APS film processing

I am trying to locate a processing lab for APS film that still prints the APS cartridge ID number and the date that the picture was taken (not the date the film is processed/printed) on the back of each print.

I would prefer a location in Louisiana if possible, but any lab in the US will be fine.

Kodak technical support tells me that CVS Pharmacies and Target stores have that capability, but I have contacted all of these labs in my city (Shreveport) with no success.

How does the film know the date the picture was taken? I suppose that's one of the Advanced things about APS. Kodak won't tell you (or won't know) about labs that don't use Kodak equipment, such as my local Walgreens (and perhaps my local Wal-Mart, I can't remember). The Walgreens I know uses a Fuji minilab, and they print on the back of the prints using dot-matrix.

APS cameras (at least the two we have here) have a clock/calendar built in. The timestamp data is encoded on a magnetic strip on the film. along with the selected format -- with some cameras you could even encode the number of prints on a picture by picture basis. Of course that's no guarantee the processing machinery pays any attention to the data.

DaveT

For the 2 months that it has left, all Kodak/Qualex send-out services print the date the image was taken on the back. Beware that the services will end at the end of March.

Kodak/Qualex in Dallas could not do the processing that I had requested for APS film (that is, printing the date that the photo was taken on the back of each print), but they referred me to Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas. So far, I have had some film developed and printed and some other APS film reprinted. Not only do they print the date that the photo was taken on the back of each print, but also print the date on the front of each print. They also do Kodachrome processing as well as black & white. Their service is prompt, reliable, and reasonably priced.

We are the sucessor company to the Konica Minolta Photo Express operation here in Maine. (I was the head of I.T. and Digital Photofinishing for Konica for nearly 30 years.) Provided that there is no damage to the film or mag strip, we backprint the prints with the cartridge ID and date exposed, etc. Of course, in the event that there is an issue with the film, cartridge or mag strip, the backprinting may not include all the standard APS backprint info. We intend to continue offering APS & 35mm film processing as long as we're in business!

Andy Tabor
Focused on You
153 U.S. Route One, Suite 1
Scarborough, ME 04074-9052
207-883-7363
www.focusedonyou.biz