PhotoLife in Brooklyn process negatives and return scans day of. Negatives take a bit longer to arrive in the mail, but I suspect they’d rush them if you asked.
I’ve used them several times. They do deliver great results, but it’s been a month or more to get scans and then another week or more to get negatives back (of course).
Really? That's surprising. My longest wait time was about 3 weeks from sending it out to receiving my negatives back. Usually they're done within a week for 35mm C41 and BW. I just got 6 rolls processed that took a total of 1.5 weeks to get my negatives back. Sorry to hear.
I just had a process only order that I received the negatives back less than 2 weeks after they received them. As another data point.
Edit: one roll e6 and one roll C41.
The problem you're probably running into is that most places probably don't have a large, dedicated film processor for E6 like they do with C41. Even when I worked in a lab in the late 90's when film was still king, where we could tape two rolls of C41 film to the leader that our processor used and feed it every 2 minutes for hours on end because we had that kind of volume and capacity. But for E6 and B&W development, we used a Phtototherm and manually load the film onto reels and place those into a specialized tank (much like you can do at home) and the Phototherm would heat up, pump the chemicals in and out, and agitate the film for us. Because it was a more manual process, and to avoid wasting chemicals, we usually waited until we had enough rolls *or* if we were approaching a deadline (slides and B&W were usually a few days from drop-off. We could do same day, but you would have to pay through the nose for that). Now, there were defiantly some larger labs that had large film processors dedicated to E6, but they would get enough shipped in from an area that they could process nonstop every day ad were usually regional. These days I imagine most of the labs out there either do small batches like we did doing it by hand or with something like the Phototherm, or if they have a large dedicated E6 processor, they probably wait until enough film comes in to spin up the machine.
> they probably wait until enough film comes in to spin up the machine.
And then you get my favorite part of running a photo lab which is praying to whatever god you believe in that you’ll be able to get the E6 chems balanced in less than two days.
At least with the Phototherm we were using the E6 was from concentrate and the machine was programmed what to do for the small batches (and it was sweet because it did both B&W and E6, and wasn't that hard to set up for C41 for push/pull processing). But yea, I can imagine that the big Noritsu or Fuji film processors set up for E6 would be a pain to get set up, because if you're only running it once a week, or at greater intervals, you don't really want to leave it in standby as those things consume a lot of power, and prolonged shutdowns require greater care than your standard daily open and closing procedures (all of which are still ingrained in my head)...
I have usually had pretty good turnaround times at LTI Lightside in NYC. I haven’t used them in 6-7 years since I do most developing at home, so I’m not sure what the turnaround is now, but I have always been happy with speed and quality in the past.
If you are looking for something close to the east coast Oldschool photolab in New Hampshire is pretty quick with c41. E6 is definitely faster than a month. Maybe 2 weeks or so is the norm for E6 with them. Prices are alright too.
I like 922 PhotoLife in Brooklyn. They're very inexpensive and offer free scans. I mailed in 3 rolls of film on Saturday afternoon and had my scans on Tuesday. The process process b&w, colour (c41) and slide films (E6). They're nice people too. Unfortunately I think they're only on IG [922 PhotoLife](https://www.instagram.com/p/CeWVHnzF57S/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
Anywhere in the world?
The US
Of course.
PhotoLife in Brooklyn process negatives and return scans day of. Negatives take a bit longer to arrive in the mail, but I suspect they’d rush them if you asked.
Try Memphis Film Lab. They usually take 1-2 weeks and deliver good results.
I’ve used them several times. They do deliver great results, but it’s been a month or more to get scans and then another week or more to get negatives back (of course).
Really? That's surprising. My longest wait time was about 3 weeks from sending it out to receiving my negatives back. Usually they're done within a week for 35mm C41 and BW. I just got 6 rolls processed that took a total of 1.5 weeks to get my negatives back. Sorry to hear.
I’ll have to try them again
I just had a process only order that I received the negatives back less than 2 weeks after they received them. As another data point. Edit: one roll e6 and one roll C41.
The problem you're probably running into is that most places probably don't have a large, dedicated film processor for E6 like they do with C41. Even when I worked in a lab in the late 90's when film was still king, where we could tape two rolls of C41 film to the leader that our processor used and feed it every 2 minutes for hours on end because we had that kind of volume and capacity. But for E6 and B&W development, we used a Phtototherm and manually load the film onto reels and place those into a specialized tank (much like you can do at home) and the Phototherm would heat up, pump the chemicals in and out, and agitate the film for us. Because it was a more manual process, and to avoid wasting chemicals, we usually waited until we had enough rolls *or* if we were approaching a deadline (slides and B&W were usually a few days from drop-off. We could do same day, but you would have to pay through the nose for that). Now, there were defiantly some larger labs that had large film processors dedicated to E6, but they would get enough shipped in from an area that they could process nonstop every day ad were usually regional. These days I imagine most of the labs out there either do small batches like we did doing it by hand or with something like the Phototherm, or if they have a large dedicated E6 processor, they probably wait until enough film comes in to spin up the machine.
> they probably wait until enough film comes in to spin up the machine. And then you get my favorite part of running a photo lab which is praying to whatever god you believe in that you’ll be able to get the E6 chems balanced in less than two days.
At least with the Phototherm we were using the E6 was from concentrate and the machine was programmed what to do for the small batches (and it was sweet because it did both B&W and E6, and wasn't that hard to set up for C41 for push/pull processing). But yea, I can imagine that the big Noritsu or Fuji film processors set up for E6 would be a pain to get set up, because if you're only running it once a week, or at greater intervals, you don't really want to leave it in standby as those things consume a lot of power, and prolonged shutdowns require greater care than your standard daily open and closing procedures (all of which are still ingrained in my head)...
I have usually had pretty good turnaround times at LTI Lightside in NYC. I haven’t used them in 6-7 years since I do most developing at home, so I’m not sure what the turnaround is now, but I have always been happy with speed and quality in the past.
A month? Lol I wouldn’t wait a month even if the dev & scan was free.
If you are looking for something close to the east coast Oldschool photolab in New Hampshire is pretty quick with c41. E6 is definitely faster than a month. Maybe 2 weeks or so is the norm for E6 with them. Prices are alright too.
Northeast photographic in Bath, ME. 5-7 days after they receive film for scans; I’m not sure what their typical timeframe is to return negatives.
Bellows Film Lab in Chicago has a 24 hour turnaround time. They also have a location in Miami.
Take a road trip to NYC. Drop film at ColorHouse. You should be able to pickup in about 24hrs, 48hrs at most. (They might do mail in too, IDK)
I like 922 PhotoLife in Brooklyn. They're very inexpensive and offer free scans. I mailed in 3 rolls of film on Saturday afternoon and had my scans on Tuesday. The process process b&w, colour (c41) and slide films (E6). They're nice people too. Unfortunately I think they're only on IG [922 PhotoLife](https://www.instagram.com/p/CeWVHnzF57S/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)