Ilford opens US lab to meet demand for black and white film development

Its up to us to keep the film alive. I shoot only film for my personal work, and I won't give it up for digital. Long live Ilford film

While I have my own high end fine art darkroom and do my own processng, there are two things I am really happy about with this news. One is that as Ilford continues to realize what a great niche film is, especially black and white, the newly announced Kodak Alaris umbrella is also re-tooling for this niche and it looks like we might all have the best of all worlds after all, photographically speaking.

But I have to say...the best news of all might be that it would appear that dpreview is also realizing that film is not only not going away, but that it totally makes sense that the site matures in scope as the use of film does. There is simply no reason anymore to have this bashing going on, which is better or not, it has always been senseless. 20 years I have been happy to use digital, but there is simply no way I would ever give up black and white film, not when gallery print sales keep going up.

Good job Ilford, good job dpreview, keep it up.

Great news and so close to my home as well :).

I'm trying to understand what makes this service any different than what Swan Photo was already offering. Is it just marketing, mailers and convenience? I think the title, "Ilford opens US lab" is misleading.

It seems to me that the world of commercial photo processing is consolidating to several large labs (printing services mostly) that still offer analogue work along with their expanding digital printing services. District Photo is a huge opperation that consolidates work from CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Shutterfly, Snapfish and many other "partners."

Was looking at a print I did a while back and wishing I had a place to put my darkroom up again. There is just something about those prints!

Glad to hear Ilford is doing well. Most of the BW films I shoot are from Ilford. I hope to be able to shoot it for a long time.

Wonderful News for an Old 35mm M3 User from " Way Back " !!!

awesome news.

i wonder, is that a digital image of the lab?

That's GREAT news !!!

Great, well done Ilford - all the best!

Looks like my Leica M4-P, Zeiss Ikon RF and Nikon FE2 will be seeing some action again.

Best photo news I've heard in a very long time

This is a good move by Ilford. Swan has a great rack record of quality. However one can also get true B&W processing and printing on real B&W paper at Fromex in Long Beach and possibly a few other places.

I almost cried. Whoo Hoo! (that's for the benefit of my American Brothers, I say, we don't do anything like that in England, that's simply not cricket what!). Fantastic news! Go Ilford, Go Ilford, Go Ilford!

PS. Shhhh! (very, very quietly) I actually prefer Tri-X, but don't tell anybody.

Very good news.

Interesting news. Gives me kind of a warm fuzzy feeling - and evokes the smell of a b/w lab and its shimmering orange light

This is awesome news, love seeing film make headway in a digital world.
BUT- competition with Northcoast & Richard photo lab will be stiff. It'll be interesting to see how the quality compares to the above 2, which are arguably the best in the country.

Well, despite the advantages of dSLR, a nice print on good quality film paper should last a long time. In that time you have to keep buying new technology every few years and copy your stuff again and again if you want to save it into the future. Hopefully some new stable technology will come along. I thought CDs and DVDs would last, but seems they don't. (hard drives fail of course routinely).

$16 a roll?
150 rolls or a $2400 DSLR, which would you rather have?

Developing B&W film is quick, easy, and kind of fun. It's slide and color negative film that is much more difficult.

But Ilford makes excellent quality film and I'm happy to read that they are opening a lab. It's a pity that the included scans are only 6 mp, but perhaps there is an upgrade service.

Harman (Ilford Photo and more) so far made better marketing moves after the split than Ilford Imaging did. This will be another example I expect. A relative small company filling a market niche with their own proven technology and the right brand name to attract customers. Fuji made some new medium format film cameras and has a chromogenic B&W film but it is probably too big for a similar undertaking. Offering the B&W silver halide print service next to the B&W film development rounds it off.

A film company that is actually expanding is a very positive sign.

I hope they can maintain a viable product over the long term and not go all Kodak.

My black & white film has been in the freezer for over 30 years. Time to use it.

With chemistry disappearing from camera stores and with the prohibitions and cost of the shipping of chemistry through the mail or predatory couriers, this is a good idea.

I love shooting digital, and I still love shooting film as well, hence I like this kind of niche initiative.
Currently i deliver my films to the local lomography shop, which can handle all kinds film sizes, because their cameras also offer a very wide range of negative sizes, including cameras that expose the sprocket area. I have not yet tried their black and white processing, their colour processing is ok but the scans are rather rough.
Hence it is good to see Ilford coming back with a good quality service towards black and white shooters.

2 observations made during my rediscovery of film: next to indtant gratification, one thing that is so great about digital is immediate ISO change per picture, not so with film!

To follow a market trend, and satisfy a specific niche of customers. Perhaps it is now a good deal for them. An idea, Ilford should make an free app for smartphone focused only on black and white photography. Could be a good way to get to know the brand and products for many new users.