Re: Seattle Film Works

[P3D Bob Shotsberger <bshots1@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In reply to the thread about Seattle Film Works

>Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 12:34:40 -0800
>From: P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>
>To: photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: Seattle FilmWorks
>Message-ID: <199612182034.MAA22188@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>Alexa Smith writes:
>
>>The main reason we stopped using them though is that if you shoot on their
>>film NO OTHER LAB will process it for you even though it is just an E6 run
>>as far as I can tell.  I don't know if they are adding something to the
>>film so that no one else will touch it or if it's just the fact that it's
>>proprietary film but neither our University lab or any of the commercial
>>ones in town would touch it.Anyone else have a similar problem?
>
>Here's the skinny as I got it from the rec.photo newsgroups on Usenet.
>
>The film SFW currently supplies is standard C41 process (just like every
>other color negative film I know of), BUT, the film canister is labelled
>"Process SFW-XL".  Since most reputable labs won't risk ruining your film
>by guessing at what this process might be, they will simply pass on it.
>(BTW, the old respooled motion picture film was labelled "Process SFW").
>
>According to the word on Usenet, a couple of commercial labs (Dale
>comes to mind as being one mentioned) WILL process this film.  But,
>since it's nothing special to begin with, why bother, except that it
>is very inexpensive.  The bottom line seems to be if you want cheap
>film, competitive developing, some extras like photos-on-disk and you
>aren't overly concerned with the quality of the results, SFW is for you.
>
>       -Greg W.
>
>
I have been using their processing since early this year ('96). They
have done over a dozen rolls of film for me.

They have a web site at:   http://www.filmworks.com

Last I visited the site they had a "factory tour", most of their 
equipment was Afga. They also had a sample film of photos-on-a-disk
and a free download of their software so you could try it out. 
I never did that because I did not have a modem when I first
wanted to try them, but directly sent them film, so I can't
say what the sample is like. And other than to download my
photomail files I have not recently toured the site.

Their photo index's which come with their Photos-on-a-disk
are all on Agfa paper.

I have had them process and make slides and prints from
Kodakcolor and Ektachrome, Fujichrome and their own film,
all of these they have done for me have been okay. I just
checked my "free" rolls and only the ASA 200 and ASA 400 are
labeled "Made in Germany", and only on the cannister, not on
the film cassettes. The ASA 100 rolls I have are not labelled 
as to country of orign any where. Their advertisement is that
they will process "any C-41 process film", but they do process
color slide film also, whether on site or off site I don't know..

The scanning is okay. Some rolls have been excellent and others 
just okay. Since I am sending a pair of rolls each time I send 
any (from my twined slr's) I really get to compare the results
between each roll. I have not told them my films are stereo pairs.
Both my slides and my prints from each pair of rolls have always 
been good, but some of the scanned images from the same pair of 
rolls are as if they were taken (or scanned) under slightly 
different conditions.

The results of their scanning are only equal at best to a 
instamatic or old polaroid print. This is NOT a Leaf or high 
end Kodak/Cannon/Nikon or Minolta digital camera at work or
even a HP Color Jet Scanner at work, it not a Photo CD. It's
output is at best, a photo comparable to one a Kodak DCS-40
digital camera or one of the Casio digital cameras (model not
remembered) that I have seen work, can make.

But, since I don't have a scanner at home and only very limited
access at work and there access is getting less and less, 
their's is a convient way to have all my pairs of films processed 
to prints and/or slides and digitized at the same time. Their's 
is a proprietary (sp) software, but it is realtively quick and 
easy to convert your prints from within it to a "tiff" or any 
of several other formats and use them in many photo programs. 

So far I have only had a little free time lately and I have
not been able to put together more than a few stereo pairs
and print them out from the photos-on-a-disk. The results 
are okay. Being able to make adjustments to the color balance,
contrast, compositon and window before before printing is nice.



 



 


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