Peak Imaging?

srichards

srichards

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Suz
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Has anyone used them recently? Harrison cameras tweeted today they've stopped sending films to them.
 
FishyFish said:
I last used them about a month ago . I live nearby so always drop off and pick up in person, but (coincidentally) I noticed last night their website appears offline. They have a phone number published on their Facebook page, so you could try giving them a call. I might have a walk past in the morning and see if they're open.
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I used them once years and years ago. Seems a bit odd to ring up just to ask if they're ok and still going!

If you use them then walking past won't make you look like a weird person :)
 
With the high cost of electricity and gas there could be quite a few companies going under........just guessing for Peak Imaging.
 
RumpFace said:
They've had to close unfortunately. I left there 4 years ago and keep in touch with a few from there but i can confirm they're no more. Very sad for everyone there.
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Ahh, that’s awful news. They were really nice people (including yourself, of course! :) ), and the service was great. I will miss them a lot.

What was the reason for closure (if you can say)? I expect the pandemic won’t have helped matters.
 
I wouldn't like to speculate, but all things move towards their own end. It'll be strange going to get my occasional films done by someone i don't personally know.
 
That is a shame. I've used them quite a lot, and was planning to send my current bunch of films to Peak once back home. Always top quality.
 
Most film processors. Including the best ones have gone out of business. The transition to digital has not left them enough throughput for the old business models to work.
I have not used them since my old wedding days, when I used them for all my processing and printing.
 
RumpFace said:
They've had to close unfortunately. I left there 4 years ago and keep in touch with a few from there but i can confirm they're no more. Very sad for everyone there.
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That's sad news, always had great service from them in the past. I feel for the staff, its not an easy time to be looking for work.
 
RaglanSurf said:
That's sad news, always had great service from them in the past. I feel for the staff, its not an easy time to be looking for work.
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I suspect that there were not many staff left at the end. The writing had been on the wall. In such situations staff usually jump ship before major changes or closure become a reality.

I did so twice in my career. It is better to be proactive. Once it was before the company became over stretched and failed. And once because it was ripe to be taken over. Both were fairly large companies of their type. The first I moved on 6 months prior to the event, and the second about a year prior. I was never made redundant or fired.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
I suspect that there were not many staff left at the end. The writing had been on the wall. In such situations staff usually jump ship before major changes or closure become a reality.

I did so twice in my career. It is better to be proactive. Once it was before the company became over stretched and failed. And once because it was ripe to be taken over. Both were fairly large companies of their type. The first I moved on 6 months prior to the event, and the second about a year prior. I was never made redundant or fired.
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There were still plenty of people there. I would drop my film in in person and the ladies in the reception as well as the technicians and other staff that I could see working through the office window were still in full view a few weeks ago. It's a great shame that they have closed and it's the staff I feel for the most.
 
FishyFish said:
There were still plenty of people there. I would drop my film in in person and the ladies in the reception as well as the technicians and other staff that I could see working through the office window were still in full view a few weeks ago. It's a great shame that they have closed and it's the staff I feel for the most.
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Have they tried to sell the business.
It is not just that the people have lost jobs, but the skills go too.
It is all sad.. equivalent startups in processing houses are now unlikely for lack of skills.

They must have been bleeding money to just stop.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
Have they tried to sell the business.
It is not just that the people have lost jobs, but the skills go too.
It is all sad.. equivalent startups in processing houses are now unlikely for lack of skills.

They must have been bleeding money to just stop.
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I've no idea as to the cause, or whether any attempts were made to salvage the situation (although I would expect that they were). They dropped down to a four day week a couple of years ago, and then the pandemic hit which won't have done them any favours.

It had been a few weeks since I last visited, mainly because a broken ankle meant I had to stop with my photography for a while. I'd been expecting to drop a roll in next week but it looks like that won't come to pass now. :(
 
Interesting to know is:- what happened to the films that people sent them e.g. were they sent back by Peak or Royal mail returned to sender etc
 
excalibur2 said:
Interesting to know is:- what happened to the films that people sent them e.g. were they sent back by Peak or Royal mail returned to sender etc
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I know that at least one person is currently missing their films because they've posted about it on Twitter.

There was, AFAIK, no mail box at their unit, so I expect that any recent film deliveries will be taken back to the sorting office. I'm not sure what will happen to any that don't have a return address though.

I guess that any films already at Peak will be trapped there. If they've gone out of business completely, then perhaps liquidators will return property to their rightful owners if possible, although I'm not sure how (or if) this would be done. I don't know if liquidators would spend money posting things out.
 
FishyFish said:
I know that at least one person is currently missing their films because they've posted about it on Twitter.

There was, AFAIK, no mail box at their unit, so I expect that any recent film deliveries will be taken back to the sorting office. I'm not sure what will happen to any that don't have a return address though.

I guess that any films already at Peak will be trapped there. If they've gone out of business completely, then perhaps liquidators will return property to their rightful owners if possible, although I'm not sure how (or if) this would be done. I don't know if liquidators would spend money posting things out.
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Make you think in sending films off to Filmdev (or others) if they have problems as I have three films to be done :(....... I really miss Asda after using them for years.
Looking at companies house and at the same address (as Peak) there was a dissolved company Propix Ltd, but Filmdev is not listed as probably a family business?
 
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I wonder if @Marcel was aware of issues there a couple of years ago as he gave them free advertising on TP for a while before we took over?
 
I'd think a business that was running even a smal profit would be completely knackered by tripling or more of energy prices. That's what is killing a lot of reasonably profitable businesses off. Many were paying 10p a kwh or even 20p and current rates are 80p+
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
Have they tried to sell the business.
It is not just that the people have lost jobs, but the skills go too.
It is all sad.. equivalent startups in processing houses are now unlikely for lack of skills.

