Who says shooting film is expensive....

[batterytypehah!]

Last time I checked the local Kodak one hour at 'The Gap' not far from where I live was still developing C41. The guy who owns and runs the place used to work for Olympus back in the days of the OM-1s and 2s and although they are lucky to get a couple of rolls a day he keeps the machine operating. He did tell me though that when it becomes unservicable that's it ... no more film!

Currently they don't turn the machine on until midday to conserve it's use as much as possible.

That's a familiar tune. Don't know about Oz but here in the US, what's still keeping minilabs going is single-use cameras. There's still a market for those. Every convenience store or gas station still seems to sell them, long after rolls of 135 have disappeared from their shelves.

 

[Chris C]

I've had my fair share of nightmares, even with paying $12-15 per roll or per sheet of 4x5. The straw that broke this camels back was getting a bunch of 4x5 negs cross processed when not asked to. Now I'm b&w and C-41 only, and I do everything at home. Cost's down to somewhere between $1-2 per roll/sheet, the results are just as good and the dust control is significantly better. It's a shame but at least I've found a very viable and improved alternative.

 

[cnphoto]

No 1 hour places left in Australia?

There's one near me, and they're cheap too! My friend just got back a 120 roll of Portra 800 that looked like it had been sitting in a pot of coffee for a week! I showed him my first home developed C41 roll I did the day before, came out perfect - pity we can't ship liquid chemicals else I'd even consider looking into E6 processing just to have done it. So far powder C41 kit seems to suffice for me.

Last "pro" developed roll of C41 I had was a roll of Portra 800 too,shot at 1600 (hand metered) with a note for +2 push which cost additional - came back so thin it looked like it'd just been waved through the fumes of the chemicals. a few years ago I had a B&W roll lab developed that came back just as thin, $20 for the pleasure too. These where from one of the very few pro labs left in Sydney - what a joke.

DIY till I (or film) die.

 

[JayC]

This is using which channels?

I'm extremely pleased with sending 120 to Fuji via Walmart. If you can live with the two week wait, the price is unbeatable. 84 cents for sleeved and cut negs, no prints. $2 and change, IIRC, with prints. The number of exposures on the roll doesn't seem to make a difference in price.

Just cross out the standard choices and write what you need in the special instructions box. "Send out only, 120 format, C-41, develop + 1 set prints" works for me.

I tried Wal-Mart the first time, but they are 10 miles away. I am now using the Rite-Aid that is only 200 meters from my house. I thought they were only 1-hour processing until I tried to have them do that and they told me they dropped that and now send everything out to Fuji.

I have a roll of 120 E6 that should be ready this evening. I await the surprise pricing....

 

[Keith]

Actually I was checking current prices of the last lab I used which was Allchromes in Brisbane. Here's a few shockers for you!

develop (only) black and white film ... $14.00

C41 develop only ... $10.00

scanning of 120 film ... basic jpeg $16.50

scanning of 120 film ... high res tif $46.00

When you look at these prices and consider that a roll of Tri X or HP5 will set you back ten to twelve dollars at local prices in Oz it becomes an expensive hobby if you pay retail for film and outsource your developing.

 

[tunalegs]

Wow, last time I requested development only some place local it only cost like $2.

 

[deerstalkr]

Although I would like to get my fingers wet in developing my own film, I'm afraid that being a full time student doesn't give me much time to develop my own film without falling behind. It doesn't give me time to seek part-time jobs to pay for having film developed by a professional lab either. 🙁

 

[SYD_TRIBE]

I must admit I only had one roll developed at that price. I had planned to develop them in bulk to receive a discount from the lab. I've read enough to be as confident as I could be to develop film for the first time. I may just do that in the following week.

It's a shame that the one hour labs have gone out of business. A local family owned lab decided to shut down last year. It was actually quite sad to see it go as it has been there for as long as I could remember.

