Chicago-Walgreen's Stops all One Hour Processing

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>I was told by the Walgreen's staff that beginning on Monday, in the downtown Chicago area, there will be no more one hour, wet processing of C-41 film at any Walgreen's location. It was a cascading effect, first all North Side Chicago locations went to "dry" labs and now all of downtown. There are no other one hour photo processors left that I know of near me. They can send it out with a week turn around time, however.</p>

<p>This is sad since the convenient location, one block from work, and fast turn around was one of the reasons I kept shooting color film. Phoenix labs, on Jefferson in the north loop, still has a C-41 line open but I need a train ride to get there and back and they don't do one hour work without a hefty rush charge. Costco, on Clybourn, is north of the river and simply too far to go. This will curtail my color film work, I fear, especially for trying out and testing fun old cameras. I hate the idea of sending my film away and waiting....and paying a lot more. Been spoiled shooting digital and having one hour processing too long. I suppose I can crank up a home kit...pain in the neck, though. Phooey!</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I hope your Walgreens don't follow the same pattern they did here in my area of Fort Worth. It was a sad decline from great service to none at all. Zero. I can't even get prints at all within walking distance now.</p>

<p>As far as I can tell there are no C-41 one hour minilabs anywhere in Fort Worth anymore, or any RA-4 printing lines. There are several quick print labs but they're all inkjet or dye sub and the quality is very erratic. Compared with the more natural look of optical prints from pre-2000s minilabs, the inkjet and dye sub prints are often superficially "sharp" but under bright light the artifacts are obvious - banding, tiny color splotches that resemble high ISO chroma noise (it isn't "noise", just an artifact of some inkjet printers), jaggies and halos around edges and high contrast areas rather than natural transitions and gradients.</p>

<p>I've fired up my old Epson R200 with third party inks just to make 4x6 color prints from snapshots that I used to have done more economically at Walgreens. Now it's costing me more for inferior results.</p>

[Bill C]

<p>"<I>I was told by the Walgreen's staff that beginning on Monday, in the downtown Chicago area, there will be no more one hour, wet processing of C-41 film at any Walgreen's location. ... There are no other one hour photo processors left that I know of near me. They can send it out with a week turn around time, however.</I>"</p>

<p>Sorry to hear it. If it makes you feel any better, one-hour labs have (mostly) never been profitable propositions. An outfit where I worked once had a chain of standalone labs, but the profits were always pretty meager. While we were running the business to make a decent profit, we figured that the store chains who added an in-store lab were doing it mainly to bring in foot traffic - the lab customers tend to do a bit of shopping while waiting. Probably the remaining foot traffic isn't worth it to them to deal with the effluent regulations and employee training and those sorts of things anymore.</p>

<p>If the wet lab could make the same sort of profit, per square foot, as the rest of the store, they probably wouldn't be closing. Again, sorry to hear it.</p>

[Ed_Ingold]

<p>The resurrected Calumet stores in Chicago (e.g., Northbrook) still process C-41 film in store. They can do 120 film, but can't print or scan it in house. Processing only for 135-36 is $9 and 120-12 is $12.</p>

<p>Be careful! My local Walgreen stores will send film out for processing, but all you get is prints and a scan. The negatives are not returned.</p>

[c_watson1]

<p>Though Toronto is slightly larger than Chicago, it lost its cheap 1-hr labs 4-5 years ago when Costco shut down its processors. The remaining pricey, sub-standard labs quickly folded for the same reason--lack of demand. Fujifilm.ca still processes and prints but only on 10-14 day turnaround. Still, their process/scan-only service is quite good and dirt cheap at $5. Still shoot lots of C-41 35mm and can wait at that price. Though E-6 processing is dead here, Toronto Image Works does great same-day 120 C-41/b&w processing for 5 and change/roll.</p>

[alexander_n2]

<p>Haven't had that around here for a few years now. Besides I always got what I paid for in fingerprints and other mistakes by people who knew nothing about developing film.</p>

[randall_pukalo]

get a Tetenal c41 kit from Freestyle photo and do it yourself for far less cost, and far better results. Never again

scratched or fingerprinted nets, and its EASY. YouTube it, many how to videos out there. I do slide film E6 and the

misleading old article here at Pnet kept me from trying color for years. When I did, I saw how easy it is. Try it, you

will never look back!

[bruce_erickson1]

<p>I agree with Randall: do it yourself. It's not that difficult. The only problem, of course, is then to get prints from the negatives. For that you need a film scanner. There are still some of those for sale, for example, the Plustek 8100 or its variants.</p>

[david_smigelskis]

<p>Lou said "Costco, on Clybourn, is north of the river and simply too far to go."<br>

<br />The lady who runs that department said Costco still does one hour processing but will continue to do so only as long as the machine continues to work. Once it stops, no replacement or repair.<br>

<br />Costco policy and my awareness of the coming shutdown by Walgreen was why I asked when we spoke a few weeks ago where you did your quick turn around processing and was why I went back to doing my own B&W processing. You can develop your remaining C41 film using normal B&W process but with no color output. It works. Also you can use ICE when you scan the C41 films.</p>

 

[mrjallen]

<p>Costco recently quit developing/scanning in my area as well. Their scans were great. </p>

<p>I just used a local independent lab for the first time, and it costs 2.5 times per roll more than Costco. I'm trying to build up the nerve to try my hand at developing at home, but the time needed would compete too heavily with my family commitments and other hobbies. Even so, I'm going to look into it a bit, per the encouraging comments from Randall and Bruce above.</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>Thank you for all the thoughtful and helpful responses.</p>

<p>I know self-processing is not difficult. I'm 43 years in this hobby which later became my profession (still is). It's just I don't want to spend the time to do it...and then the scanning. Time is a more precious commodity now. I rather spend my spare time making pictures than playing with film and film-related processes. I do have a pro lab, Phoenix, that is reachable. I'll still use them for occasional medium format work. But it's 35mm film that was regularly going to Walgreen's. Since I never got prints, they would often process and scan it while I waited.</p>

<p>I have no great love of film. Using film is a great and fun hobby that I have little interest in. My digital cameras produce images better in every important way to me. I only used 35mm film for one reason. I have some fun, old cameras I like that use film. If I could put a digital sensor in my Canon F-1 or Contax G2 or little Olympus Pen F, I would do it in a heartbeat. Those old cameras and lenses feel great to me but sadly, no conversion is possible. The one-hour lab made these cameras still usable tools for me. While I'm keeping my old 35mm cameras and may send out an occasional roll, perhaps it's time to devote my hobby efforts to my real interest...making good pictures...and let some of the old tools go to sit on a shelf. I've held on to 35mm film media for a long as it was practical and convenient. I'm sad but grateful. I feel grateful that I've had the experience using my fine, old 35mm cameras but I'm also grateful to have some good digital tools to continue forward with.</p>