P3D Re: Answer to Lynda's Processing Question

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

dalia miller wrote:
> 
> Kodak Stereo Processing and Mounting is alive and well and living in
> Minnesota. According to a Kodak spokesperson, there are 2 ways to have your
> stereo slides processed and mounted by Kodak:
> 1) buying  a mailer sold at camera supply houses and sending it in or
> 2) taking the roll into a member of their dealer network such as an
> independent camera shop, or a chain such as Ritz or Wolf.  Whichever method
> you use, all stereo slide film eventually will end up at the Kodak lab in
> Minneapolis.

I find this news pretty distressing.  Perhaps someone with more
recent experience can allay my fears.  Here is my experience:
I purchased 36 exposure slide film processing mailers from
Freestyle Sales Co.  When they arrived I discovered (from the
address on the mailer) that the processing would be done by
Lerner in Minneapolis.  I sent them 10 rolls of film, 9 were
stereo with "DO NOT CUT" instructions, 1 was normal processing.
Some rolls were Kodachrome.  I mailed the film while on vacation,
hoping they would arrive home shortly after I did.  The normal
roll was returned after a somewhat long wait.  The DO NOT CUT
rolls took over 3 weeks.  The really bad part is that it was
the worst E6 processing I have ever seen.  There was extensive
dirt and emulsion damage to the film.  The good part was that
the return the film in large (1-1/2" or 2" diameter) strong
cardboard cylinders; reverse rolling was extraordinarily easy
because the film could be loosely rolled within that large size
cylinder.  The bad outweighed the good by a long shot, so I
vowed to never send film to Lerner again.  That was in September
of '98.

I sure hope the Lerner lab has gotten their processing problems
under control, or this move could go a long way towards killing
off stereo slides for good!

Paul Talbot


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End of PHOTO-3D Digest 3390
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