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Cheapest place to develop film?

Just got slides back from Wal-mart/fuji. $6.88 for a roll of 36. No scans as I scan them myself for sharing/archiving. Then they'll go into the projector.
 
Later today I will drop off a 24 exp roll of color print film. D&P will cost about $13. The way I am leaning is that I will continue to shoot color print film but that I will have negatives made and scan them myself. My wife will be getting me a scanner for my birthday. I think it will be an Epson V600. I will be able to scan up to medium format and make prints at home with an inkjet printer. The local processor develops the film, scans it and prints it out on RA4 paper, which I like. In most respects the RA4 paper is better than the inkjet paper I will use. I enjoy using my film cameras and shooting film but a large volume of film with D&P is expensive. My expectations for the Epson scaner are modest. If I can make 4X6 and 5X7 prints from 35mm film with some cropping I will be happy. If I need an 8X10 or larger then the lab has a scanner adequate for that. Very few people do home projection printing of color negatives or color slides. I think the hybrid system of scanning negatives or slides and making at least the 4X6 prints with an inkjet or dye sublimation printer will be a good compromise for people who still want to shoot color film but don't want to spend the money to print every frame.

The history of digital shooting is that more and more exposures are made every year but the percentage of them printed is lower and lower. This may make sense for the environment by using fewer materials. Some people are satisfied to see images on a monitor and don't feel the need to see them printed on paper. When I shoot with a digital camera, even if I have the lab make the prints, I never leave the memory card and just ask for every image to be printed. As more people go to the shoot many, print few model, the practice of printing every shot on a roll of film will not be as popular.
 

get ready for the frustration from scanning.

My solution? Shoot medium format
 
Near where I live Costco still develop 35 mm c-41 film for less then $4.50 for a 24 exp. roll.

Jeff
 
I do also shoot medium format. There is a roll of Ektar 100 in one of my Bronica SQ-A cameras.
 
the best solution is find a little mini lab that you want to keep in business
and take your film to them. i used to take my film to sam's until they got rid
of their send out service ( it was fuji and good, and CHEAP ) then i went to walmart ( still fuji but at least 2x the price ) and now i realize
that a local mom and pop is less then fuji and no 2 week wait ...

parkpy said:
get ready for the frustration from scanning.

My solution? Shoot medium format
Click to expand...


what frustrations are they ?
i have been doing that since the 1990s and not
had any sort of frustrations ...

john
 
After reading this it probably is less expensive for me to do bw film myself!
 
develop film

I was in an adjacent town and took my film into a 1 hour place. The pictures are all muddy looking and the CD they did of the scans would not download all the way, plus I paid about $ 16 for a 36 exposure roll. Never again will I use them. I will send them off to NCPS for about the same price and get much better results.

DaveO
 
NCPS?
 
I happen to be living in Grand Prairie, TX, so here's what I got:

Wal-Mart: They do send their film to Fuji (7-day turnaround time) color: $6.88/B+W: $7.44/slides: they don't process slides/E-6 AFAIK.

There are at least two labs in Uptown Dallas/Deep Ellum that *are* dedicated labs, and thus have less expensive rates:

Expert Imaging Inc

NOTE: Prices are listed this way: first 135-12-20-24, then 135-36.

C-41 $4.18/$4.85
E-6 Mounted $6.40/$7.95
E-6 Sleeved $5.50/$6.95
D-76 (or equivalent B+W) [same as C-41 color]

BWC Photo Imaging (North Lab)

C-41: $3.90/$5.25
D-76/B+W: $5.15/$6.05
E-6 sleeved: $8.10/$9.05
E-6 mounted: $8.40/$10.00

Planning to go to Expert Imaging soon to get rid of the last 4 rolls in my collection, one of which is Ektachrome.

Both of the labs above have been in business for a long time (>= 30 years+).
 
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@ricardo...

Wal-Mart send-out (through Fuji/Dwayne's in the mid-west) will develop and mount E-6 slides in about 2 weeks (roughly 12 days from the day they pick up your film). Nobody in the world can develop Kodachrome as color film any more, as the last lab in the world that could do it (Dwayne's) stopped accepting Kodachrome film December 30, 2010 and shut their K-14 line down in January of this year.

I got out a black sharpie, put a big "X" through the options for prints, checked the "Special Instructions" box, then wrote in the special instructions area "E-6 (slide) film. Develop and mount." Dropped it off in the box early one morning before they picked up that day and picked up my slides 12 days later.

ME Super
 

I don't live in the Midwest. I already called the Fuji lab. They don't develop slide films where I live. :-/
 
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Developing and proof prints, or just developing? That sounds pretty standard for me for developing and proof print. Maybe it is a little high, but not a whole lot. I think I usually pay $9 to $11 for 36 exp. developing and single 4x6's. I normally process myself, but when I just want a quick turnaround and some proofs to look at for not-so-important shots, I go to Walgreen's.
 
@ricardo,

The prices for E-6 from Expert Imaging don't look much worse than Wal-Mart, by the time you add on Illinois sales tax. I'd try the Expert Imaging guys then. As for Fuji, if you buy the Fuji slide mailers from Adorama or B&H, it goes to Dwayne's anyway. The address on those is for a post office box in Parsons, KS, which is where Dwayne's is located.

If it wasn't for having to drive 60 miles round trip in order to drop off slides at the camera shop in Bloomington IL then pick them up a week later (another 60 miles, for a total of 120), I'd be using a local lab. But since I drive by 3 (yes, 3!) Wal-Marts on my way to work, and gas being as expensive as it is, it just makes more sense for me to use Wal-Mart.

ME Super
 
You guys are getting screwed. I pay $4.50 per roll for souping, high res scanning and putting them on-line for me. I then download the high res scans to my home computer, for free. I have the original negatives and high res scans.
 
Kiron Kid said:
You guys are getting screwed. I pay $4.50 per roll for souping, high res scanning and putting them on-line for me. I then download the high res scans to my home computer, for free. I have the original negatives and high res scans.
Click to expand...

Where?
 
terceslil said:
I've used Dwayne's and had good turnaround with my 120 film. I will be sending him my 110 film, too. Anyone found a place that develops 35mm w/ photo CD (no prints) for a good price?
Click to expand...
.
Target Photo Service: Develop & Disc, $2.99 { Target Department Store }

Ron
.
 

I live in Texas Sales tax is 8.250%.

Sorry, forgot to update my post: Expert Imaging does NOT develop film anymore...... :-( Guess I'll have to go either to BWC South or The Color Lab....
 
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