[Leica] Re: Ruined slides -- I've had it now

[Jim Brick <jim@brick.org>]

I realize that this is not possible for everyone, but I have said, on the 
LUG many times...

When serious about photography, when spending money traveling, when 
encountering fleeting moments, when photographing these moments and other 
non-reproducible events... One has to be extremely careful not to break the 
chain of confidence.

This is why I do not use Kodachrome. It's not the film, it is the fact that 
the film must be sent, by someone, to someone else, of whom, I know nothing 
and know not where. All a recipe for possible disaster without any 
culpability by the perpetrators.

When I use a lab, I only use a lab that I can walk into and talk to the 
actual person the will be processing my film. When they know me by sight, 
there is more chance that they will be careful with my film. Even then, I 
have had the occasional glitch. Mostly dirt which was easily re-washed off. 
For awhile, Fuji Velvia curled more than other films during drying and if 
they weren't left to cool before mounting, the mounter would put a fine 
scratch on the base just inside the sprocket holes. They solved that with 
my help.

All of my life, except for a few years between 1992 and 1997, I have 
processed everything myself. And yes, I have goofed on my own film. But 
never on film that was expensive and impossible to re-du. Photographs of 
fleeting moments in far away places.

I personally process everything that goes through my cameras. I take my 
time and double check everything. If there is any possibility that the 
chemistry might be too old, I walk outside my house and quickly shoot a 
roll of the same film type (E6, C41, or B&W), I include a MacBeth color 
chart when appropriate, and process it as a single roll in the questionable 
chemistry, wash and dry it, and inspect it. Then proceed from there.

The labor of travel, finding the proper light, being somewhere special, 
having that flash of insight, being at the right place at the right time, 
and I could drone on forever here... is too much to waste on letting some 
unknown person, in some unknown place, who doesn't know me from Adam, 
process my film. There's just too much at stake.

And I understand that it is not a choice for some people. But if you do 
have a choice, you should make the right choice.

Are you going to continue using that lab Pascal?

Jim


At 08:33 AM 10/9/2001 +0200, Pascal wrote:
>Friends,
>
>got back from the lab the slides I had taken while in Switzerland two weeks
>ago.
>
>First, one film was missing from the batch I received. But no worry, they
>said, it will turn op. Indeed, a phone call to the lab (Littocolor, this is
>the offical Kodak lab in Belgium) confirmed that the last roll would be sent
>the next day.
>
>Second, when I received the last roll the next day, I immediately noticed
>something weird when opening the package: the supplied box was not the usual
>one, plus the slides had been put in slightly different frames, and there
>were no numbers and dates printen on the frames.
>
>Third, while a normal roll gives me about 37 slides, in this last film I
>only counted 34 slides.
>
>Fourth, nothing would be wrong if image quality was, at least, untouched.
>But when projecting the slides with the Pradovit P2002 I noticed that the
>slides of that second roll had a somewhat different " temperature color"
>(e.g. yellowish gras had become almost brown). Plus, and this is by far the
>worst part, I had taken on a particular morning when all conditions were
>perfect (one of those seldom days) a series of shots of the upcoming sun
>against the snowwhite peaks of mountains and blue skies etc. Now, while the
>slides are technically perfect, they have somehow managed to ruin *all* of
>these with their machinery. Big brownish stripes (thicker than the usual
>scratches) show up on the slide, it is almost as if the rolls of their
>machines made a handling mistake. Plus, one of these slides is cut off to
>the right, leaving white space in the frame (and this is not the last frame
>in that film).
>To cut a long story short: they have ruined at least part of my images. As
>for the other rolls, some of the slides exhibited (the all too often usual)
>scratches which are, of course, quite visible especially on even parts like
>a sky.
>
>My question: what are my rights in this matter ? What should I be advised to
>do ? Can I reclaim part of my travel expenses because they ruined some,
>unique to me, shots ? Note that I am not a pro photographer, but that
>shouldn't devalue my work IMHO.
>Thanks for informed suggestions.
>
>Pascal

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