At the risk of being a bit preachy on the subject, I think it will be difficult to maintain consistency as long as a lab is doing the lab work. Black and white shooters are rare today and it's even more rare to find a lab that does good work in black and white.
Color is pretty simple--it's either an E6 or C41 process (Kodachrome has become more rare than B&W), no matter what film is used. But there are lots of black and white films available all over the world and there's even more developers in which to process them. A lab that does black and white work has to deal with an almost infinite number of variables in the process. It's no wonder the results are not really consistent from one film (or one day) to the next. What is a wonder is that good custom printers can adjust to these variables and still make a good photographic print.
Doing your own processing and printing is the cure to inconsistent results but this is not always practical for a photographer who takes on work for pay. Considering that you are using a lab with a good reputation, my bet is that they will reprint the photos as you instruct them. |