Walmart Processing - Beware

I have used them for 120, and put 'develop negatives only' with no problem. But who is to say they won't ad lib. Thanks for the heads up.
 
I use Costco. They do a decent job most of the time. C41 for 135 only. Develop and scan on a DVD is under $5. The DVD gives me a proof sheet to select candidates for enlargement at a better lab, and let's me post to the web. Not a bad deal. I include them in my prayers every night :)
 
I have used the local 1-hr service (in a Hema chainstore here) as the individual running it was skilled enough for 'happysnaps' etc. The prices are not totally at the bottom end of the range though, around eleven euros (about $14 - 15), well within the cheap-and-cheerful range.

Is there a reasonably priced national postal system in the US? If so, why not post your serious material to a better lab? It worked for me and umpteen thousands of other people over the decades. Maybe postal packages are all x-rayed though, is that the reason?
 
From your mentioning of 'courier' I get the impression that there is no longer a postal service. This seems rather strange to me.
 
I prefer to send my exposed film out to a pro lab for developing. The problem here in the great southwestern desert (Texas) is waiting for outside temperatures to moderate before consigning my work to the tender mercies of the USPS. I don't trust 110 degree F outside and semi-trailer baking with my medium format film rolls, or C41 135 for that matter. So in summer I accumulate the exposed rolls of 120, monochrome and E6 in the refrigerator waiting for the fall of outside temperatures. I have some C-41 processed locally, formerly at Wolf/Ritz so I can see results sooner. With Wolf/Ritz closing, I will be trying Walgreens for this soon. Meanwhile, with cooler weather forecast I am putting together a priority mail parcel to Precision Camera. I am getting anxious to see the photographs I made in June!

An aside: I know of one "pro" lab in Fort Worth (Barron) but the prices for processing seem high and reviews I have read are not exactly glowing. Because of this I have not tried the lab. Do any of you kind readers on the west side of Fort Worth have knowledge of a good local pro lab you would recommend?

Best,

Tom
 
kuzano said:
Pro Photo Supply removed their Lab from their store and built a complete new lab around the corner 5-6 years ago... Portland, Oregon/
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This is where I go for local C41 and transparency processing. They do a great job. They don't do transparency processing, however, at the local lab. Those are sent to Salem, OR for processing and are returned to the lab for customer pickup.

Ellen
 
charjohncarter said:
I have used them for 120, and put 'develop negatives only' with no problem. But who is to say they won't ad lib. Thanks for the heads up.
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I am awaiting the results for my 120 test roll. I'll post the info when i get the call that its back to the Springfield store.

Again, the reason I posted this thread was to alert the members who use Walmart, since I have been reading for years about their use. Whether you agree with their business model or not I think the members should know that using them may risk their original photo documentation.
 
ray*j*gun said:
I am awaiting the results for my 120 test roll. I'll post the info when i get the call that its back to the Springfield store.

Again, the reason I posted this thread was to alert the members who use Walmart, since I have been reading for years about their use. Whether you agree with their business model or not I think the members should know that using them may risk their original photo documentation.
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The first time I went to a Wal-Mart in the US was to have 120 developed. I read on RFF that they did it. Supposedly, they send to Fuji America, but they are still full of dust so I'm going mail order.
 
This is directly from the top:

"The new procedure is that we send out the film to Fuji and the prints are then sent thru the PICS unit in the lab. There are no negatives anymore. The customer receives a archive disk instead and of course the prints."

I asked them to consider a change in pricing and to keep the 120 services.
 
Thanks photomoff, that's the point of the post.

I spoke to Fuji customer svc and they said just what Raid said. They claimed that the envelope states that but I had used the old envelopes and they did not state that negs were destroyed. I told them I thought that was not legal but was sort of laughed at. What a train wreck. Walmart & Fuji getting too big for their britches.
 
I used to use Walmart religiously for 120 roll film processing. The prints and negatives for $2 a pop for a 120 roll was an amazing deal. But since they changed their pricing of print service, reduced the pickup frequency and increased the turnaround time I have been really unhappy. I also experience numerous goof ups with final billing prices for developing + printing. Then I hear that they are no longer returning the negatives (although you may request etc etc)....................

For the price and anguish of driving down to the Walmart, filling in the envelope and dodging the interesting crowd there, I have settled for developing C41 myself with the Unicolor kit. I am much happy to see the entire process from start to end.
 
I Love Film said:
Why don't you people just send your film to Clark and York labs?

Both are owned by District Photo, and both are dirt cheap and fast. You can download free mailers. They have the most modern equipment in the country.

http://www.clarkcolor.com/Content.aspx?Page=Help&PK=97eb11de-988b-48b7-b23e-be3618a22533

http://www.yorkphoto.com/Content.aspx?Page=Order+Form+%26+Mailing+Label
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because they don't do 120 or 220 roll films.
I have used them in the past for 35mm and I won't mind trying them again since it seems they have revamped their operation.

Plus, Walmart was the cheapest deal around for processing of 120/220 roll films. Now that they stopped sending negatives back, its a deal killer.
 
I usually used Walmart. It was a convenient drop-off for Dwayne's Kodachrome, on the way to/from work, and the little bit of snapshot color print I did was fine there. Important rolls went to Ritz, out of the way but pretty good here.

Now that my color is Ektar, I haven't settled on a lab. Local Walgreens/CVS are so-so (and likely not around for long), Ritz is closing, no pro lab within 45 minutes each way. Going to have to go mail order, I suppose.
 
My final Walmart post.........I received a call from the local Walmart regarding the 120 chromes I shot as a test and I must say that as badly as the 35 experiment went thats how good the 120 work was done. For $4.88 the film was sent to Fuji developed very well and returned to the Walmart for pick up. The film was clearly handled well and there was no dust etc. The trick is to annotate the envelope properly and the results were excellent.

So, to sum up no good for 35mm (they keep the negs) very good for MF stuff at least based on this one roll.
 
Local wallmart switch

Local wallmart switch

Basically it boils down to this: My local wallmart changed their envelope in the last few weeks. Even if you submit C-41 35mm and check "special processing" and underline "PLEASE RETURN NEGATIVES UNCUT" They will still send you a photo CD, and keep your negatives. However, they don't change the fine print on the envelope - so, I got free processing and free film. This is obviously some MBA's idea to save shipping costs. Wallmart is blaming the whole thing on Fuji America, giving credit to Fuji as it was "their idea" according to the photo manager.

My advice: If you want to take chances, go to Wall Mart. They have scratched an entire roll of 35mm C-41 on me before. If you don't feel like playing chicken with your processor, go to a pro lab. Wallmart developed and mount 36-38 E-6 35mm slides beautifully on several occasions (in the old envelopes, very recently) - and at $6.88 that is a deal, but do you feel lucky? They might decide to send you a photo CD and 4x6 prints instead ! :eek:
 
ray*j*gun said:
My final Walmart post.........I received a call from the local Walmart regarding the 120 chromes I shot as a test and I must say that as badly as the 35 experiment went thats how good the 120 work was done. For $4.88 the film was sent to Fuji developed very well and returned to the Walmart for pick up. The film was clearly handled well and there was no dust etc. The trick is to annotate the envelope properly and the results were excellent.

So, to sum up no good for 35mm (they keep the negs) very good for MF stuff at least based on this one roll.
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ok, thats good for E-6 processing of 120/220. How about C41 processing of 120/220, are they returning the negatives or not?
 
I have to say that I got great photo service from our local walmart for many years (they had some great employees who knew what they were doing). Of course, the last roll I had developed there was probably done in about 2005 or so...
 
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