Nooo! Not my 1hr lab!

bhop73

bhop73

Well-known
Local time
3:58 PM
Joined
Jan 16, 2008
Messages
727
Location
Los Angeles
View My Gallery
AAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!! I'm MAD!!! I just went to pick up some developed rolls only to find out my local Target closed down their 1hr photo lab! Just yesterday it was up and running. It was the best 1hr lab around my area! My developing and scans were always exactly like I liked them! and for only $2.75 a roll...AAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!..

Thing is, the lab worker said the manager was really pissed too because they'll be losing A LOT of business. Apparently it came from corporate. I always see a lot of film on the drying racks.

..did I mention AAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!

just had to vent.. ugh..

It may be b&w film for me from now on. I can develop color, but I don't like to..
 
Haven't you read all the threads about film use increasing? No lab is going to close down as long as people are using it. I've read that on the Internet. (My contract requires me to say that). 😉

Seriously, I feel your pain. Every source of photo processing within 60 miles of where I live closed over a year ago. Modern times.

I'm back to Tri-X and processing it myself, too.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
Haven't you read all the threads about film use increasing? No lab is going to close down as long as people are using it. I've read that on the Internet. (My contract requires me to say that). 😉

Seriously, I feel your pain. Every source of photo processing within 60 miles of where I live closed over a year ago. Modern times.

I'm back to Tri-X and processing it myself, too.
Click to expand...


Trouble is Pickett ... you and I both know that home hobbiests aren't going to keep the film manufacturers in business.

We need to start making our own! 😀
 
I meant to add ... my local kodak one hour is very close to retiring their C41 machine.

This from a guy (the owner) who used to work for Olympus back in the seventies! 🙁
 
bhop73 said:
AAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!! I'm MAD!!! I just went to pick up some developed rolls only to find out my local Target closed down their 1hr photo lab! Just yesterday it was up and running. It was the best 1hr lab around my area! My developing and scans were always exactly like I liked them! and for only $2.75 a roll...AAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!..

Thing is, the lab worker said the manager was really pissed too because they'll be losing A LOT of business. Apparently it came from corporate. I always see a lot of film on the drying racks.

..did I mention AAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!

just had to vent.. ugh..

It may be b&w film for me from now on. I can develop color, but I don't like to..
Click to expand...

Where?

Which one?

I use the one at Nordhoff and Balboa in Northridge. The last roll I had done there was about three weeks ago.
 
I bought my own C41 machine 2 months ago. It cost me $1, a fujifilm SP500. Saved it from going to the rubbish tip. I've given it a clean out but it needs one of those industrial strength power outlets, sadly which my garage doesn't have.
 
lmd91343 said:
Where?

Which one?

I use the one at Nordhoff and Balboa in Northridge. The last roll I had done there was about three weeks ago.
Click to expand...

La Brea/Santa Monica blvd. 🙁

Neare said:
I bought my own C41 machine 2 months ago. It cost me $1, a fujifilm SP500. Saved it from going to the rubbish tip. I've given it a clean out but it needs one of those industrial strength power outlets, sadly which my garage doesn't have.
Click to expand...

That sounds pretty awesome. Good luck getting it running.
 
Neare said:
I bought my own C41 machine 2 months ago. It cost me $1, a fujifilm SP500. Saved it from going to the rubbish tip. I've given it a clean out but it needs one of those industrial strength power outlets, sadly which my garage doesn't have.
Click to expand...

good luck!

I hope the electrician cost is not too much.

How much will the chemicals cost? For how many rolls? How fast will the chemistry age?
 
bhop73 said:
La Brea/Santa Monica blvd. 🙁
Click to expand...

Ouch! Target still shows that as running. I'll go to my Target in the morning.

I agree. Target is the best local non-pro lab.

I am a bit concerned now. This is just speeding my move to digital. I have some wonderful Canon FD film lenses and pretty good LTM lenses. Maybe I need to get a nex or m4/3 camera to keep using those lenses.

I must have about 300 C41 rolls in the fridge and freezer. I probably won't buy anymore after that. I'll just use what I have and accelerate the move to digital.
 
