It's 2020, where do I send my 35mm film for developing?

zuiko85 said:
Dwaynes looks reasonable, but what do you folks pay in postage for the round trip, and do you use USPS or some package carrier.
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I use Dwayne, as well for my transparency film. With prepaid mailers it's most reasonable. After coming from shooting trip I would send them box of 20+ films at once.
 
steveyork said:
Doesn't Dale's down there still develop film? There's also a place in the Tampa/St. Pete area (Zebra Color) that does mail order processing. And of course, Dwaynes, but I had some QC issues with their processing, years ago; a good thing actually, because it made me start developing my own B&W.
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I used Zebra Color about five years ago when I used to work in St. Pete; however, their website now states as follows:


Due to the changing times we are no longer offering in house film processing. We are using a lab outside of Florida that has the same quality standard that we have been used to for the past 30 years.
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Seems silly to send film to a lab to have them in turn ship it off to another undisclosed lab.
 
Let me also put in a plug for Fulltone Photo in Kentucky. I tried them for the first time earlier this year for a big order (big for me, about 10–12 rolls) because they were cheap. What I got from them were negatives as clean and scratch-free and scans as good as the best film developing services I've used. Fast and friendly service too. Highly recommended.


https://www.fulltonephoto.com/
 
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For color, have been using Precision Photo in Austin, they have had a long-time "deal" for RFF users who want High-res scans. I live in Texas, but mail it since Aus. is a 5 hr drive. I do my own B&W, and happy about that.
 
I develop and scan my own. Mostly D76, but love Diafine too. For color, I have used the C-41 kits and like the results, but hate the anxiety of maintaining temp. There's a place local to me that still does color, called Phototronics. I would rate them a "B" balancing cost and results
 
For various reasons I don’t have the capability to develop my own film.

I have liked the results I’ve gotten from Indie Film Lab. Only qualm is my 135 and 6x4.5 Frontier scans are all cropped to a standard aspect ratio of around 1.42:1. I recently tried out their Noritsu scans with a 6x4.5 roll and they were about 1.34:1, which is close enough for me.
 
I still process my own film, developing and printing. B & W only. Color it’s digital,

Have a classic radio in my darkroom and tune in public radio.

It’s much better than channel checking with the clicker.
 
Just sent off over 30 rolls of C41 and E6 (mostly 35mm, but some 120 and one 220 roll) to Dwayne's Photo for developing and high resolution scanning. In reviewing all of my exposed rolls in the refrigerator, I see that I have 68 rolls of B&W (Acros, Tmax 100 and 400, Tri-X, FP4) to develop and scan. Have the chemicals in basement just waiting to be mixed up. Hope to get this done sometime this lifetime . . . .
 
Bill Clark said:
I still process my own film, developing and printing. B & W only. Color it’s digital,

Have a classic radio in my darkroom and tune in public radio.

It’s much better than channel checking with the clicker.
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How much do you charge? Any social media presence or a website perhaps?

Just trying to stay in the spirit of the thread of course. ;-) In all seriousness, good on you. If the frequency of my photography were to increase then I’d likely give more thought to the self-service route as well. I processed countless rolls of film in my youth, it really shouldn’t be that much of a stretch. Still if I’m a master of anything, it’s procrastination. Sigh.
 
http://www.photoworkssf.com has been in business for 30+ years. Normally I drop off & pick up, but due to covid I'm making use of their mail-in service. They mail the negs back, and send a link to download the scans. Ask for Dave if you have particular questions.
 
Creagerj said:
I've always been happy with the results from Blue Moon Camera and Machine. They accept mail order film processing. https://bluemooncamera.com/robot
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Likewise, even though they're out of state for me, I send my color film down to them - they do a beautiful job with color. I have no complaints, so that's why I continue to use them. They also print optically. I also buy Minox film from them and have them process and print it.

They print B&W on color paper though - so you have to specify warm tone or cold tone.

Their website shows the actual cameras, lenses, etc., that are for sale - so you can get an idea of its condition (they also rank it). They're a 100% "analog" shop - no digital stuff.
 
Pál_K said:
Likewise, even though they're out of state for me, I send my color film down to them - they do a beautiful job with color. I have no complaints, so that's why I continue to use them. They also print optically. I also buy Minox film from them and have them process and print it.

They print B&W on color paper though - so you have to specify warm tone or cold tone.

Their website shows the actual cameras, lenses, etc., that are for sale - so you can get an idea of its condition (they also rank it). They're a 100% "analog" shop - no digital stuff.
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I like Blue Moon a lot. The salesman did kind of sneer at my DF96 monobath (said to save the expensive B&W film for when I start "really" doing B&W) but I figure that means he takes pride in his development work, so I let it slide. They have a lot of good gear that has been overhauled and is reliably operational too.
 
Indie Film Lab for develop/scan 120 or process-only of 35mm. They are closer to where I live, so it's a little faster than The Darkroom. I really like their work product and you can tell them how you want it to "look."

The Darkroom for 35mm develop/scan, when I have a lot of 35mm that I don't want to scan myself.
 
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