P3D Re: PHOTO-3D digest 2639

[HatfieldMk <HatfieldMk@xxxxxxx>]

With regards to Seattle Film Works let me share my experience with you. I
began using SFW about 3 years ago. By and large my experiences were favorable.
Price was good and quality was reasonable. Since I shoot with twin 35mm I was
always requesting slides be made from the film I submitted. On a trip to the
Rocky Mountain National Park 2 years ago I shot over 30 rolls of SFW film.
When I got my slides back the exposures between the left and right were off by
as much as 2 stops. There was no apparent consistancy in the exposure
difference with regard to left or right until I noticed that the film had been
developed in several batches over a three day period. When I called SFW I
learned that the way they make slides out of their film is to develop the film
as a negative, then make a "contact negative" which is then developed and
mounted as a slide. Since SFW does not deal in true slide film, there was no
way for them to go back and adjust all of my exposures to insure that the left
and right would match. While they were very polite and apoligetic they were
ultimately unable to do much more than credit me for the developing. The
upshot of all this is that I learned a valuable lesson. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY
FOR! I now only shoot with fuji velvia or sensia and I pay more to have my
film developed at a local shop where I know and trust the operators. Caveat
emptor!
Mark Hatfield
HatfieldMK@xxxxxxx


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