Kodachrome Processing Procedure Change for the U.S.?

Post by **T-Scan** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 8:16 am

that would be nice, but for some reason Kodak doesn't want us to know its sent to Dwayne's.. they swear up and down that you have to send the mailer overseas. so far 2 films never came back from sending to Fair Lawn, and i have 2 that i sent out 16 days ago that have yet to show up.. can't help but worry if they ever will. I swear, if one more film gets lost, i'm not buying any more mailers and will just pay the $9 for Dwayne's.. at least i'll know for sure who in the hell is responsable for my films. sending to Fair Lawn is by far the best bargan, but shady as hell.. most the time it takes three weeks for me to get a film back, and then it shows up in a package looking like the dog ate it and the cat chewed it

Post by **kentbulza** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 1:28 pm

I haven't had one lost or damanged yet and up until I posted this I was using the PK59 mailers bought at the old Kodak direct website. They arrive in a white envelope that is computer barcoded. All of mine this year have come on a white plastic reel in a box, so I gather that indicates it was processed at Dwayne's. I would say processing is about 3 weeks.

I use Dwayne's directly for 16mm processing and I have had one bad roll in 3, but I'm not sure if it was a bad roll to begin with. I sent it to Kodak to determine.

Post by **filmbuff** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 2:42 pm

T-Scan wrote: and i have 2 that i sent out 16 days ago that have yet to show up.. can't help but worry if they ever will.

I've never had one lost yet. However right now its been 24 days since I sent one out and nothing yet. Before this 23 days was the longest I've ever waited.

Post by **Paul L.** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 6:10 pm

If Kodachrome is now going to Dwaynes, I think my love affair with K40 may soon come to an end.

Post by **shralp** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:22 pm

I don't know what to tell you guys, I've NEVER had a problem with sending my K-40 to Fairlawn, NJ and I've always gotten it back in about two weeks. I've probably run 50 rolls through them in the past year. As I've mentioned in the past many times, my contact at Kodak/Qualex in NJ confirms the fact that ALL K-40 goes to Dwayne's if its domestically shot in the U.S. and sent to them via the prepaid mailers. ALL OF IT...... I'm not sure if this is necessarily a good thing, (like we have a choice right?), because Dwaynes can be a little spotty on quality control from time to time and more importantly, from a prep for telecine standpoint, its pretty poor. There is WAY too much gunk on the film even after they prep it, so I send it to Pac-Lab in New York and they do a good job of cleaning and prepping it for telecine, (its cheap too).

As far as I'm concerned, I have know idea WHY anyone would buy film without prepaid processing and then pay $9 to send it to Dwaynes themselves when its going to end up there anyway.

I also don't see why anyone would send their Super 8 in that cheesy mailer envelope to NJ without putting it in better packaging. I put the carts in the mailer, filled out with my contact info and then box it up and sent it Fed Ex 3 day so I can track it.

Also, why buy K-40 OR mailers from anyone else but Kodak direct? Its not going to be any cheaper than going directly to the source and you'll undoubtedly be getting raw stock that is not as fresh depending on how long its been sitting in someones inventory. This means the best chance of getting the older, jittery carts as well. When I call to order K-40, from Kodak, I specifically request a batch # higher than 3631-7768, which is supposedly the new carts. All this seems to be pretty simple to me.....

Post by **Paul L.** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:26 pm

Looks like I will no longer be purchasing carts with processing included. The reports of shoddy quality from Dwaynes makes me too nervous to do so.

Post by **Paul L.** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:50 pm

Looks like I will no longer be purchasing carts with processing included. The reports of shoddy quality from Dwaynes makes me too nervous to do so.

Post by **disjecta** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 11:00 pm

Have there been any other reports of "shoddy quality" from others who have used Dwayne's for processing. This is the first I've seen of complaints.

