Hello Billy, My experience over the years has not been that great. Fast, inexpensive labs have problems with squeegee scratching, chemical deposits, bad chemistry and cutting negs poorly. I have tons of examples of all the above.
Just hang around and watch the staff handling of film for awhile and get sick to your stomach as they handle the film with bare hands putting finger marks on the emulsion side or dropping the film onto the floor to get scratched or watch them slice through portions of your negatives when rushing to get the orders done. Better labs will treat your film with more care and respect. If you just have develop only and no prints made, you may find the cost difference per roll quite small between a good lab and a poor lab. The best way to pick is to watch their film handling for awhile to see how well the film gets treated. -- Best regards, Bruce Wednesday, August 25, 2004, 5:50:55 AM, you wrote: BA> On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> If I get a nice snapshot that is printed poorly (often the case) I scan >> it myself... BA> This leads nicely into a question i;ve been meaning to ask for a while - BA> does the development of the negatives by minilabs vary as much as the BA> printing? BA> ie. does it matter a huge amount where i get my film developed (as long as BA> i choose somewhere that isn;t going to destroy my film) if i;m going to BA> scan the negatives and just use the prints as big contact print BA> equivalents? BA> billy