Just received a depressing email.

[eyesglassy]

Snapfish is no longer developing film after May 1st. I've been pre-paying and sending my film there for years. I also have hundreds of rolls of color film stockpiled. I doubt I'll ever find a better bargain for processing. Bummer.

 

[sevo]

They must have been rather secretive about their film processing - I've occasionally used them as a digital print service ever since they started in Germany, and never knew that...

 

[eyesglassy]

Actually they used process and proof for free. That didn't last long. Prepaying now would cost under $4.oo per roll. It's hard to beat.

 

[Bill Clark]

Processing film can be a rewarding experience and not very costly either!

Don't know if you have darkroom stuff, but a film can, thermometer, containers for chemicals, a place to load the film plus chemicals is what's needed to develop film.

I've found that color is easier to develop than B&W as the main concern is the temp. of the film developer.

Then you need a way to view your film. Scanning is one possibility.

Hope this helps you.

 

[eyesglassy]

I'll have to figure something out. It was just so easy to drop it in mail and have it online in a couple days. I could share it a lot faster than scanning myself. Plus negatives and proofs. I guess I was taking things for granted. I read this forum, should have seen it coming.

 

[paradoxbox]

you'd be surprised at just how fast processing your own black and white film is.

last night i developed a 35mm and a 120mm roll of film and had them scanned in under an hour from the start of development.

it's not hard - hardest part is learning to load the developing tank in the dark.

even c41 film is not difficult but it requires more care regarding temperature.

slides are a different story.

 

[eyesglassy]

Developed and scanned in under an hour! Damn, that's fast. I've been developing my own B&W film since the 70's, I'm pretty good at it. It's all the other things that have to happen after it's processed. All the color film I shot since 2000 is stored online, I could download it share very easily. I was fond of buying lots of expired film and shooting away, expirementing and having fun with it. I'm not really a computer guy, I'd have to sit in front of one for a long time to figure it all out. If I can't find a similar arrangement I won't shoot as much color film. I guess there weren't enough people using the service.

 

[Spanik]

What about slides?

 

[eyesglassy]

Slides sound interesting. The attraction of old color film was the price. I could always find as much film as I wanted for around a dollar a roll. I just dropped 4 rolls in the mailbox today, 10 in the last week.

 

[paradoxbox]

slides require a machine processor in my opinion (jobo tank). you're looking at a not so cheap acquisition cost, for the processor (used) - between 200 and 1000$ depending on the model.

it can be done without a machine processor but you need to be very careful with the temperature or your results will never be consistent.

plus the chemicals are about 50-100$ and they expire quickly once mixed which is a huge pain, you need to have a ton of film saved up and develop them all in a short period of time otherwise the mixed chems expire and the quality of the developed film gets worse and worse each time.

i do c41 myself sometimes too, which is also temp sensitive but easier than e-6.

e-6 i leave to the lab for now.

 

[Rom]

you'd be surprised at just how fast processing your own black and white film is.

last night i developed a 35mm and a 120mm roll of film and had them scanned in under an hour from the start of development.

it's not hard - hardest part is learning to load the developing tank in the dark.

even c41 film is not difficult but it requires more care regarding temperature.

slides are a different story.

Hi,

May i ask you how do dev and scan in one hour? Are you using a dryer ? If yes, how it works ?

Thanks

 

[paradoxbox]

Hi Rom,

I just develop the film in my small developing tank by hand, then take it out of the tank, wipe off the excess water then hang it up with a heavy weight at the bottom of the film to keep it straight.

Tokyo is quite dry in winter so the film dries quickly. If I need it to dry faster I hang it from a hook that's near my apartment's heater - there's a filter on the heater so no dust lands on the film.

Usually the film's ready to be scanned in under an hour, if I need it that fast.