Post by **leadlike** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 4:29 am

I have shot about 3000 feet of k40, and have always used dwayne's. The film always has come out exceptional for me, including all outdated stock that I've used. If i have ever had a question about processing, that I inlclude as a note with my order, they always call me about it beforehand, and I've found them to be very helpful.
My experiences in sending k40 to fairlawn, however, has resulted in massive frustration, people who won't take responsibility for anything, and nearly half of my rolls never coming back.
As for any spotting on my film from Dwayne's- the last 2 to 3 feet of film always comes out with some static marks on it, but I always use the end of a cart to do a short home movie or behind the scenes stuff, so it doesn't really matter how that comes out anyway.
I have found their telecine prep to be okay, but I usually still run my film through some anti-stat and lubricant before telecine.-besides, the telecine prep is free, so you get what you pay for, right?
Incedently, if you ask for telecine prep, and have several rolls, they place them into a nice big reel for you, and include a film can for the whole works-not too bad, in my opinion.

Post by **Agent88** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:56 pm

Not trying to beat a dead horse here, but can anyone 'in the know' please let me know if, currently (May 27, 04) we can still send K40 S8 carts., purchased from Kodak directly with prepaid processing (states processing paid right on the cart. itself) to the Fairlawn facility (Qualex). I know these weird arrangements change from moment-to-moment. This is my first purchase of film directly from Kodak w/prepaid processing and I sure have that feeling of impending doom when it comes time to send it out. It is the generic envelope which comes in the box with the film and has to have the address (none are US) written in. I did call Qualex - they basically said only PK-59 mailers, which this enevelope isn't. Also called Kodak - they basically said to send to the Canada address. I said Whoa Nellie - I'm talking to morons.

Just want to see if anyone has sent the prepaid cart. in the generic envelopes to the Fairlawn address recently and had success.

Thanks for the response

Mark

Post by **FilmIs4Ever** » Thu May 27, 2004 7:44 pm

Hello Ohio! Glad to see another shooter in this state besides myself andActor. I would recommend just using Wal-Mart. They only charge $4.88 to send to D'Waynes, and sometimes you can get away with even more. I sent them four rolls of DR8 2 weeks ago. They came in right on time this past Tuesday. If I would have bought processing from D'Waynes directly, it would have been $12 per spool. That's four rolls for less than the price of two

Sometimes your rolls won't make it there, but Wal-Mart manages to get them back to the store whence they came so that you can try shipping them out again.

Regards.

Post by **FilmIs4Ever** » Thu May 27, 2004 7:45 pm

Hello Ohio! Glad to see another shooter in this state besides myself andActor. I would recommend just using Wal-Mart. They only charge $4.88 to send to D'Waynes, and sometimes you can get away with even more. I sent them four rolls of DR8 2 weeks ago. They came in right on time this past Tuesday. If I would have bought processing from D'Waynes directly, it would have been $12 per spool. That's four rolls for less than the price of two

Sometimes your rolls won't make it there, but Wal-Mart manages to get them back to the store whence they came so that you can try shipping them out again.

Regards.

Post by **FilmIs4Ever** » Thu May 27, 2004 7:46 pm

Hello Ohio! Glad to see another shooter in this state besides myself andActor. I would recommend just using Wal-Mart. They only charge $4.88 to send to D'Waynes, and sometimes you can get away with even more. I sent them four rolls of DR8 2 weeks ago. They came in right on time this past Tuesday. If I would have bought processing from D'Waynes directly, it would have been $12 per spool. That's four rolls for less than the price of two

Sometimes your rolls won't make it there, but Wal-Mart manages to get them back to the store whence they came so that you can try shipping them out again.

Regards.

http://members.cox.net/home-theater/ · Post by **JCook** » Fri May 28, 2004 5:06 am

Question from a newby here. I've seen mention of Walmart on several threads here on the forum. Do all Walmarts accept Super 8 carts for processing? I doubt our local Walmart has ever heard of Super 8 let alone Dwayne's, but they're close by.

John

Post by **monobath** » Fri May 28, 2004 7:33 am

I can also confirm that I was also getting black snap cover reel a year ago, but now getting white reel in white box. Just got one back yesterday, in fact.

I hadn't noticed the leader splice difference, but there it is. My black reel films are cement spliced at the leader, whereas this last white reel film has a tape splice.

Filmshooting

Kodachrome Processing Procedure Change for the U.S.?

My Experience