The Lab
We are photographers, creatives, inventors and... lab operators!
We created the lab we dreamed of to offer high quality services. This is not all though – The Optik Lab is one big open space, designed to be a meeting point for the community, empowering photographers to share their work, knowledge and also work hands-on with professional lab tools / machines.
QUALITY FIRST
Film development
Film developing of C-41 colour negative, black & white film and ECN-2 is all done in-house.
We closely monitor the chemicals in our Noritsu C-41 film processor to achieve the best possible results.
To ensure everything is good for processing, we use Fujifilm Control Strips and a transmission densitometer. Rumour has it that these strips don't exist anymore or would be expired. Bullshit!
We have them, fresh, not expired, directly from the source – and we bought the full batch!
Black & white and ECN-2 are being developed with rotary processors in JOBO tanks. Our developing agent for B/W is Adox XT-3 (diluted 1+1). For ECN-2 we use Kodak ECN-2 Chemicals.
All chemicals are freshly mixed for development - every single time!
HIGH RESOLUTION
Scanning
Our main work-horses for scanning are Fuji Frontiers, known for their legendary quality. The Noritsu HS1800 completes the range of pro film scanners. Both options can be used for 35mm and 120 film.
While scanning we perform density corrections to adjust the contrast of your photos, preserving as many details as possible, and perform basic colour corrections.
We scan all images in the highest resolution only!
Fuji Frontier vs. Noritsu HS1800
Fuji Frontier
The legendary machines, which get us awesome results right off the bat. These are our main work-horses.
The Fuji Frontier SP3000 and SP500 are high quality film scanners and can handle a variety of film formats, including 35mm and 120 medium format.
These scanners feature advanced image processing technology, delivering sharp, detailed scans with awesome colors.
Our scan options & sizes on Frontier:
35mm = 5444 x 3649px
645 = 4842 x 3649px
6x6 = 3637 x 3637px
6x7 = 4547 x 3649px
We offer border scan for 35mm & and all 120 medium formats on our Frontiers!
Noritsu HS100
The Noritsu HS1800 is a top-tier film scanner renowned for its high-resolution and great image quality.
The HS1800 delivers vibrant, detailed photos with an excellent tonal range. Photos scanned with the Noritsu are said to be less "analogue looking" compared to the Frontiers.
Our scan options & sizes on Noritsu:
35mm = 6774 x 4492 px
Half-Frame = 4492 x 3387 px
645 = 4824 x 3533 px
6x6 = 4760 x 4832 px
6x7 = 5902 x 4815 px
6x9 = 7139 x 4903 px
