Where do you have your large format slide film processed? I purchased a Jobo tank recently so I could do 4x5 C-41 at home, since neither of the shops in Seattle that still develop film are willing to do sheets.
I am in Norway, and the last domestic lab doing E6 quit doing so late last year.
I have since had a few -34, methinks- sheets processed by an outfit in the UK which came highly recommended - The Darkroom (www.the-darkroom.co.uk)
34 sheets in three batches are not much to go on, but so far I am most satisfied - reasonable pricing (YMMV not being Norwegian and used to price gouging in the first place!), most accommodating with regards to special instructions, top-notch work, proper packaging, OK turnaround time.
My main concern is that some postal worker will X-ray the sheets to oblivion - even as the sheets are in film envelopes labeled as such and lined with lead; however, such are the worries of international postage.
My B&W stuff I mostly do on the kitchen bench - the dark stuff inside a film changing bag, the wet stuff in the ubiquitous Paterson tanks (With steel reels, thank you very much.)
Heh, I've never been able to get the hang of them. But, hey, I've done a couple hundred rolls of B&W on Paterson plastic reels without any problems. To each their own :)
