How To Get Rich in Photography. Guaranteed!

[Steve M.]

Ok, now that I have your attention....

I was shooting a new, to me, camera the other day and went downtown to shoot some C41 B&W just to see how it was going to behave. Took about 10 minutes to shoot some people at the Saturday Market, then I biked over to Walgreens and had 1 hr develop only and a CD made, then back home to do some auto corrections in PS. The whole process was quick and cheap. Well, it got me thinking how this was one of the great things about digital. You could go to an event and shoot some photos and look at them at home right away.

What if we could do that w/ film? If you had a smaller home version of the machines they have at 1 hr photo shops you could have your film developed and some decent-enough scans made right away. Then, if you really liked something you could pull out the enlarger or the good scanner and make your print. Or you could post the photos or email them right away too.

I would like the machine to handle two rolls of C41 or true B&W film, and download the files to my computer or an auxiliary HD. You wouldn't even need a CD. Wouldn't that be great? There's got to be a market for this if you could hit the right price point, and the technology is already here, it just needs to be downsized and simplified. It might even rejuvenate film camera use.

Just think. Order your film at home, go shoot it, bring it home afterwards and see the photos on your monitor right away (or pretty close to right away), print out some small prints right away or go over to the enlarger or scanner and printer, and have a nice large print or prints on your wall that day. So easy.

 

[cnphoto]

you could just buy a Tetinal C41 developing kit?

a scanner and inkjet printer will take care of the rest, right?

 

[photogdave]

Sounds like what you're looking for is this new digital photography craze! 😉
For me, half the fun of film is waiting a couple of days to get the films back from the lab and experiencing that anticipation mixed with the fresh perspective of what I shot.
So I guess I'm not your target market. 🙂

 

[Thebes]

You don't need any machine to develop your film. Its nice to have a dark place to load it, works better than a changing bag, if you can't see your fingers on your hand in front of your face after 5 minutes in the closet (or wherever) it is dark enough. Developing tanks and reels are dirt cheap on fleabay. You can be in the light once you load your tank. B&W requires no temp control, just normal room temp. C41 (color) needs at least a large water bath, a fish tank heater or something will help, or just add hot water to the bath as you see the need by looking at a thermometer. You just pour chem into and out of the tank and watch a timer. You can do it in almost any bathroom or kitchen... don't even need running water if you have no plumbing (like me).

Dry in a low dust place. A shower stall might be good, run the shower first if you have really low humidity or lots of dust.

After that scan and print, or print in a traditional darkroom (which you can set up for a hundred or so if you keep an eye on craigslist for used gear)

 

[thegman]

Sounds like what you're looking for is this new digital photography craze! 😉
For me, half the fun of film is waiting a couple of days to get the films back from the lab and experiencing that anticipation mixed with the fresh perspective of what I shot.
So I guess I'm not your target market. 🙂

Agreed, I kind of like the wait, and as I send off my films for development, it's nice to come into work and find a little present on the my desk...

I shot a load of film in Hawaii, and it was good to get it all back about a week after my return, with digital we'd have looked at them in the hotel room etc. so it would be old news after we got back. With film you get mistakes, happy surprises etc.

There are posters around London at the moment with a quote from Gandhi, which sums it up:

"There is more to life than increasing its speed."

 

[sig]

Well if you start stinking rich, then after using a lot on money on R&D, building production facilities etc, finding the correct price point for the market (most likely a lot lower than your cost) then most likely you will end up only 'rich'

 

[Neare]

I have a C41 dev machine in the garage. It doesn't get used simply for the reason that my own supply would not be economically viable to keep it running. A little daylight tank and some chemicals works much better.

 

[Jamie123]

Just think. Order your film at home, go shoot it, bring it home afterwards and see the photos on your monitor right away (or pretty close to right away), print out some small prints right away or go over to the enlarger or scanner and printer, and have a nice large print or prints on your wall that day. So easy.

Or just pop in that CF card into the card reader and look at your full-res images. Much easier, innit?

Even if you could bring down the price of those $100+k Noritsu Minilabshttp://www.phototechservice.com/digitallabchartmed.htm, you'd still have to pay for maintenance and fresh chemicals.

You say there's got to be a market for this, but there really isn't. One person's wishful thinking doesn't make a market. Sure, if it were a few hundred dollars some people would buy it but even then sales would probably be very, very low. And don't forget, you're talking about bringing down the price of something that's currently priced like a nice Audi or BMW to the level of a cheap bycicle.

As sig said, the only way in which this idea will turn you into a millionaire is if you start out as a billionaire.

But if you like the idea of home processing, why not get something like a Jobo CP autoprocessor and a Nikon CS 5000 with the add on that lets you load uncut rolls. Run the rolls through the Jobo, let them dry and then run them through the Nikon.

 

[pvdhaar]

What if we could do that w/ film? If you had a smaller home version of the machines they have at 1 hr photo shops you could have your film developed ...

There used to be an instant polaroid 35mm film and processing package:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polavi...utoProcess_films_.28Polachrome_and_Polapan.29

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Processing color film yourself at home is easy and inexpensive. I own the tanks and chemicals. Doesn't even take a lot of time. But...every time I look at that developing tank, the less enthusiastic I am about using it. I think a lot of folks are in the same mental space. 😉

But, on a positive note, that's why the pixel gods invented digital cameras!

 

[bwcolor]

I have a friend that would like a mini-brewery in his media room at home, so that he doesn't have to run to the store when he runs out of beer.

Shoot digital ...

or buy a Jobo, or some such device and do C-41 at home.

No pain..No gain. Film is not a convenient image medium. That is why 98% of the population shoots digital, but they still run to the store for beer.

 

[oftheherd]

Steve M. - You sure don't want much, a single machine that does both c41 and regular b/w. But I am not in your price point either. I enjoy the whole process except for one thing: time.

...
You can do it in almost any bathroom or kitchen... don't even need running water if you have no plumbing (like me).

Dry in a low dust place. A shower stall might be good, run the shower first if you have really low humidity or lots of dust.
...

Where do you get the shower if you don't have plumbing? 😀

Sounds like the way my grandparents lived. They never had indoor plumbing, only the outhouse. No electricity either. Water from a cistern filtered through old charcoal filters in the roof drains. A washtub for Saturday night baths (if you needed one 😀 ) Grandma cooked on a wood stove (and boy could she cook!).

I used to love visiting there but I would not have wanted to live there myself. But to each his own.