$24 to get a roll of 120 pulled one stop - did I get ripped off?

LFman · Nov 29, 2011

I've shot 120 for a while and am only now getting ready to process my own at home. I dropped in a couple of rolls to a photo place here for processing (incl. pulling 1 stop) and got charged $24 per roll - $14 normal processing and $10 to pull. How much do you/have you paid? This is in Australia, but the amount is about the same as USD.

Just need to figure out how to put the extra rollers on my Jobo and no more expensive processing for me.

E76 · Nov 29, 2011

In the US those prices would be considered outrageous. I pay $5.75 per roll for E6 and an extra $1.50 for push/pull.

ozphoto · Nov 29, 2011

Never processed B&W film at a lab before (do it myself) but in Adelaide, one lab charges per the following:

http://www.blackandwhitephoto.com.au/professional-photographers/bw-neg-print.php

Of course, pricing will depend on where you are, and where you take it. Personally, I prefer to do it myself: I can match my film with the dev (if needed) and tweak as I see fit, depending upon the situation. I also enjoy the time to do so - lets me wind down after shooting commercially for weeks on end.

jmck · Nov 29, 2011

I am in California and the last roll of 120 E-6 I had Done Cost me $15.00 and took 7 days to do it In house and I went to pick it up after 7 days
and got yelled at for showing up 10 Min before the time they had put on the tag, I went back the next day and picked it up and have not been Back in the shop since and it will be a cold day in h### before I go back.
Now I Mail my 120 to a shop 500 miles away and it is returned in 7 days and cost $5.50 a roll plus postage ( 6 to 8 rolls in a box Postage is $3.75 for all) So i think we both
got ripped off.
Some photo shops seam to think if they are the only ones for 150 miles they can charge as much as they want and you are a captive customer .

freecom2 · Nov 29, 2011

UK prices: a pushed/pulled roll of C-41/E-6 120 developing would be £3.82, checking my local lab's prices.

polyglot · Nov 29, 2011

That's pretty damn high. Last I checked, the best (and most expensive) pro lab in Adelaide charges $12.50 for E6 and $9.50 for C41, so regardless of the $10 pull fee, that's a ripoff.

hoffy · Nov 29, 2011

Is it traditional B&W (I am assuming, since you are posting here)? Atkins will charge $25 per roll (yes, $25) to process B&W....but they do it by hand, just like us home jocky's.

Rick A · Nov 29, 2011

Hmm... Maybe I need to change my prices for developing other peoples film.

2F/2F · Nov 29, 2011

That is insane unless you are also getting proofs or good quality scans. I've paid at most $10 for a pushed roll of 120, and I considered that to be a rip off...though at least it was very high quality dip-n-dunk processing.

BrianShaw · Nov 29, 2011

I couldn't afford to be a photographer in Australia if the prices are all like that!

Bob-D659 · Nov 29, 2011

Pricing might have something to do with the population differences, 22.7 million in Oz, vs 37.2 million in US-CA and 307 million in the US.

Pull processing for a roll of B&W is in the $20 range here in CA(Canada).

vpwphoto · Nov 29, 2011

High, but not high if it were one fee applied to a batch.
It's getting to be a sellers market for lab services again.

Jeff Kubach · Nov 29, 2011

That is a bit stiff, I would look else where!

Jeff

BrianShaw · Nov 29, 2011

Bob-D659 said:
Pricing might have something to do with the population differences, 22.7 million in Oz, vs 37.2 million in Cali and 307 million in the US.

Pull processing for a roll of B&W is in the $20 range here in Canada.

Agreed, but I really wish you'd stop using that expression.

Bob-D659 · Nov 29, 2011

Ok, I edited and changed my post.

John R. · Nov 29, 2011

It's very high compared to the market here in the SE US, but things are relative. Perhaps their costs are considerable in Australia. You need to compare apples to apples. Check with other labs down under. Good luck.

Jeff Searust · Nov 29, 2011

MattKing · Nov 29, 2011

If a lab isn't otherwise running reasonable volumes of Black & White, and they have to do a special run just for your film, the lab will lose money at that fair but admittedly expensive price.