Kodak Express at Norton Plaza, Leichhardt..about $13 for 1 hr processing

 

[JayC]

$8.99 for this last roll of 120 slide developing. It's a completely random price table they are using.

 

[LeicaFan]

Here in Australia, it costs $15 for a roll of 35mm negative film, $30 for a roll of e6, $10 to develop them, and $10-20 to scan them.

So yeah, it's pretty expensive considering that 10 rolls of 35mm film would cost $400 to buy, develop and scan.

Wow, that's extreme.

At my local Costco, it costs less than $5 (yes, $5) to develop a roll of film (36exp) and have it scanned and put on a DVD. Costco quality is obviously not the best, but for less than $5, I'm not complaining. 😱

 

[tomalophicon]

You Aussies are getting ripped off. At Big-W they develop and print a 36 exposure roll for only 6 dollars.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

If you are a decent photographer wanting decent processing, you shouldn't be sending it to crappy chain-store labs that employ $7 an hour 'techs' with no knowledge of what they're doing. I sent my film to a pro lab in Chicago after my trip to New Mexico last month because there are no decent labs in Indiana anymore and I didn't want the film screwed up.

 

[dave lackey]

If you are a decent photographer wanting decent processing, you shouldn't be sending it to crappy chain-store labs that employ $7 an hour 'techs' with no knowledge of what they're doing. I sent my film to a pro lab in Chicago after my trip to New Mexico last month because there are no decent labs in Indiana anymore and I didn't want the film screwed up.

+1 on that, Chris... Agree 100%!🙂

 

[batterytypehah!]

^ and ^^
Sigh. Walmart doesn't develop. The development is done by Fuji.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

^ and ^^
Sigh. Walmart doesn't develop. The development is done by Fuji.

Fuji used to have one of their big labs here in Ft.Wayne that did work for Walmart and other big retailers. They hired people with zero photo knowledge and paid them $8 an hour. Just as bad as if Walmart did it. I knew people that worked at the Fuji lab here. Everything was done automatically by roller-transport machines, which should NEVER, EVER be used for important work. Good labs use dip and dunk systems.

 

[zgeeRF]

What is a typical turnaround time for processing with Precision? They advertise a good price here.

 

[LeicaFan]

If you are a decent photographer wanting decent processing, you shouldn't be sending it to crappy chain-store labs that employ $7 an hour 'techs' with no knowledge of what they're doing. I sent my film to a pro lab in Chicago after my trip to New Mexico last month because there are no decent labs in Indiana anymore and I didn't want the film screwed up.

I agree, but if you know that your roll wasn't going to come out the way that you wanted or if you weren't taking "serious" pictures, there is no point in sending in your film and waiting weeks just to get the best results. In some cases, having your film developed at a chain store is ok.

 

[Gereonb]

In the UK Jessops high street stores develop&scan for £2 a roll C-41 / 36frames.
Their scans are only 3MB though so i bought a MInolta Dimage III for £90.
I now buy Colour Film for £1 a roll and develop 20 rolls in a tetenal kit which costs me £20 a batch, so you can see developing now only costs me £1 a roll, i still scan myself.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I agree, but if you know that your roll wasn't going to come out the way that you wanted or if you weren't taking "serious" pictures, there is no point in sending in your film and waiting weeks just to get the best results. In some cases, having your film developed at a chain store is ok.

Good pro labs do E-6 with same day turn-around. I sent mine to Chicago on Monday and had them back Wednesday. I'm a 3 hour drive from Chicago, so UPS ground delivers next day without paying for next day shipping!

 

[efix]

I am SO happy to be living in Germany for once. Depending on the brand and type, I pay as little as 1 € for a roll of film (generic 200 ISO colour negative), and as much as 10 € (Velvia 50), developing C-41 costs 1 € per roll, developing E-6 costs 2 € per roll. (I currently don't recall the prices for B&W, but they're about the same.)

So, shooting film really isn't very expensive over here, and so much more fun than digital ;-)