Processing while on the road

[Spud10]

The plot:
I'll be up for some extended travel (several months) at the end of year and have been mooting the idea of traveling with film and developing it in major cities as I go. Sure digital would be better for this but this isn't about what's better, it's about what I prefer and that just so happens to be film.

The problem:
So, we've got 3 films: Slide, negative and b&w.

Slide is probably not a good choice as these days the price goes up and the availability of processing goes down (though I love me some provia 400x).

Negative would be the most widely available to purchase and probably the easiest to get developed. Probably best choice but... I'd love to shoot..

...B&W. and this is a difficult choice. I'd love bring along some Tri-x and shoot that... a lot. But would getting it developed be more of pain? (I'm not a huge fan of CN B&W films).

The facts:
I'll be in & out of these cities: Beijing, Kunming, Hanoi, Vientiane, Bangkok, Kathmandu and depending which direction I choose next, Ulaanbaatar or somewhere in India.

And you!
RFF is a great source so I'd love to hear peoples experiences (locals or fellow travelers) with regards to buying film, getting it developed and scanned (good?bad?) in the places above.

If worse comes to worse, I could always sell off a camera and get a digital but I'd rather not. Grain is just way more sexy than megapixels!

 

[ElectroWNED]

You might want to shoot the film and wait until you get home to get it developed? If you're shooting film, I'm guessing you don't have a blog that you need to update daily, etc... And, if you're shooting film, you're already used to waiting to see the results.

 

[Godfrey]

Used to do this back in the day, but I stuck to XP2 and color neg. That way you have the best chance of decent negs, but there's still a lot of variability in random photo finishers.

Digital capture is much more to my liking for any extended travel. Just added two 32G cards to my stock of 16s. Just those two cards replace 80 rolls of film, so the on the road bulk is far less and the biggest thing to keep up with is maintaining batteries. I regularly get 500-600 exposures per charge so with three batts in the bag I can often go for a week or more with no work at all to do other than make photographs.

 

[jaiyenjohn]

in Bangkok

in Bangkok

If it helps, there is a great photo lab in Bangkok called Image Quality Labs. You can get Slide/ c-41 / and B+W processed there no problem. I've used them before for my provia 400x rolls.

http://www.iqlab.co.th/

Pricelist is here in english

About $3 for slide processing, $4 for B+W, and $2 for c-41

So shoot all the damn film you want it's still cheap! 😀

 

[Dunn]

I've been traveling for a while now (11months), currently in Indonesia and heading to Vietnam next. I've been using film also (black and white and color neg). But I have decided to process it all when I get home like someone else mentioned.

I decided it was more of a pain to find somewhere that does good processing and then carry around a ton of negatives. I know my lab at home and I don't need the photos now. What would I do with them? When I shot about 40 rolls I did send them home so I could lose the extra weight.

Also, you should bring all your film from home. Don't hope to find the film you want just because you're in a big city.

Another thing that might be nice to pair with your film is a nice p&s digital camera for snapshots and quick and easy photos.

 

[Spud10]

If it helps, there is a great photo lab in Bangkok called Image Quality Labs. You can get Slide/ c-41 / and B+W processed there no problem. I've used them before for my provia 400x rolls.D

That's fantastic info and exactly what I'm looking for! Thanks!

With regards to shooting film and then sending that home, sure, that's a equally valid option and probably what I'll do if developing it becomes to much of pain.

But to be honest, that's half(ok, maybe a quarter) of the fun I have while traveling. Talking with people, getting help and hunting down a place to develop. I did it in Saigon last year and never found it too difficult. Lot's of friendly people that help and interacting with them was a pleasure.

Oh and yeah, I'll be bring lots of film from home. Just wasn't sure which to bring due to processing availability. But with Bangkok processing it all at an extremely pleasant price, I might just bring some provia along anyways!

 

[boomguy57]

I'd recommend just waiting until you get home to process. If it was me in your situation (and I wanted to avoid digital) then I would mail the film out in batches; I send all my film to North Coast Photo anyway, so I'd probably mail back batches of 10 rolls, and have them processed (possibly scanned as well to avoid a huge backlog upon return home), sent to your home, and waiting for you when you get back.

I would also carry a cheap digital (on trips I use my phone as my digital P&S these days, as its also my alarm clock, compass, etc etc) for quick snapshots you don't need to use film for. This gives you some quick shots you can share with people to help them keep up with your travels, and since you already have a phone (I'm going out on a limb here) it's no additional cost.

 

[sepiareverb]

I have a crate which I fitted out to hold 1L bottles of stop, fix, hypo clear, and bottles of stock developer. It also carries a 4 reel tank and 5x7" trays. I often developed roll and sheet film in motel bathrooms. Many US hotels have bathrooms with no windows, a towel at the bottom of the door or shades drawn in the main room and light tight is easy.

Fed-Ex is my preferred method now when traveling with film. I pack up what I've shot and Fed-Ex it home or to a friend. Fed-Ex has special handling for photo-sensitive materials, I've never had films lost or damaged (even when I had to drop a big package of film into a metal dropbox as leaving California one time- it got up to 100°F that day).

 

[Spud10]

Thinking about this all, if I were to shoot film and then have to send it all back home, I'd probably just get a digital and shoot that.

The point isn't practicality, in fact its far from that. I just enjoy film and enjoy the exploration of finding places to develop film, meeting people along the way. The whole idea of spending time in major cities to shoot and later hunt down a place to develop and restock is appealing.

 

[sanmich]

two years ago, I attended a workshop with David Allan Harvey, and decided at the last moment, to do it with film.
I devellopped everything in a motel bathroom, and scanned on my coolscan.
It was hell, but I don't regret it (the other option would have been to learn digital for the workshop only)
a major concerns though: you can't flight with liquids, so this is limited to a ground trip.
I would personally post my films instead, or just carry them with me until I can process them safely.

 

[Ljós]

Hi,
this http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/midnight won't help you solve your practical problems, but there is no denying it is sort of inspirational. If you are strapped for time you can click on "Processing every day" (panel on the right).

Greetings, Ljós

 

[loquax ludens]

I have never processed film in a hotel room while traveling before. I plan to do it the next time I travel, just for the fun of it.

I was going to do it on my last business trip, but I didn't have my kit well thought out and it was going to be too bulky. With a little forethought and preparation, it can be done with minimal equipment and with pre-measured dry powdered chemicals to cut down on bulk and weight.

 

[Chris C]

Along with the mentioned lab in Bangkok, there's also the Ganesh Photo Lab in Kathmandu, just South of Kathmandu's Durbar Sq. It's B&W only, has a sweet darkroom, and when I was there in March/April of this year, still open. They may need a few days notice to get chems in. They also develop themselves, but I'm sure for the same price they'd let you do all the work too.

 

[blue4130]

In Beijing there is Photochance for processing color neg and e-6. There is Wanda for B&W (not sure about a website)

There is the big camera market at WuKeSong for all of your film needs.

 

[mawilliams]

I watched a documentary about the Viet Cong photojournlists who shot combat images for the VC and NVA during the Vietnam war. Those guys processed their film at night under a tarp in the dark of the jungle, rolling the film through a small amount of solution in a tea cup saucer, rolling from finger to finger. Then they had to run the film back out of the jungle and try not to get killed before getting it to the printer. Now THAT's hardcore photography.