Black and White Film Process in NY?

[will_dou]

Phew, it's been a while since I was last here. Ya...kind of a pity.

Anyways, I'm sort of running on a deadline...erm...within two days. It's that time of the year - the end of a college semester - and things are hectics, procrastinating college students are making up their work like crazy (com'on, you know you are/were on of them :p).

Now, for those of you who know, black and white stuff are not as convenient as colors (at least that the impression I get from asking - oh I don't know, a doze or two photo places). I need to find a photography lab in the Manhattan area that can and is willing to process/develop my black and white films within an hour...or two (and it's definitely not color processed black and white film). I know from experience doing this in my school's lab that it can be done within an hour. I go into the dark room, load up my canister of films in the dark = 5 - 10 minutes; then the whole film developing prolly takes about 30 - 40 mintes. So...okay, maybe it's not percisely an hour, if we consider that things are not always percise like math; maybe an hour thirty minutes tops (over that then you're just obviously taking your "sweet" damn time). Somehow, just none of the labs are able to or willing to do it within an hour or plus thirty minutes; I mean, they won't even charge you a lot to do it; they just are too lazy to do, peroid.

So...I guess there is always a possibility that I'm not resourceful enough and may simply not know about any sweet place that'll do it (after all, all I got is the internet to look up). Hence, I'm just wondering if there is a chance that someone else might have that much more information than I do.

Hey, after all, they say it never hurts to ask right?

Thanks in advance for anyone's help :)

Edit: Well...that one hour calculation actually cuts out the time for the negatives to dry, so I guess it was a miscalculation. Make it an hour thirty minutes instead? Unless you happen to know one with real good dryer.

Edit 2: Oh and if you want to ask "If you can do it in your school's lab then why don't you just do it there?" Well, tomorrow is actually the last couple of days of the semester, so I'm not sure if they'll open - not until I go there tomorrow morning and ask them. There is a really fat chance that they won't

[zippyjuan]

So few people use black and white film that most photo processing places don't even have black and white processing on site. I do not know about anywhere in New York, but one place you might look into is any school (like colleges) in the area. Maybe you could find someone there who would do it for you. Maybe Bruzi will know somewhere.

[will_dou]

Ya...that's the problem. Most places can't process black and white, and even if a place has it they don't do it as often (as many days) as they do color (such as Sunday). I could have finished printing all my photos had i been able to even find a lab that would let me develop my own film (I'd do it myself if they won't, you know). I did find one, but then their black and white labs don't open on Sunday :( Another one PhotoManhattan was booked up the whole day today by a class (damn them!). Now I'll have to try to convince my school tomorrow morning to open the lab for me for an hour or two, and then run my finals, and then run to another lab rental to work on my photos the rest of the afternoon and evening long (prolly around 6 to 8 hours).

:(:neartears

[Burzhui]

Adorama will do it and B and H still do it and do it well

[will_dou]

What kind of service do they offer?

Alright, the deadline's passed, and I've turn all my "finished" work in.

I found this two excellent photo labs, with excellent service, on top of that, they both have excellent servicing attitude.

The lab that would do black and white film processing is MV Photo Lab, on 33 Little West 12 Street in the meatpacking district. The fastest they can do is in under two hours. All their films are processed by hand, and the owner does it himself too. Plus they're all very friendly. I had to cut my films and put them into my negative sheets; I asked for a pair of scissors, and the owner was like "I'll do it man, don't worry 'bout it."

The other excellent photo lab that offers good photo printing labs (DIY of course) is My Own Color Lab in 18, 27th Street. Despite the name, they have black and white printing labs as well. Their darkrooms are basically small rooms, so each person occupies a different room. They use RC machines to print photos, where you just put the photo in and wait for four minutes for the photo to come out. It's really nice, and saves time. They have other "accecories" suchs, paper cutter, paper safe (moving photo papers around lighted rooms), a glass thing for you to do contact sheets. On weekdays they open from 9 until 12, "midnight"! And if you have to stay there for a long time, they have snacks and drinks too (soda, snapples and the like)

I hope this is helpful information :p