Any one get a transfer from Cinelab?

[videoguy326]

Has anyone on the forum gotten a telecine transfer through Cinelab?
And if so, how were the results?

[Davideo]

According to past posts, Cinelab has a very slow turnaround period and can take weeks before you see anything.

[Roster]

I can't speak for telecine work, as I have never had any performed by Cinelab. But Cinelab has always developed and returned my B&W reversal Super 8 film in about the same amount of time as it takes Dwaynes for color reversal.

I've had nothing but good results from Cinelab for B&W Super 8 reversal... but I am curious about the HD telecine as well.

[lealar]

I can also vouch for their quality and turnaround time for developing. I send them color negatives in both Super 8 and 16mm and I never have to wait longer than a week or so including delivery to and from. I use them for all of my negative work since they're geographically closer to me.

I used to send it all to Spectra until they told me they now have a minimum of 400' for Super 8.

I'd also like to see some samples of their HD telecines.

[BigWorm]

I sent a bunch of B&W (Plus-X & Tri-X) to Cinelab for processing and when it came back is was unusable. The films were filthy and full of black spots and trash. I sent them back and when they returned, I received a note from them saying that the films looked okay to them and that "maybe I should try another processor next time". I could clearly see that someone had spent a considerable amount of time cleaning the films. They weren't perfect but had improved considerably so why send a BS note back to me like that? I don't use them any more. My baseline is of course Movielab in Rockville MD. these guys do a FANTASTIC job with processing, telecine and customer service. Unfortunately they only do 16/35mm work.

[Roster]

Tom,

Sorry to hear about your bad results from Cinelab. I am assuming it was Super 8 you sent to them, but you do not specifically state that.

As Tri-X is now our only Super 8 B&W reversal option (practical option if you discount non Kodak brands... at least, for those of us in the U.S.), I'd love to hear users experiences with any lab that still processes Super 8 B&W reversal. Art's feedback about Spectra's minimum footage requirement was surprising... but certainly good to know.

Wooda

[BigWorm]

Wooda,

Yes, sorry I didn't clarify better. It was B&W (Plus-X & Tri-X) Super 8 that I sent for processing. I had also sent along two rolls of 500T as well and it was also extremely dirty when I got it back. I only sent the 4 rolls of B&W back to them so they could see what I was talking about. I've had hundreds of rolls of Super 8 and Super 16 processed from various places and I know good processing when I see it. For them to have implied that I was imagining the films were dirty and then cleaned them and sent them back with a BS note was unacceptable in my book. This was only one experience with them so maybe it was an anomaly?

[Ektagraphic]

About a year later since this thread has been written, I have been using Cinelab quite often and have had extremely good results. They have moved to a new location and have a new processor and have been doing very well by me with the black and white reversal that I have been bringing in weekly. As I understand it, they recently took a Photomec processor form DuArt in New York City and have begun to use it themselves. I couldn't be more pleased with them. I too am curious about their transfers. Standard def with them works down to about a 6 reel minimum and about $12.50 per reel ( that's the student rate I believe) so I am eventually going to give them a try. I just dropped off a roll of E64T that I had laying around to be cross processed so I'll see if the negative film comes back clean these days too.