I was thinking about donating the machine to the Photo society, so essentially I would be sharing costs and everyone could use it including me. My main reason was saving it from being broken down into scrap. I don't shoot enough C41 to warrant keeping all to myself and paying for the upkeep costs.

As for the dying off of film, I asked my local lab, he said business was still in decline. On the other hand the pro-lab's film dev'ing has picked up because all the local have stopped I suppose. I had an older woman come into the lab while I was there carrying a old pentax, said she wants to start shooting film now because she loves the look of her old film photos and wants to get it back. Also found out yesterday that a friend's father still uses an old Ricoh for all the family events, it's his baby.

As for the blight of digital. A work colleague had her computer die on her and lost all her photos of her son over the past 4 years.
Also a family whose 16yr son died several months ago to binge drinking had their house broken into and their computer stolen. They lost all photos of their deceased son from since he was a baby. Terrible!

But lets kill off film shall we and wait for the day when windows XXX no longer supports jpeg and all your shots are turned into nothing but lines of code.

Rant over. 🙂
 
Neare said:
I was thinking about donating the machine to the Photo society, so essentially I would be sharing costs and everyone could use it including me. My main reason was saving it from being broken down into scrap. I don't shoot enough C41 to warrant keeping all to myself and paying for the upkeep costs....
Click to expand...

That sounds like a great idea.

As for the rest of your post. I don't hate digital, but I just like film more, so I'm sad that it's dying. I want to shoot film for as long as I can, and yeah, I scan all my film instead of wet print, but it's nice to know if my hard drive crashes, I can still re-scan the pics.
 
bhop73 said:
As for the rest of your post. I don't hate digital, but I just like film more, so I'm sad that it's dying. I want to shoot film for as long as I can, and yeah, I scan all my film instead of wet print, but it's nice to know if my hard drive crashes, I can still re-scan the pics.
Click to expand...

Oh no neither do I hate digital. Just that both mediums have their advantages and disadvantages. I don't think that either should stop being practiced and supported. In fact, as lovers of photography we should all be supporting Target to keep up their film dev'ing by sending angry letters telling them just how angry we are!
 
Neare said:
I was thinking about donating the machine to the Photo society, so essentially I would be sharing costs and everyone could use it including me. My main reason was saving it from being broken down into scrap. I don't shoot enough C41 to warrant keeping all to myself and paying for the upkeep costs.

As for the dying off of film, I asked my local lab, he said business was still in decline. On the other hand the pro-lab's film dev'ing has picked up because all the local have stopped I suppose. I had an older woman come into the lab while I was there carrying a old pentax, said she wants to start shooting film now because she loves the look of her old film photos and wants to get it back. Also found out yesterday that a friend's father still uses an old Ricoh for all the family events, it's his baby.

As for the blight of digital. A work colleague had her computer die on her and lost all her photos of her son over the past 4 years.
Also a family whose 16yr son died several months ago to binge drinking had their house broken into and their computer stolen. They lost all photos of their deceased son from since he was a baby. Terrible!

But lets kill off film shall we and wait for the day when windows XXX no longer supports jpeg and all your shots are turned into nothing but lines of code.

Rant over. 🙂
Click to expand...


That's a point we have to consider when we hear about pro labs being busy for sure. They're picking up the slack from the fragmented market that's slowly but surely collapsing.
 
I actually think film will survive ... what I'm saying is processing will become more centralised like a lot of our retail activities and the good labs will stay busy.

Remember when we used to shop at our local corner store ... who does that now?

I live in an small community with a population of around 500 ... when I moved here in the mid nineties we had a gas station and a local store that sold the basics ... food, some hardware etc. They're both gone now and we have to drive twenty kilometres to get what used to be within walking distance ... I think this sucks personaly!
 
Last edited:
I remember when I could get 110 film developed at the pharmacy.
I think the Asia market will keep it up for sure. Self-Dev looks like the best way to go out our way.
I know it's died off in NZ more or less entirely. I and about only 20 others still shoot it. Add a few artists and students to that every now and then too, but it's pretty bad.
 
Target made the corporate decision to close down developing some time ago-I thought they were all gone.

Walgreens has made a pretty good commitment, though. Price for develop only now $3, though.
Our film market is still pretty good, I still have many choices for C41.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom