Walgreens Film Users Beware! Your Negatives will be Destroyed If....

[whitecat]

I used to use Gamma in Chicago also. They are up to $13.50 a roll processing only. Another one I have used for processing only is Dalmation. Good to see there are still places we can get B/W processing when I don't have the time to do it at home.

 

[willie_901]

Those who pay for quality only cry once.

 

[traveler_101]

Thank goodness I read this thread. While 99% of my development is b&w rolls that i process myself, I have in the past done a very limited amount of colour shooting and have taken the rolls to Walmart or Walgreen when i am in the States -- as recently as 18 months Walgreen processed a couple of rolls--and promptly destroyed one, but the other had the negatives at least.

We talk about film sales holding up and think, perhaps, of people like ourselves. I wonder what percentage of film use is actually in the hands of "holdover" customers that use Walmart or the equivalent? I am talking point-and-shooters who just want snaps . . . and don't give a sh** about their negatives anyway. People like my 67 year old brother-in-law who puts through a couple of rolls a year and just never quite made the transition to digital, or, my wife's old auntie: 85 years old with a fixed focus, automatic advance film camera.This would be 99.9% colour film, I would think. There must be quite a few of them otherwise these big chain stores wouldn't bother retaining their service. In a few years this will all disappear.

 

[tunalegs]

There is still a CVS and a Walgreens nearby that process film. Problem is both of them make garbage prints. C-41 prints have all been garbage at these stores since they ditched the old Kodak machines that printed using optical enlargements and switched those truly wretched Fuji machines that make enlargements from crappy scans.
There is a very noticeable drop in quality in the family photo album between all prints made up to the mid 2000s and everything made after, and it is frankly sort of heartbreaking.

My personal conspiracy theory is that Fuji wanted to make sure prints from film looked as bad as those made by point and shoot digital cameras so they could kill off film faster. :angel:

 

[traveler_101]

. . .
My personal conspiracy theory is that Fuji wanted to make sure prints from film looked as bad as those made by point and shoot digital cameras so they could kill off film faster. :angel:

Finally someone said it: I've been wanting to take a shot at Fuji for a long time. While one can understand that such a big firm must move on past film, my impression is that they have been ruthless in pursuing their transition (correct me if i am wrong) and certainly their attitude has created a lot of momentum against the survival of film.

 

[John E Earley]

I save all my time and money by destroying the negatives prior to development.

 

[Timmyjoe]

My local Walgreens is one of the few in our area that still does the film processing in house, so I don't have this issue yet. Once they shut that down, not sure where I'm going to get color film processed.

 

[Solinar]

....... they ditched the old Kodak machines that printed using optical enlargements and switched those truly wretched Fuji machines that make enlargements from crappy scans.

I noticed the same drop in image quality and guessed it was the scans. The new print processors are set up to receive downloaded images from the customer self-serve kiosks located at the counter.

Even at the two local independent camera shops, scratched C41 negs are a common enough occurrence, that I may start developing C41 at home.

 

[willie_901]

...
Even at the two local independent camera shops, scratched C41 negs are a common enough occurrence, that I may start developing C41 at home.

Good plan.

All you need is minimalistic temperature control. Aquariums and related heating control devices can often be found at garage sales. All you have to do is make sure the aquariums don't leak, buy a decent digital thermometer and be patient enough to let the temperature(s) equilibrate.

 

[wblynch]

Regarding print quality. It might be that they are using those new "dry lab" printers, which stabs the heart even worse.

At least give us wet prints on high quality paper. Not that tissue-thin cheap crap that you can see right through without even holding it up to a light.

I guess that's what we get for demanding ten cent 4x6's.

Damn Wal-mart mentality.

 

[hendriphile]

Here is their latest processing ad. Nowhere does it describe the mandatory instant destruction of all your negatives before you even see them.

And the sign over the photo counter said "We process your film!", not "We process and destroy your film!"

We hand in unprocessed film; and for a fee, we expect to receive back processed film (up to now, I guess).

 

[Ron-M]

My local Walgreen's develops film for approximately $6.75 a roll for 35 mm. Just across the street the Rite aide develops film for about $2.29 a roll for 35mm. I'm talking negatives only for my own scanning. I learned to not to go to Right aide on the weekend. The very fat and rude lady who did the processing on the weekend asked me what I wanted in a very rude manner, like I really put her off because I asked her to do something. The Walgreen's development was about the same as Rite aides but much more money for the same thing. During the week the Right aide development was spot on with very friendly service but on the weekend the negs were scratched and looked like they had been dragged around on the floor by the fat lady.

To make a long story short, Walgreen's bought out Rite aide and now they offer service where they send out your film with no negatives back and a crappy CD of your pictures. I'm glad I kept my Jobo but it was sure convenient to go to Rite aide(other than the weekend) to get excellent development of my C41 process film inexpensively in about an hour and only have to scan with my trusty Nikon scanner.