They must have been bleeding money to just stop.
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There are quite a lot of smaller start-ups now doing postal dev/scan/print services, although these are all very small 1-2 people which is likely a better way to run a niche service now, instead of a large business like Peak.
 
srichards said:
I'd think a business that was running even a smal profit would be completely knackered by tripling or more of energy prices. That's what is killing a lot of reasonably profitable businesses off. Many were paying 10p a kwh or even 20p and current rates are 80p+
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Maybe the decision was made to fold not knowing Truss was going to curb more price increases, but then on current costs why didn't they increase prices first to see if their customers remained loyal. Anyway they have tried Propix, now Peak and maybe next year when things start settling down will start a new company??????
 
excalibur2 said:
Maybe the decision was made to fold not knowing Truss was going to curb more price increases, but then on current costs why didn't they increase prices first to see if their customers remained loyal. Anyway they have tried Propix, now Peak and maybe next year when things start settling down will start a new company??????
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Dunno :) It's probably a shrinking area so processors that remain will have more work due to some disappearing and they should hopefully be in a stronger position to carry on.
 
srichards said:
Dunno :) It's probably a shrinking area so processors that remain will have more work due to some disappearing and they should hopefully be in a stronger position to carry on.
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I used to use that argument about department stores... but with film that does need developing (and many not wanting to do it at home), it may be a stronger argument!
 
FishyFish said:
There was, AFAIK, no mail box at their unit, so I expect that any recent film deliveries will be taken back to the sorting office. I'm not sure what will happen to any that don't have a return address though.

I guess that any films already at Peak will be trapped there. If they've gone out of business completely, then perhaps liquidators will return property to their rightful owners if possible, although I'm not sure how (or if) this would be done. I don't know if liquidators would spend money posting things out.
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When I lived in The Netherlands in the mid-00s I used a local company for E6 developing who'd send it onto a larger company to do the work, then I would walk 2 minutes to collect the film... One large batch of films was in when the larger company went bust taking the local company with it...

Until around 2005, if you had any items in the company then it would be bye-bye. Law changed afterwards so that any films whether developed or not could be collected by the customer. Work already performed would be paid for by cash.
 
Well, i used peak for a good number of years 10 plus... i am currently trying to figure out how i get the same reliable b/w development results. Times being what they are i would be having to do this anyway as i can't cut film prices...
So Xtol and... i can't seem to get close. I always felt they delivered me negatives i could get a good image out of the shadows.
If anybody has any pointers i really need them.

Fairwell Peak Imaging, thanks for the years of service.
 
Kaykay said:
So Xtol and... i can't seem to get close. I always felt they delivered me negatives i could get a good image out of the shadows.
If anybody has any pointers i really need them.

Fairwell Peak Imaging, thanks for the years of service.
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Welcome to TP! How are you using Xtol? I use it as replenished stock and am happy with the results I get, but the massive dev chart has times for 1+1, 1+2 and 1+3, so I'm guessing there may be a compensating effect in this. I don't know what dilution Peak would have used, but replenished stock would presumably have been both faster and cheaper.
 
Peter B said:
Welcome to TP! How are you using Xtol? I use it as replenished stock and am happy with the results I get, but the massive dev chart has times for 1+1, 1+2 and 1+3, so I'm guessing there may be a compensating effect in this. I don't know what dilution Peak would have used, but replenished stock would presumably have been both faster and cheaper.
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@RumpFace might know the answer to this - he used to work at Peak a few years back.
 
I've only just come across this thread. The news that Peak have gone comes as a shock, although taking everything into account it shouldn't have. I used to have all my E6, 35mm, 6x6 and 4x5, processed there. That was some time ago as since around 2013/14 I've been totally digital for my work.
 
Peter B said:
Welcome to TP! How are you using Xtol? I use it as replenished stock and am happy with the results I get, but the massive dev chart has times for 1+1, 1+2 and 1+3, so I'm guessing there may be a compensating effect in this. I don't know what dilution Peak would have used, but replenished stock would presumably have been both faster and cheaper.
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Hi. I am only just starting and the question at this point is probably how i am not using xtol. I am currently scrambling to find a satisfactory method. Googling "Peak xtol" brought up an interesting pages on this site actually with comment from a certain user as others mentioned. Reading between the lines i leaning towards believing they don't dilute but also use seasoned. Also i am starting to think it's a slightly longer development with more minimal agitation. I am new to all this so it's a big learning curve and i can't really say anything with huge certainty currently.

(Edit) so after reassessing the closest i have come is through standard instructional means of development, non diluted. Problem i have is the shadows still appear a little steep with no gradient.

FishyFish said:
@RumpFace might know the answer to this - he used to work at Peak a few years back.
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Any further pointers would be most welcome.
 
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Are you completely wedded to XTOL, Kaykay? I know a few folk use it, but my reading was that it was much more suitable for commercial use than personal use: volumes, cost and shelf-life, ISTR.

Mind you, I did like XTOL. The Darkroom still use it; checked recently, when I sent a few films to them. A lot of the labs seem to have gone to Ilfotec DD, at least partly because of supply issues with XTOL (AG, Filmdev EDIT and Harman).

Personally, I use HC-110, which I really like and which has incredibly long shelf life (still going since 2018).
 
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I made the switch to Adox XT3 which is Adox’s equivalent of XTOL but it’s available in 1 litre kits. Works great, dev times are identical and I use it on a replenishment routine.
 
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