Film Processing

Harlee

Harlee

Well-known
Local time
10:42 AM
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
495
As of this week, Walmart here in the Orlando, FL area will no longer be processing film. It must be sent out and could take up to 8-10 days to get your prints back. Sam's will continue processing film until 2011. Is the handwriting on the wall gentlemen?
 
Just a sign of the times, not enough film to process to keep convenient 1 hour labs open.

Bob
 
They quit months ago where I live in Indiana. Walgreens is the ONLY place in a city of 250,000 people that develops film now. No pro labs, no one hour photo shops, nothing but Walgreens.
 
Bait like this ... and still Pickett is nowhere to be seen or heard?

Come clean you mods ... what's happened to him?


About processing ... I totally agree. Build a drakroom and never look back! The Kodak one hour nearest me is very close to shutting down his C41 machine and putting the wraps over it ... about six months away from what he told me last time I asked.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:
They quit months ago where I live in Indiana. Walgreens is the ONLY place in a city of 250,000 people that develops film now. No pro labs, no one hour photo shops, nothing but Walgreens.
Click to expand...

Boy, that is really bad. We still have a few pro labs here. But they all look like this may be their last year. We do have a Wal-mart (somewhere), I understand that they do super 8mm movie film and E-6, I'm going to try them.
 
Oh come on now!!!

Oh come on now!!!

charjohncarter said:
I know it is an inconvenience, but how long did film take to process in the 1960s and the early 1970s.
Click to expand...

That was when we sent the camera back to Kodak for processing and to put a new roll of film in. Pony Express from Oregon as I recall?

Oh Wait... you said 19.... not 18... sorry!
 
Today I put a roll from my XA taken in Ukraine last week but just having the film developed and also a CD in at Target for next day developing. I figured I could print up what I wanted and/or download the CD in my computer for future reference. I did the same at Sams and it ran around $3.80 for 24 exposures. The photo lab at Targets was quite surprised that Walmart has quit developing 35mm as they [Target] still does quite a bit of 35mm. Walmart will still print pics from negs or a CD, but no chemical development. Well, I'll still hang on to my 35 slrs & RFs until hell freezes over!
 
Again, I feel spoiled here in NYC: while two of the three minilabs we had in Park Slope bit the dust a while back (not particularly good, IMO), we still have the best one, and we have competent labs at both Rite Aid and CVS, the latter being the place I drop off much of my C41, and which recently revamped their entire photo department. I just have them soup the film and put it back in the little cardboard bag, without cutting. Cost is about $2.40 with tax, turnaround roughly two hours. (And, there are still a good number of pro labs in Mannahatta.)

I do worry about the processing scene farther afield. I wonder if there'll even be digital kiosks for people to get their prints from their digicams; more often than not, half those kiosks I come across have "out of order" signs on them. Perhaps the whole idea of printing anything is dying, too?


- Barrett
 
I picked up my negs and CD from Target today and the cost was about $3.50 and that included the tax. The pics on the CD looked pretty good but with my new computer and Windows 7 instead of XP, it'll be a while before I can scan them and get them posted in RFF. I was pleasantly surprised that the price was cheaper than Walmart which turned out to be around $4.10 with tax. I'll try CVS one day, but about two years ago they really messed up some prints of an Indian engagement party I took on my SRT MCII with my 58MM F1.2 greenhouse lens. Haven't been back since!
 
Well, what's the 'handwriting on the wall' for? Film development, or one-hour development near your home? I don't use the Walgreens 5 blocks away unless I want to take my chances...I just don't trust the chemicals at the rate that people are developing film these days. (In fact, I find it really surprising that Walgreens and CVS both still do one-hour development.)

That said, it should be considered a positive sign that drugstores are still doing processing. If there's still that kind of volume locally, just think if those places went away and all development services were done through the mail. Should be plenty of business to keep film alive for quite some time, even if it all has to be sent out. Look at Dwayne's - they're going to do Kodachrome development until the end of the year, and that's on a film that's difficult to process and isn't even made anymore!

And as long as the chemicals and film are made for E6 and C41, we'll be able to do home development. I never thought I'd ever do E6 at home, but the results I've had from the Kodak 6-bath kit are just as good as if I had sent it out.
 
Last edited:
I got fed up with the screwed up negatives from these kids developing my film at the CVS in Morrisville, IN... The Wal-Mart in Camby, IN. down the road, has no 1 hour lab... it is all sent out, but, there is no option for dev/only.

I send a few rolls off every 3-4 weeks to "Blue Moon" in Portland, Oregon now...Not perfect, but at least they take the best care they can handling Negatives. And the CS is top shelf too.
 
Spyro said:
I have no idea why people develop B&W at home but not c41, which is actually easier.
Click to expand...

Really? May you explain please?
From Wikipedia:
"The control of temperature and agitation of the film in the developer is critical in obtaining consistent, accurate results. Incorrect temperature can result in severe color shifts or significant under or over-development of the film."
May we call this "easier" than just keep the temperature at 68F and agitate once in a while?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top