The sky is falling and the world is coming to an end, part 8. (Costco and film)

[jsrockit]

Is this why your insisting on choosing digital?

It is not what this thread was about! :bang:

I have a feeling that Frank was joking... since he uses film and digital.

 

[divewizard]

The Noritsu scanners Precision Camera and North Coast Photo use do a much better job than the older scanners Costco and many photo labs use.

Both of these labs do excellent work.

Here are my photos scanned by PCV

Here are my photos scanned by NCPS

I send almost all of my C-41 to PCV, and B+W and E-6 to NCPS. They both do an excellent job on both, but PCV is the best value for any C-41.

 

[Samouraï]

Quality digital will out do film by a country mile. I would not dream of using color film ever again. B&W, I can mix chemicals pretty quick and the darkroom is still there.

Doesn't the analogue nature of colour film allow it colour depth far greater than anything achievable with a digital camera? Seems like a silly thing to say to me.

If your workflow necessitates scanning film, then the weak point is the digital processing, not the acquisition format.

 

[Sparrow]

So ... what is this Costco of which you speak? ... asking as fifth yorkshireman

 

[Frank Petronio]

So ... what is this Costco of which you speak? ... asking as fifth yorkshireman

It's a major Obama donor version of the Walmart discount all-in-one bulk-buying stores, mostly located in higher income suburban regions of the USA. It's known for paying its employees living wages as opposed to its competitors who don't pay as well, so you got slightly better service from higher quality workers. Until recently you could get your tires changed and buy drugs and washing machines, as well as film processing.

 

[Bill Clark]

Who is Costco? I never go there. My time is worth something! Our daughter and her family belong. Where they live (LA) it's busy everywhere!

I develop and print my own film. Now it's only black and white.

Color I only use digital now and the lab I still use it's at my door the next day!

 

[Nathan King]

Shipping included I'm paying right around $30 per roll of 35mm and $27 for a roll of 120 (develop and scan to 16x20 at 200dpi) ... Unless I'm doing my own black and white. I've tried local labs but always end up with spots/streaks on my negatives and dusty, poorly adjusted scans.

That said, I get stunning results. It's amazing what they can do with a poorly exposed negative. www.richardphotolab.com

 

[Ranchu]

It's a major Obama donor version

You say that like it's a bad thing, 5 years on the worlds a much better place, don't you think?

😀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW9b0xr06qA

 

[rfaspen]

I so very much wish I could get film processed and scanned for $5. As it is, I'm thankful one of the local grocery stores (yes, grocery store, its called Fred Meyer) still develops and scans film. I can't take anything special to them, scratched negs and botched scans are too common. But, I shoot enough C-41 on a casual basis that I find them useful. About $15 for the hit-or-miss service.

B+W: kitchen sink + scanner. I used to have a Plustek 7200i scanner that did the job for me (recently broke, looking for a replacement). You'll get lots of opinions about scanners, but there is a distinct threshold in scan quality/ability among the choices out there. Make sure you get one somewhere above that threshold and you'll be happy with it (considering you're happy with Costco scans). Scanning for me is not as tedious as it could be. I typically find a few negs from a roll that I would like scanned and just do those. It's easy enough to put the negs on a light table and "scan" them with a loupe to find the keepers. No need to scan all the rejects 🙂

 

[Sparrow]

It's a major Obama donor version of the Walmart discount all-in-one bulk-buying stores, mostly located in higher income suburban regions of the USA. It's known for paying its employees living wages as opposed to its competitors who don't pay as well, so you got slightly better service from higher quality workers. Until recently you could get your tires changed and buy drugs and washing machines, as well as film processing.

... that's handy to know, although I don't recall seeing much of them when I was over there

 

[Frank Petronio]

You say that like it's a bad thing, 5 years on the worlds a much better place, don't you think?

