What to do with backlog of film to be developed?? Help please...

[jbf]

Hi all,

I'm about to head home for my 10 day trip around San Francisco and the Bay Area... Anyway I have a TON of film that i shot... As it stands now I will need to develop the rolls in "batches". Such as one month do five rolls or so and then another five another month, etc.

My question is how should I store the film? Should I put it in the fridgerator or freezer? The film obviously has been exposed... i just want to make sure the emulsions or film doesnt go bad before i have a chance to develop it.


Anyway, thanks so much guys.

 

[rxmd]

A freezer is a good idea. Maybe before freezing them put them in a bag with a couple of desiccating packs of silica gel to get out any excess moisture, if any.

Then again, how much is a "ton"? And why can you only develop five rolls of film a month? Assuming that you shoot only one or two types of film, what's stopping you from getting a big tank for four rolls of film and then developing them in batches of eight or twelve per evening? That should take care of your films pretty quickly.

Philipp

 

[jbf]

Well a lot of it is color film, which i have no way of doing myself.


The black and white i can do myself no problem.

 

[kully]

I've been getting negs and slides back from film that I shot last year / this spring. The film was kept behind my wine in the larder, I can't tell the difference between the older stuff and film I shot last month.

fridge/freezer sounds good though, but as rxmd said - moisture is not your friend so a freezer bag or two to put it in would be in order.

 

[RML]

Before going digital, I also came home with a ton of colour film (like 30-50 rolls, depending on how long I was away). I just got it all developed in one go. Then it would take me just 1 hour or two days to get the film back. And then another 3 months to scan it all. 🙂

 

[titrisol]

Ahhh money is the issue.
Get the oldest/fastest film developed first.
You can put it in the fridge if you plan to keep it for more than 6 months, otherwise just keep it inside a closet that is cool all the time

 

[rxmd]

How many colour films are we talking about? Is cost the issue against dropping them all off at a minilab and getting them developed + scanned?

 

[jbf]

Yeah, cost is the main issue... I would prefer to be able to get them developed + scanned but there arnt many viable alternatives to that in my area.

I dont trust wallgreens or cvs to develop any of my films....

Also i've got quite a bit of medium format rolls as well and most labs such as costco or walmart sam's club wont do medium format for me.

 

[MartinP]

Maybe you could look on this as an opportunity to get a volume-discount price, at some good lab somewhere ?!

 

[lns]

I would also recommend asking a local photo store or lab for a volume discount, but you actually can go to Walmart for your medium format film. A lot of people rave about them for medium format film development at low prices. Also, a lot of mini-lab type places process medium format film: even Moto Photo will develop and scan medium format color film.

Perhaps you could drop one roll off for a test run at a few local places and see?

See this thread for some specific cost comparisons and recommendations: http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00MJbb

 

[clintock]

I've been sending 35mm to clark for years and never had any problems or lost film.
http://www.clarkcolor.com/
The color balance of the scans they supply to download of some fuji films seems a bit off compared to kodak, but the prints from the fuji always look fine, as do prints from kodak negs. They don't do mf though. But they will do conventional BW in 35mm- I assume in tmax or something sort-of universal if such a developer exists.
The slides come back in kodak boxes and holders.

 

[Thardy]

Walmart sends the film to another lab experienced in med format. Prices are not too high.

 

[jbf]

What kind of prices are we talking about for Walmart, etc?

I had someone mention some lab in New York (i think) called something like... ABC labs or AMC or ACM labs? I cant remember. Anyone know of this company perhaps? Or any other good professional labs that i can also use to pick from?

Thanks for Clark lab link as well. I'll be checking into them too.

Thanks guys. Keep the suggestions coming if you can. 😀

 

[jbf]

Oh, i also forgot to ask...

does anyone know of any mail in services or even walmart or other stores that will do scans of a quite larger file resolution that dont kill you on prices?

I'm thinking something like 3,000 x whatever? Definately larger than 1,024 or even 2,048?

I like to use my large file sizes so i can do photoshop touchup work to adjust colors, contrast, etc.... basically evertyhing you would do in a traditional darkroom.

 

[Sisyphus]

Well, I usually just keep my film in the refrigerator, until I can get it processed. I keep it in zip lock bags. I actually live in the bay area, most of the time I do not even put my film away in the fridge. If I know it will be a while, then I will.

Also inreference to developing, printing, and scanning, I sometimes take my film to photoworks, in San Francisco. It is located on Market and Church streets.

What I like about them is that they have several different ways to print your film onto paper, matt or glossy, then borderless or clean white border or sloppy border.

I usually go for the sloppy border, matt finish.

If you are processing 6x6 they will offer two different print sizes 5x5 and 6x6.

Hope this helps! You can find them online and see if this is what you are looking for--their ustomer service is quite good.