Film in Ho Chi Minh City

[ericdan]

Planning a trip to Saigon.
Should I bring film or are there places where I can buy locally when there?
Does anybody have experience developing film in Vietnam?

Thanks!

 

[mooseontheloose]

With any trip, I would bring the film I needed with me and only use local stores as a backup in case I needed to stock up. I just came back from Barcelona, which has multiple film shops, but most did not have what I needed - some only had Fuji films, some only had 1-2 rolls of the emulsion or speed I was looking for, so I ended up getting a mixed bag of film, some of which I've never shot before...plus, I was out the time going to look for these places. It's been a while since I was in Vietnam, but even with more recent trips to Cambodia and Thailand, I brought everything with me from Japan.

 

[jtk]

http://cultivateunderstanding.com/ My friend shot a Pentax/B&W all the way through his service in VN, went digital as soon as it made sense.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

http://cultivateunderstanding.com/ My friend shot a Pentax/B&W all the way through his service in VN, went digital as soon as it made sense.

Sorry, I don't get it. He is asking about buying and processing film in Viet Nam right now, and not about going digital.

 

[jtk]

Sorry, I don't get it. He is asking about buying and processing film in Viet Nam right now, and not about going digital.

Sorry you don't get it. Perhaps you'll understand that Vietnam has long been full of photographers (my Pentax was built there), communicating about their country in 2018. Highly educated country, tremendous change and optimism. My friend was shot there, has lived in VN and surrounding countries most years since. He did fine Pentax B&W there cc1968. Note that times have changed. Google VN camera stores .

www.photo.net/discuss/threads/camera-stores-in-hanoi-ho-chi-minh-city-vietnam.240035/

 

[mshchem]

I googled, looks like there's tons of shops in Hong Chi Minh city, one listed was "Crop Lab" looked like they have everything Kodak , Fuji, and Ilford makes. Beautiful country, lots of colorful scenes .

 

[piffey]

Was just there last April. I brought all my film with me because I was mostly in District 1 or District 3 and it showed no shops nearby any of the places I was going where I could purchase film. That said in District 1 I just accidentally walked into several shops selling film -- none of it was the film I normally shoot, but would have worked in a pinch. I didn't develop there since I do my own developing. Had a discussion with a local photographer about where they go and they said Crop Lab or Darkroom Cafe. Best of luck there. Saigon is an amazing city. Make sure to get a frozen Bia Saigon when you visit one of the local BBQ places. And I would highly recommend a food tour or other tour by motorbike. The guides were great, they showed us places guide books had never mentioned and they took it slow enough I was able to photograph the entire time. Not a day goes by I don't miss Vietnam. Amazing place.

 

[MFstooges]

I know this is rather old thread but for anyone interested to buy film in Saigon, I was recently there and found this little coffee shop which also sells and develops film. It's called Darkroom Cafe, the place is rather hidden in stores compound behind clinic etc. Ground floor is coffee shop full of young smoking film hipsters, 2nd floor is coffee tables and film shop, 3rd floor is film lab.

Darkroom Cafe, 30/1F Ngô Thời Nhiệm, Phường 7, Quận 3, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam