Where do you get your film developed now-a-days?

[dr._karl_hoppe]

<p>PS: The chap who runs the minilab at the local Target tells me he has seen NO drop off in film processing. Go figure!</p>

[pmind]

<p><em>"PS: The chap who runs the minilab at the local Target tells me he has seen NO drop off in film processing. Go figure!"</em><br>

<br /> Yep, I'm hearing that from my local lab as well; in fact, business has likely <em>increased</em> for film processing. But of course, around here, only about 10% (SWAG) of the labs from the 70's remain! Even less if you only count pro labs.</p>

[jay_66]

<p>For b&w, I do it myself. For color, Costco, Target, Walgreen's, wherever if it's just family stuff. I'm a retired UPI photog and for my serious color work I use Dale Labs in Florida. A friend who used to shoot stills for the NFL told me all their color print work was done by Dale. That was a good enough recommendation for me. For chromes, Dale is good too, but the Kodachrome goes out to Dwayne's, at least until the curtain comes down on 12.31.10. Dwayne's goes a good job on the E-6 stuff and prices are comparable to Dales, though the shipping costs differ on what you're sending in.</p>

[wayne_crider4]

<p>I used Walgreens once for a develop only till I saw the operator handle uncut film with bare hands, and not by the edge. I went back to my usual Dale Labs.</p>

[tsuacctnt]

<p>I used to drop stuff off at Sam's club for develop and scan but whoever did their scanning did terrible work. I've never seen such grainy pixelated stuff in my life. Just sent a test run to Dale Labs to see how they do. A little bit of everything, some APS (don't laugh), some 120, some E-6, some 135, some B&W. I would love to find a place I could send everything and get good results and not spend a fortune. There's a local shop that does good work but they charge $20 a roll for develop and print 35mm. Too rich for my blood. I have a shoebox that is filling up with undeveloped film so its time to get it developed at the very least.</p>

[jay_66]

<p>Watch out for Target, or any other minilab, for that matter. I picked up a roll on Saturday. While waiting, I spotted the minilab operator <em>picking his nose</em> and then handling the negatives <em>without</em> any gloves -- and <em>not</em> by the edges. It was grotesque! I will <em>never</em> take another roll to these barbarians again!</p>

[jay_66]

<p>PS: Stick with Dale for C-41 and E-6. Use Dwayne's for K-14 (no real choice there!).

[runswithsizzers]

<p>"This could go in film&processing more so than Canon FD, but I'm posting here because I feel it will reach a more specific target audience - people who <em>still shoot</em> film, not just learning about it or discussing chemistry. - Robert Scrivener"<br>

Robert, I wish you would have followed your instincts and posted in Film & Processing - I still shoot film - Using Pentax equipment, and I almost missed this thread.<br>

I send my E6 to Dwayne's in Parsons KS in Fuji Mailers. I've had them scan only one roll which I was just looking at. Not bad, good capture of image, but very flat and a little off color - going to need some Photoshop, for sure. Quite a bit different from my home-scans (Minolta Elite Scan F-2900) - in some ways better. The scans from Dwayne's are 3089x2048 pixels - 18.1M in Photoshop, or 2.5-3.0 MB as JPEGs - which balloon to 12-15MB as TIFFs. (I usually do the first Save as TIFFs for editing and archiving off site, then save a final copy as a high quality JPEG on my hard drive.)<br>

I've been taking my C-41 to a local camera store - Lawrence Photo - the only photo specialty store in my home town of Springfield, MO (population 150,000). While I have proven by my tests that the quality of the prints I get from Lawrence is superior to what I was getting at WalMart and Walgrens, I am not completely satisfied with their service.<br>

For one thing, I don't get a time and date stamp on the back of my prints - a small thing, but as the photos pile up over the years, the date becomes a great aid to organization.<br>

A "benefit" they do provide is a second set of prints for "free" - I hate this - waste of paper, which is not really free (I'd much rather have lower cost printing). Several times I've asked them to limit my order to one set but they always forget.<br>

If I continue to use the local processor, I'm going to stick with developing only - or possibly develop and scan. I have not yet tested their scans from negatives.<br>

As a film shooter, I am starting to feel like some kind of freak at my local camera store. Last week when I asked what kind of slide film they stocked, all I got for a reply was a dismissive snort.</p>