Who says shooting film is expensive....

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

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

BIG W don't do E6.
They don't do 120.
They don't do black and white.
They do process 35mm C41, prices at my local are around the $6.99 mark for a roll of 24 exp, 36 exp are another dollar or two more, one hour processing another dollar surcharge on top. It's certainly not $6 for 36 exp. When was the last time you actually used them, because, going by your prices it has been a while, I was last at the local branch a week ago...

Colour neg in 35mm is really snapshot stuff for me but I know the lady in charge of the local and she still does a bit of film. I've had a few print glitches but no dev problems, but then most of the staff know me and know that if there is a problem I'll always follow it up. They've really been pretty good to deal with actually but I'm sure this varies greatly from store to store.

Regards,
Brett

 

[batterytypehah!]

snip -- Everything was done automatically by roller-transport machines -- snip

That's exactly what I want. I'll take a high-volume (or what passes for high volume these days) line over a small outfit any day. C-41 and E-6 are designed for that. The less somebody messes with the process, the better.

 

[Steve M.]

I've been saying this for years. The first person that markets an affordable machine that will process and scan your film for proofing in one operation (like the huge C-41 machines the1 hr labs use) will make a fortune. The problem is, getting any company to introduce a new product for film users, which I'm sure they think is essentially an obsolete medium, is really difficult. I understand developing and scanning, and there's no reason you couldn't build a smaller and cheaper machine like the big photo houses use at an affordable price. It's not a complicated affair, and all the existing technology has been in place for a looooong time. Businesses just have no interest in making anything like this. It's just absurd that there isn't something like that available now.

Film shooting is really affordable if you develop and scan (or make contact sheet proofs) yourself. Otherwise, be prepared to pay more and more in the future.

 

[batterytypehah!]

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.

I really don't get your reasoning here, Chris. Where are those people now, after Fuji closed the lab due to lack of demand? Would they like to have those jobs back, perhaps? By sending your own work elsewhere, didn't you contribute just a little bit to them being unemployed?

Your implication is that $8/hour is not fair (I fully agree) and that therefore, the quality must be crappy (which is flawed logic). I would argue that one can be unhappy with one's work and income and still do a good job. Why? Because you need the job, plain and simple. If not, then why are you there in the first place, not working somewhere else for better pay?

Lastly, first it was $7, now $8? I sure wouldn't mind an overnight 14% raise.

 

[umcelinho]

In Brazil, for developing and scanning at 3000x2000 I pay what would be roughly $8-10 and the turnaround is 1 day. I take them to a lab downtown. This lab won't do push process though... another lab develops for $2, pushing doubles the price and their scans costs around $5 (these prices are for 120/220 also), but it's pretty noisy and sharpened, colors are very shifted, i was quite a disappointment as they use a Coolscan 9000D and I got much better scans using my Epson Photo 3200 flatbed... So if I need to push a neg I'll develop there and then take to the other lab, totalling $20.

BW negs are $5-8 to develop only, regardless of format, and E6 is about $12-15, with pushing costing some extra bucks.

 

[Harry Caul]

I used my local "pro" lab until they blacked-out 4 rolls of 120... blamed it on bad chemicals. 🙄

Now I'm torn... $7.50 for dev and scans at Dwayne's or find a mail-order pro lab for ~$18.

 

[charjohncarter]

I've had some inconsistencies with them, too.

 

[LeicaFan]

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!

I'm not sure if there are any pro labs in the LA area that have a turn around time like that. If there were, I'd definitely send all of my film to a place like that.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I really don't get your reasoning here, Chris. Where are those people now, after Fuji closed the lab due to lack of demand? Would they like to have those jobs back, perhaps? By sending your own work elsewhere, didn't you contribute just a little bit to them being unemployed?

Your implication is that $8/hour is not fair (I fully agree) and that therefore, the quality must be crappy (which is flawed logic). I would argue that one can be unhappy with one's work and income and still do a good job. Why? Because you need the job, plain and simple. If not, then why are you there in the first place, not working somewhere else for better pay?

Lastly, first it was $7, now $8? I sure wouldn't mind an overnight 14% raise.

Back then Fuji paid a little more than the one hour labs in town did. Most labs here paid about $7, Fuji paid $8. Get it? Even $8 was still just a little more than half the basic minimum cost of living here. Most places pay $7.25 now, since thats the minimum wage.

I was once a manager at a Walgreens, low pay does not attract good people. It got us people who didn't care about the job, because the job literally was not worth anything and if they got fired they could get another job within days because there are so many low-wage employers and they all have high turnover. The good pro labs employ highly trained chemists and photographers. I won't work for that little, its basically slavery, and the attitude that you should be happy to get any job is why employers feel they can exploit people like that.

 

[Michael Markey]

My local lab does C41 development for $3.07 with a 15 minute turn around.

 

[Tompas]

Development 'negative only, no prints' was ridiculously cheap at the nearest drug store here in Germany, but a year ago or so they stopped accepting such orders, sending me my negatives with prints I didn't want and a CD I didn't want and a rather nice letter explaining so very few people nowadays wanted development only that they could not offer it anymore.

I've bought me a cheap Jobo DuoLab and have been developing my films myself since then. It's cheap and it's fun, too.

 

[batterytypehah!]

Back then Fuji paid a little more than the one hour labs in town did. Most labs here paid about $7, Fuji paid $8. Get it? Even $8 was still just a little more than half the basic minimum cost of living here. Most places pay $7.25 now, since thats the minimum wage.

I was once a manager at a Walgreens, low pay does not attract good people. It got us people who didn't care about the job, because the job literally was not worth anything and if they got fired they could get another **** job within days because there are so many low-wage employers and they all have high turnover. The good pro labs employ highly trained chemists and photographers. I won't work for that little, its basically slavery, and the attitude that you should be happy to get any job is why employers feel they can exploit people like that.

You gloss over the fact that in this thread alone, three posts (#22, 23 and 46) report complete losses at pro labs, versus some delays, scratches, and unspecified inconsistencies at Walmart/Fuji and Dwayne's. I know which of these two risks I would pick.

I fully appreciate that as a pro, you have to have a different mindset about this, and by all means you should recommend a lab that's consistently been doing a good job for you.

 

[cosmonaut]

That's why I don't shoot to much color film any more, the cost. I do my B&Ws in house.

 

[olleorama]

I used to pay about 6-7 dollars per roll (either 135 or 120) for c41, dev only, no sleeves, no prints, no scan. There are still quite a few good labs around here, most offer push and pull processing, and cross processing, and this is in a medium sized town in the culturually starved scandinavia.

Bought a five liter digibase kit, did 22 rolls on the first liter, will now have to mix more colour developer, but that first liter saved me about 90 usd, if I don't consider my effort, and I have four more liters to go. Cheap, yes. Fun, no.

Fun is photography and printing, not lab work. Good thing is I now have zero back log for the first time in ages. Will probably have forgotten how boring development is until next time.