Headin' to San Diego next week, then back through southern Arizona towards Tucson for some desert shooting. Anybody got the skinny on pro labs in those two cities for reliable dip-and-dunk 4x5 E-6 processing? (I won't bother anyone with questions about the wildflowers this year. Sounds like it's gonna be a bad year for flowers.)

-- Todd Caudle (todd@skylinepress.com), February 19, 2002

Answers

Chromacolor on India Street just north of downtown San Diego always gave me good results. They use a Refrema machine.

-- Wayne DeWitt (wdewitt@snip.net), February 20, 2002.

Another shop for 4x5 E-6 is North County Camera in Escondido. Have had many sheets done there.

-- John D. Clark (jdclark@adnc.com), February 20, 2002.

Photographic Works in Tucson. I get all my 4x5 stuff done there.

-- Dave Hayes (davehayes@theriver.com), February 20, 2002.

In between San Diego and Tucson, there is Sweet Light Lab in Palm Springs. They exist for large format and I think they have a nice Hostert E-6 machine. It is a favorite of the big format car shooters from Detroit and the fashion guys from Europe. You may have some luck with Cactus flowers down around the Salton Sea and Joshua Tree. You could call Living Desert (museum) in Palm Desert and find out whats blooming and where. Also you could call Mark at Granview Camera, (builders of large format cameras), the number is on the Granview site. He is 70 miles east of San Diego. He is sure to know. He will not mind. http://www.granview.com

Fred

-- Fred De Van (fdv1@ix.netcom.com), February 20, 2002.

Thanks, everyone!

-- Todd Caudle (todd@skylinepress.com), February 20, 2002.

I'll second Chromacolor in San Diego on India south of Laurel. They are a quality lab that is tested once a month. They do all the fashion and product E-6 work in southern california. In fact most of their work comes from fashion and product photographers that are shooting all over the world. James

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), February 23, 2002.