😀

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW9b0xr06qA

Just an observation that Costco expands in Blue States and Walmart in Red, I think I was pretty neutral (for me that is). But thanks for making me feel bad that we don't home school ;-p

 

[trip-xa]

My Costco dropped it and another one near my office still has it, but I bought the color kit from Freestlye and scanned it myself on my Epson 4490 (far from the best they offer). The results were good enough for me.


Chrysler 300 - Unicolor C-41 test - Summitar 5 cm by Fogel's Focus, on Flickr


Red is the Hydrant - Unicolor C-41 test by Fogel's Focus, on Flickr

 

[Scrambler]

Until recently you could get your tires changed and buy drugs and washing machines, as well as film processing.

I wasn't sure if this was a deliberate attempt to poke fun at other forms of English, until even Sparrow (speaking as a fifth Yorkshireman) took it at face value.

Here in Oz you may well be able to buy drugs at the equivalent of Costco, but then "drugs" in Australia means the same as "narcotics" in the USA.

But sadly you can no longer process film.

Oh, and it's spelled "tyres." ;-)

 

[froyd]

The problem with drugs at Costco is that you have to buy in bulk 😛

 

[Dralowid]

It's a major Obama donor version of the Walmart discount all-in-one bulk-buying stores, mostly located in higher income suburban regions of the USA. It's known for paying its employees living wages as opposed to its competitors who don't pay as well, so you got slightly better service from higher quality workers. Until recently you could get your tires changed and buy drugs and washing machines, as well as film processing.

I enjoyed this post, a touch of transatlantic cynicism perhaps? An art that we Brits consider our own???

You can buy film at the UK's biggest supermarket chain but no one at the Customer Services Desk can tell you where to get it processed...

 

[thegman]

At least I can still look forward to the posts from our friends down under who complain about $18 a roll slide film, as a twisted way of cheering me up!😛

Sorry to diminish your cheer, but I can get a roll of C41 35mm film developed in Australia for $4 ($3.60 USD):

http://hillvale.com.au/pricelist

Or $8 with tiny wee scans.

 

[thegman]

A digi cam is freedom from corporate profit culture. Rent something decent as they handle like real cameras if you get something like a Nikon D600. Even a D7000 APS takes pics comparable to my Leica M8. I have compared. D7100 should be even better.

Quality digital will out do film by a country mile. I would not dream of using color film ever again. B&W, I can mix chemicals pretty quick and the darkroom is still there.

Interesting point of view about corporate profit culture. I'm not convinced that buying film from say Ilford, is propping up corporate greed. Or indeed from Kodak, which is now owned by a pension fund.

Also 'out do' film. What does that actually mean?

 

[edge100]

Develop it yourself for ~$1 per roll, and invest in a $250 Pakon F-135+. Problem solved.

 

[VertovSvilova]

So ... what is this Costco of which you speak? ... asking as fifth yorkshireman

http://www.costco.co.uk/

http://www.mystore411.com/store/listing/1/united kingdom/Costco-store-locations

 

[Bingley]

Lucky you. The $5 special is something worth celebrating. Use it while it last.

My Costco was one of the last hold outs in the Pennsylvania area. The lab manager is the treasurer of our local photo club so took great care of the work and the machines.

They still continue to develop film and print from it (which is NOT optical--so they must scan first!) BUT they no longer burn scans to disc. They stopped restocking CDs a few weeks ago, and when supply ended the burner was removed as well and the service eliminated. Boo!


PS- I'm thought this post would go above some people' head, but I thought adding "part 8" to the title would make it clear I'm not another prophet in the wilderness decrying the death of film. I'm just bitching about having to enter the real world of $15 development and mail-order service. But I well aware I'm just doing what many other film users have been doing for years.

I assume that my luck will end one day, my Costco will cease scanning film, and the sky will then fall on me. But for now, I get CDs w/ decent scans when I take C41 film there for development. I do all the other stuff myself at home. Oh, and its a little over $8 per roll of 36 exposure 35mm film.