmm Nikon user here. Even send em bulk rolled canisters for processing. Never faced such problems. Maybe its bad luck??

 

[ckiang]

I am a Nikon user, I usually shoot 38 frames. RGB processed them without problems. They usually occur for bulk loaded rolls, where the space after frame 38 is insufficient.

Regards
CK

 

[mpenza]

I shoot 38 frames and processing is fine at the Fuji Lab (sent through MS Color).

 

[photo7]

Hi Hyun,

I am a photo hobbist for many years. I have the same experience as what you had before. However, out of my curiosity of doubt, I have checked with Kodak and Fuji as they are the film manufacturer. Then I consult the film processing company again. Below is my findings:

1) As for the film manufacturer stated very clearly that their film is spooled with enough length for 36 exporsures only as what it indicated on the box of film for 135/36 exp and that is the agreed price you paid for the 36 exp. Then of course some time you may be able to take in a few more shots depending on different makes of camera and their winding mechanism. So to be sure and safe, pls shoot with what the film manufacturer recommended next time, most of the time you can get bonus shots but it is not safe to assume that the front and end of the film is guaranteed.

2) As for the lab that you have used, RGB is a reputable lab in Spore with a long history of experience in operating a professional lab. They have many good name established in the region with Professional Photographers and keen hobbists alike. I understand that they are the only certified Kodak Professional worldwide E6 Q-lab in Singapore. So they have conformed to the Kodak Professional E6 processing standard in order to have this certification. I have once gone through their introduction to the lab and they really have a record of their quantitative and qualitative chemical analysis from Kodak to assist them in ascertain their chemistry is in a tip top condition before they process customer films. This assurance is important for them to get the processing upto Kodak E6 standard. so that photographers from around the world on their assignment would be able to get the same color consistency in E6 film processing as well as in US, Europe and Singapore.

3) As for the machine RGB used (after my research) is a dip and dunk with hanger type of professional E6 processing machine. This type of professional machine is one of its kind in Spore. According to them, they are in conformance with Kodak Q-lab standard and this is the recommeded machine type for E6 processing. What it does is to open the film canister in the darkroom and hang your complete length of film onto a film hanger into a deep tank of about 80 litres of chemical to process your film. The advantage of this type of processing machine is, it has the advantage of scratch-free processing on your valuable shots, it has the deep tank of chemical and replenishment system to ensure the chemical strength is in a tip top condition unlike the small roller transport machine which you can found in other lab may scratch your film base and their small chemical may not be able to get the right strength from time to time and that will end up different colouration on processed film. Then of course, it need weigth to hang the film in order for it to have the right balance in the dip and dunk processing before it dry out completely. The disavantage of it is the front and the end of film will be clipped. I believe this is inevitable as it has the best processing mechanism which Kodak has certified its use for professional laboratory. I guess it is inappropiate for the film replacement as the lab has done noting wrong and they are just ensuring your film is process under the Q-lab recommendation worldwide and the film should not be shot more than its recommended exp of 36. Next time you may need to wind your film a little bit more in the beginning and to ensure 36 exp are shot and this will be ok.

4) The 2 RGB branches where I used is of the same quality standard as they follow Kodak Q-lab standard procedure. Then of course, it depends on your convenience as I understand from them that one of their objective in operating the outlets is to provide convenience for their professional customers in different part of town centre for the ease of their jobs function and their high standard of processing requirement.

I hope I have shared with you my fair share of past experience in my profession.


Thank you and Enjoy shooting.

 

[hyun]

Thank you all, for the very detailed explanations.

I'm a Canon user actually, and my winding system is the common type for EOS - winds to the end before rewinding back.
.
You can see them hanging the roll when you enter RGB Orchard Branch - at the counter, looking to the left wall, there are rolls of film drying with a metal clip below.
.
Yup, I agree that shooting beyond 36 shots and getting it clipped is asking for trouble.
.
Out of curiousity, I had to ask what's the industry treatment of accidental snipping of shots in the middle of the roll, not the end. Human errors exist and I tolerate that. Just wondering whether most labs might offer any freebies when such things happen ...

 

[Larry]

Originally posted by maddog
None of mine are snipped. I go to the Beach Road outlet.

me too, i go beach road. the only time this happened to me was with a bulk roll, shot to 38 frames. it didn't actually eat into my frame, but the ends of it was a bit warped/folded...

 

[mervlam]

Originally posted by hyun
Thank you all, for the very detailed explanations.

I'm a Canon user actually, and my winding system is the common type for EOS - winds to the end before rewinding back.

I'm also a Canon user. I've got no problems at all, even with bulk film and shooting beyond 36.

 

[ckiang]

Originally posted by hyun
Thank you all, for the very detailed explanations.

I'm a Canon user actually, and my winding system is the common type for EOS - winds to the end before rewinding back.
.
You can see them hanging the roll when you enter RGB Orchard Branch - at the counter, looking to the left wall, there are rolls of film drying with a metal clip below.
.
Yup, I agree that shooting beyond 36 shots and getting it clipped is asking for trouble.
.
Out of curiousity, I had to ask what's the industry treatment of accidental snipping of shots in the middle of the roll, not the end. Human errors exist and I tolerate that. Just wondering whether most labs might offer any freebies when such things happen ...

Does this sound familiar?

"Returning of film to our lab for processing constitutes an agreement that, should such film be damaged by our lab, even through negligence, liability is therefore limited by replacement with an equivalent amount of unexposed film"

Regards
CK