Est. 2014 · East Quoddy
Hand development, hand prints, no shortcuts.
Silver & Grain is a three-bench film lab on the working end of the harbor. Roll film goes in, scans and silver gelatin prints come out, and a person checks every frame.
Services
Four things, done properly
We do fewer things than a big lab and do them on site. Nothing leaves the building except slide film.
Develop & Scan
Hand-processed C-41 and B&W, scanned on the lab's flatbed wall. Dust spot-checked by a person.
$14 / roll No. 2Hand Prints
Silver gelatin prints made under the safelight, on fiber or resin paper. Test strips included.
from $22 No. 3Contact Sheets
A proper contact sheet, printed the old way, with frame numbers you can read.
$9 / roll No. 4Workshops
Small-group darkroom evenings, four seats at a time. Chemicals and paper included.
$85 / seatThe wall
House emulsions
Four stocks mixed and batched in the back room. The wall is where the film lives between orders.
Palehour 100 ISO 100
Slow film for slow mornings. Opens shadows gently, holds mist without going flat.
- Character
- cool, quiet grays
- Grain index
- 12
- Batch
- PH-114
In stock
Longwood 400 ISO 400
The house workhorse. Forgiving in flat light, honest on faces.
- Character
- warm, full midtones
- Grain index
- 26
- Batch
- LW-208
In stock
Ember 800 ISO 800
Push it to 1600 and the grain starts singing. Made for bars and late trains.
- Character
- gritty, deep blacks
- Grain index
- 38
- Batch
- EM-331
In stock
Halide 64 ISO 64
Landscape stock with an unhurried palette. Greens go sage, skies stay polite.
- Character
- muted, sage-leaning
- Grain index
- 8
- Batch
- HX-077
In stock
Slate Pan 50 ISO 50
Nearly grainless. Architecture film through and through: edges stay edges.
- Character
- graphic, high contrast
- Grain index
- 5
- Batch
- SP-019
Restocking
Contact sheet
Recent work, frame by frame
A sheet from last month's printing run. Hover with a mouse for the loupe; keyboard focus does the same.
Journal
From the bench
Reading a negative on a light table
What a dense negative is actually telling you, and why the fix usually lives in the print, not the tank.
Read noteWhy we still print on fiber paper
It is slower, fussier, and worth it. A defense of the surface that lasts a century.
Read noteDrop a roll off this week
The counter takes film Tuesday through Saturday, nine to six. Push notes go right on the canister.