If the lab provides custom processing for every batch of Black & White they process (individual adjustments) then the price is fair (compare with Elevator in Toronto).

The only factors that permit labs to charge low prices are volume, mechanization and standardization over many rolls.

So before you leave a film with any lab, make no assumptions about either: 1) type of service being provided and 2) the price.

Now it may be that the OP made those enquiries before leaving the film, and is just now trying to get some perspective on what the lab charged.

Gerald C Koch · Nov 29, 2011

A 1 stop over exposure is well within the latitude of BW film. The film can be developed normally and during printing just increase exposure to "punch through" the extra density. Many people do this routinely to insure good shadow detail. Chalk it up to learning an expensive lesson.

postalman · Nov 29, 2011

In Aus there is 1 place (maybe 1 or 2 smaller places) that do B&W, and they outsource for everybody. They have enough business that they don't bother processing colour or offer any services other than B&W process/print. They charge $15/roll, and use a very limited range of chemicals to stay consistent. Their focus is exhibition quality and fine art, but since they're the only game in town they also do any hipster/holga/junk rolls that you drop off at your local shop.

In Sydney (pop ~4.5M) there are about 3-4 places that do colour 120 and they all charge $10.

The biggest issue is that there is like 1 distributor in the country, and they distribute for all the manufacturers so they have a virtual monopoly on film and chemistry. I'll bet that that's where the ludicrous mark-up is and all our money is going.

Bob Carnie · Nov 29, 2011

At Elevator we charge $45 per run, single shot all chems, 4 rolls of 120 or 6 rolls of 35 or 10 sheets of 4x5, or 5 sheets of 8x10. We can do up to 16 x20 .
as you can see single shot and one run at a time, if you have one roll of anything to run then it is $45 bucks( we do not hold single rolls until enough clients walk in the door, and rarely do we do a single roll run. Our turn around is about 3-6 days .
I am about to process a single job that consists of 300 4x5, 200 8x10 and 50 rolls of 120,all single shot in Pyro, this will work out to about 85 runs that I have to inspect each film as it comes off and then contact them. To me our prices are fair as this is a lot of work and considering the film, travel,time from work for the photographer our film processing is minimal.

MattKing said:
If a lab isn't otherwise running reasonable volumes of Black & White, and they have to do a special run just for your film, the lab will lose money at that fair but admittedly expensive price.

If the lab provides custom processing for every batch of Black & White they process (individual adjustments) then the price is fair (compare with Elevator in Toronto).

The only factors that permit labs to charge low prices are volume, mechanization and standardization over many rolls.

So before you leave a film with any lab, make no assumptions about either: 1) type of service being provided and 2) the price.

Now it may be that the OP made those enquiries before leaving the film, and is just now trying to get some perspective on what the lab charged.

John_B · Nov 29, 2011

D & P prices

Hi..in Brisbane I recently paid $25 to have a 12 exp 120 processed C41, printed and images scanned to a CD ... is that pretty much the norm?? I process the B&W myself...$15 per roll for developing is a bit rich!

hoffy · Nov 29, 2011

John_B said:
Hi..in Brisbane I recently paid $25 to have a 12 exp 120 processed C41, printed and images scanned to a CD ... is that pretty much the norm?? I process the B&W myself...$15 per roll for developing is a bit rich!

John,
Again, as others have suggested, its all relevant.

Was the 120 processed by dip and dunk? How was it scanned.

Locally (Adelaide), 120 including scanning can be done for around $10 to $12, but that is on a roller transport machine (mini lab) and auto scan. To have it done in a dip and dunk machine and hand scanned, I would expect to pay around $25.

Smudger · Nov 29, 2011

Here in New Zealand, typical lab charge for B&W is NZ$15-16 a roll.
I offer custom process, XTOL or Rodinal for $6.50 a roll and have plenty of customers.
You could be one of them..

tomalophicon · Nov 29, 2011

Send your C-41 120 to Fletcher's in Bega. It's 5 bucks a roll without no scans or prints... Not sure about pushing or pulling.

$24 to get a roll of 120 pulled one stop - did I get ripped off?

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