Do you get your negatives back once the film is processed? I don't so what's going on?

[mark_stephan2]

<p>I live in a small rural area in east Tennessee and dropped off some film at Wal-Mart only to get 4X6 inch prints and a low, low resolution scans on a CD that I didn't ask for. I asked about the negatives since I have a Nikon CoolScan V and was told that they do not return them, that's what the CD is for. I called the various drug stores only to find out they do the same thing, they dispose of the negatives once processed. Why can't these places return the negatives? I'm looking for someone in my area that will process film in a traditional way that includes returning the negatives.</p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>That seems just wrong to me! I haven't dropped film off at a drugstore for a couple of years now, I hope they haven't all started doing this. If you can't find anyone you might need to start mailing.</p>

[William Kahn]

<p>Mark, I don't know what's going on there, but it's definitely not right. I live in Crossville, and use our local Walgreens for my very occasional film processing needs, and have always gotten my negatives back. Actually, I'm surprised your local WalMart is still doing film processing at all - ours shut it down a couple of years ago. If I were you, I'd complain to the store manager, maybe even the home office. Basically, they're destroying your property.</p>

[Niels - NHSN]

Many discount shops don't have chemical labs anymore. They send off the film for centralised

development and have the scans electronically returned for local print and CD creation. The CD

probably have sufficient resolution to make additional for 4x6 if required. It saves time, money

and makes sense for the majority of their shrinking target audience. If you need old fashioned

development service with some quality, then now is the time to support the serious players to

make sure the are alive next year. It will cost you more, but if you don't like it, I guess home

development or digital is the way to go.

[john_enea2]

<p>walmart no longer returns negs for 35mm. and haven't for almosst a year. they develop and scan at the same time and then email the jpegs back to the local store who then print them out on their machine. if you send in 120/220 c-41, B&W of any size or E-6 of any size they will return the negs. also they will do E-6 for develop only, no prints. so for 35mm c-41 use costco if you want negs back</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>You should always get your negs back. It's your film and physical backup.</p>

[Spearhead]

<p>http://www.photo.net/film-and-processing-forum/00aakr</p>

[Matthew Currie]

<p>I certainly get the negatives back, and never heard of not doing it. I'd certainly hunt down a place that does. I'm betting that if you mailed them to Dwayne's they'd come back. You can get a cheap "develop only" option if you scan your own, so they would sort of have to. </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>You need to ask, before you have them process it. There are plenty of mail-in processors that will still return film, but you probably need to search these days to find one locally.<br>

One of my local Walgreens and the local camera store here both do "develop only" and return the film uncut, even, to me.<br>

What film Wal-Mart and other such do these days, is generally NOT catering to anything but the snapshot crowd who don't yet have a phone or digital camera or who haven't figured out how to process their phone shots at the kiosk in the store.</p>

[SCL]

<p>Our local Walmart has a clearly posted sign saying they don't return negatives.</p>

[bebu_lamar]

<p>It's totally wrong because the negative is the most important thing. It's what you captured. The print or scan are not because they are interpreted by someone and the negative can be interpreted later in quite different ways. <br>

The reason they do it (not an excuse) because they send the film out to be processed by a remote lab. They receive nothing physical back just digital files via the internet and that save them the postage and speed up the process as well. They make the print at the store locally because all Walmart stores are capable of printing digital files. But I must emphasis it's not an excuse because to me the negative is all I want when I send film out for processing. </p>

[mark_stephan2]

<p>My experience with Wal-Mart was to send the film off, they no longer have anything to do with 35mm film. I checked CVS, RiteAid and Walgreens and they do not return the negatives. I then checked with my local camera store and I can get the negatives back so I'll go that route.</p>

[goldbergbarry]

<p>What's a negative :-)</p>

[jack_fisher1]

<p>Mark,<br>

The answer for many is to develop the negatives yourself and then scan. I do that.<br>

Check your email for some equipment coming your way.<br>

Jack</p>

[brian_m.1]

<p>Costco returns negatives and I have a ton of them. However, I have never used them for anything. </p>

[bebu_lamar]

<p>I only use the negative. I either make prints in my darkroom or scan them. I take a look at the prints (if they don't wanna do develop only) and toss them. They never made prints to my liking. </p>

[dave_s]

<p>To state the obvious, you can get the best of both worlds by using a legit processor, although it's more expensive than Walmart. </p>

<p>In BW, I use mostly Ilford XP2. North Coast makes ~28 Mp scans, which they save as low-compression jpegs. From these I can make OK digital prints, up to about 11 x 14. They also send back the C41 BW negatives, so I can print optically if I want. I use the darkroom depressingly infrequently these days, but it's nice to have the option.</p>

<p>I send my stuff to <a href="http://www.northcoastphoto.com/">North Coast Photo</a>, but there are others who offer a similar service. It's about $18 a roll, 35mm or 120, for developing and premium scans. Not the cheapest, but your images are the most important thing you have.</p>

 

[mfophotos]

<p>Take your business to a place that knows how to do it right, such as The Darkroom. Not only do they return your negatives (sleeved), they also send you a CD with great scans, downloadable files, and prints if you want them. It's mail order, but easy to do. Turnaround time is less than a week, but your downloadable images will be ready within a day after they get your film. <a href="http://thedarkroom.com/">http://thedarkroom.com/</a><br>

If you really care about your photos, stay away from Walmart, really...</p>

[Dave Luttmann]

Try Indie Photo Lab or Richard Photo Lab. They are two of the best.

[steve_bellayr]

<p>Bottom Line: If you use the cheapest that is what you get. I would never use Walmart. Mail your film to a professional lab.</p>

[sanjay_chaudary]

<p>Hmm, I used sams club when I was in US (2000-2002) , as a student and they returned my negatives.<br>

Shouldn't they atleast inform you before you give the negatives that they would not return the negatives or atleast put a disclaimer on the envelope or put a notice to let people know?<br>

The local labs here, in India, scan at 75 dpi or 150 dpi or sometimes 300 dpi resolution.<br>

I ask professional lab to scan at 5000 dpi with Nikon coolscan V, when I need a scan.<br>

<br />What resolution are these guys scanning at for you? The 75 dpi, 150 dpi did not do justice to my photos.</p>