Film developing in Barcelona

[ilia]

Hi,

I'm going to vocation at Barcelona ... YES
I planning to take something around 40-60 rolls of film with me, the mix between TriX, Efke 25, Neopan 1600 and Provia.
Does it make cense to develop them in Barcelona and if you think it does what would be a good place ?

Thx

Ilia

 

[ZeMane]

Hi Ilia,

Just found a similar question on a Flickr spanish group, and here are the answers (never tried by myself yet):


VMFoto : Lab services. I see they charge 5,5€ (+ VAT) for 35mm B&W developing.

Casanovafoto : very good shop for material and also can develop you film. No tariffs online.

ARPI : very good supply for material (film and darkroom). don't know if the also develop your film.

Hope that could help you. I know there are some RFF members from Barcelona that perhaps could bring more accurate info.

Enjoy your stay at Barcelona!!

Cheers

 

[jaifo]

Hi Ilia,

I live in Barcelona and I can tell you that there are really good professional labs here (Barcelona is full of artists, designers, architects...). I use EGM (you can visit it at EGM.es to see details). They are not expensive by Barcelona standadards (not sure if our prices are cheap in general).
Colour film (chromes or negative) usually develop in one day but B&W may take two days as they send them to COPIA, a specialized B&W film. You could send them directly and save some time but i prefer to use only one lab.

Foto Casanova, now with a new store really in the middle of the city (casanovafoto.com) is a must. They have a lot of new and used equipment and are really friendly. And i think they also develop film so you could save going to EGM (which is in the upper side of the town -but Barcelona is small-). Ask for Emmanuelle, a helpfull photographer who speaks english, italian spanish, catalan.... and knows almost anything.
ARPI is a big store in the middle of Las Ramblas but I have been there plenty of times anf they fail to being helpful. Just they seem to do you a favor selling you something...

Very very nice city for photographers!
We have accquired a good reputation for being a dangerous city for tourists. I think we are not different than any other touristic place. Just beware your belongings and try not to appear as lost tourist!

Have a nice time,

Jaime

 

[jaifo]

BTW,

I think developing your fim (if you have time enough to do it) is a safe way to protect yoiur photos. Airports insist that they scanners are safe. They sure are, but they do afect the quality each time you pass them.
I went to Indonesia last summer and took 4 flights (and four in return) and the shots were affected. They seemed to have been shot with chep 400 film (i used Fuji Pro 160).
So if you plan to develop, you could also buy some fresh film also.
AND, if you develop, you could see if you have missed any important shot..

Jaime

 

[nakedcellist]

Hi, I did the Magnum photoworkshop laat year in Barcelona and I was crazy enough to shoot on film. For medium format I used Primerplano, because they where close to the school and very friendly. I could get next day development for medium format c41. For 35mm I used vmfoto. They are not great, but very cheap and they did development and scanning within a few hours, they where one of the only labs who could do next day for 35mm and medium format, for c41 and e6.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

VM has scratched some negatives for me when I was a student: it's a small lab near where I studied and most of their customers are young students... But I haven't been there for some years.. Primer plano is a better place (they're the company importing Bergger long ago), and they offer next day too. The best one is EGM, and they offer next day too and even same day (expensive) and even immediate and during midnight if necessary (very expensive), but they're the best, and used by the best photographers here, and Kodak Q-certified too, and one of the most advanced labs in Europe for decades.

Cheers,

Juan

 

[Freakscene]

I agree with Juan that Primer plano is great. For black & white Copia http://www.copialab.es/ do amazing work.

Marty