Report on Kodalux stereo slide processing services

[P3D Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

This afternoon (9/23) I received in the mail two sets of stereo
slides.  I had mailed the film (K25) to the Dallas Kodalux plant
on September 3.  I live less than 200 miles from Dallas and normal
mail service is 1 day, or 2 at the most.  Three weeks is rather
poor turnaround time, IMO.  (It should be noted that through 9/8
the plant did predict a 1-day delay in their normal next-day prints
service schedule, due to high holiday volume.)

The quality of the stereo slide mounting of these two rolls, to
be quite frank, was abysmal.  It is obvious that Kodalux has no
understanding at all of the Colardeau progression.  In each of
the few cases in which I bracketed for exposure, the chips were
incorrectly paired for mounting.  (The shots were hand-held, so
the mismatch is quite obvious.) Several pairs were mounted pseudo;
a number of others have vertical misalignment; and a few more have
problems I haven't figured out yet.

For about the first 1-1/2 years of my stereo photography life I
used Kodalux for all my stereo slides.  I recently started to
transition to using a local lab for processing and doing my own
mounting.  I can't afford the quantity of RBTs I need; I have
yet to master the RBT jig with Spicer mount combination, and
therefore have a backlog of a couple hundred slides to mount;
and the K25 had to go to Kodalux for processing anyway.  So I
decided to let them mount these slides.  This is the first time
I used the mailers for stereo; I had gotten sick of calling or
going to the grocery store for 10 or more days after the predicted
return date and not having the slides back.

In the past I have had virtually no complaints with the Kodalux
mounting.  (A few months ago I did discover a mismatched chips
from one of my first rolls, but those were bracketed night shots
taken with a tripod, so I didn't even notice the problem until
more than 1 year after taking the photos.)  I don't know whether
today's experience is an aberration or a new trend.  They have a
few more rolls I just sent to them this week, so I should soon (or
not-so-soon, more likely) have more evidence to evaluate.

Paul Talbot


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