Film no longer processed (at Wegman's markets)

Photo Engineer · Oct 17, 2008

Today, my wife and I were shopping at a Wegman's market. They are a large grocery chain on the east coast of the US headquartered in Rochester NY.

She saw that the film processing section was being decorated for Halloween but then noticed that the machinery was all gone. So, she asked one of the front end managers.

My wife was told that Wegman's markets are discontinuing all film processing at the front end of the store due to declining demand. There is basically only digital being printed and little of that.

So, a really big film processor, and a good one is finally closing shop. I'm so sorry to hear this.

PE

Wayne · Oct 17, 2008

I hear you. The lab I had used for 15 years for E-6ing my 4x5s no longer does it. Found another one last year and they quit before I even sent them any. I'm on #3 now, so far so good. I suppose I should start looking into equipment for doing it myself again.

winger · Oct 17, 2008

Yeah, the Rite-Aid here is only sending it out. They still have the equipment, but I don't know if that'll go soon. No idea if they still print.
I think overall that we're going to a situation where it'll be specific photo shops, not general chains doing film. Ritz photo still does film. Some Walmarts are dropping it and drugstores are dropping it. Which is what it was like when I grew up. Back then, I don't remember every other person shooting with a point and shoot either. Not that many people actually shot photos until P&Ses came along.

fotophox · Oct 18, 2008

Huh? Wasn't the very first Kodak (1888) a P&S? Wasn't that the whole idea: to let everybody take photos?

Photo Engineer · Oct 18, 2008

Ritz has closed up their local shop. Last I looked I had to drive about 20 miles to get to a Ritz shop. And, Bethe is right, the use of photography was pretty much confined to pros until the P&S came along. It was a Kodak and that is history.

PE

winger · Oct 18, 2008

Last I looked I had to drive about 20 miles to get to a Ritz shop.

You're lucky, I have to drive 15 to get to anything besides Walmart. :rolleyes:

Toffle · Oct 18, 2008

Yesterday I finished a roll for a still life study I am doing. (I am an arts teacher, and have been working on a study of dead flowers) During my break, I ran up the street to the local Shoppers Drug Mart, only to find that their photolab is strictly a "Digital Imaging Center". They sent me off to Zehr's farther up the street, where the "tech", sounding (and looking) every bit as Mrs. Lancaster in Groundhog Day told me, "Oh, I couldn't possibly do it today..." So, break over, film in hand, I left the one hour lab :rolleyes: and headed back to work. I had hoped to dismantle my still life table and backdrop for the weekend, but there it sits, pending results from my shoot.

Fortunately, not all is bleak. The Shoppers which is closer to my home still runs a very fine lab for 35mm colour. They know me and my work, and do a very careful printing for me, often running several prints or complete rolls (free) until they see a print they know I will like. (and the manager gets a nicely framed print from me every year... )

Cheers,

mabman · Oct 18, 2008

I don't think 1-hr labs closing down is necessarily entirely a bad thing. With 1-hr labs becoming a commodity, employees working there tend to be making minimum wage (or close to it), and tend to not have very good training in my experience.

For example, the Wal-Mart closest to me still has a lab. None of the employees wear gloves at any point, they don't know how to change the scanning resolution on their Noritsu (and don't care), and there were scratches on my negs for several rolls I took there, and when pointed out they didn't care.

I'm fortunate to have a few places around that have decent service, and the staff actually take pictures (sometimes professionally) and realize how things are supposed to look, and *actually care* about both customer service and the end result. It may stink for convenience, but a "thinning of the herd" may actually end up improving quality.

Nigel · Oct 18, 2008

mabman said:
I don't think 1-hr labs closing down is necessarily entirely a bad thing. With 1-hr labs becoming a commodity, employees working there tend to be making minimum wage (or close to it), and tend to not have very good training in my experience.

I am absolutely with you here. The only thing I don't process myself is c-41. For that, I take it to a pro-lab about a 10 minute walk from home (I am fortunate in that I live walking distance from at least 3 pro-labs). For process only, I pay the same as my mother in law who gets double prints from Wal-Mart. As I type, I am scanning some of her negatives for her and they are brutal - scratched and filthy. Sure it is cheap, but the true cost is the damage to the neagtives.

And FWIW, we have not bought her a digital camera and she doesn't want one, since she likes getting prints to look at her pictures.

AutumnJazz · Oct 18, 2008

All the 1-hour labs around me are terrible. Of course, there is a pro lab that does 1-hour neg and 2-hour E6 well.

Markok765 · Oct 18, 2008

Toffle said:
Yesterday I finished a roll for a still life study I am doing. (I am an arts teacher, and have been working on a study of dead flowers) During my break, I ran up the street to the local Shoppers Drug Mart, only to find that their photolab is strictly a "Digital Imaging Center". They sent me off to Zehr's farther up the street, where the "tech", sounding (and looking) every bit as Mrs. Lancaster in Groundhog Day told me, "Oh, I couldn't possibly do it today..." So, break over, film in hand, I left the one hour lab :rolleyes: and headed back to work. I had hoped to dismantle my still life table and backdrop for the weekend, but there it sits, pending results from my shoot.

Fortunately, not all is bleak. The Shoppers which is closer to my home still runs a very fine lab for 35mm colour. They know me and my work, and do a very careful printing for me, often running several prints or complete rolls (free) until they see a print they know I will like. (and the manager gets a nicely framed print from me every year... )

Cheers,

The shoppers near my house still does 35mm. They even print and scan my tri-x negs, and they look great. Its great for an assignment where I need digital files but I want to shoot film. Its 3$ to scan it.

reellis67 · Oct 19, 2008

I'm fortunate enough to have two local shops that process C-41 and E-6, but only in roll formats, sadly. I use them when I can, but I send my sheet film out to a big lab in L.A. I'd love to be able to get my sheets done at the local shop, it's owned and operated by a family of really great people, but they didn't get enough business to make it worth while...

- Randy

railwayman3 · Oct 19, 2008

With mini-labs it's so much down to the operator.
I used to take films to a mini-lab at a nearby pharmacy....the owner did the work which was top-notch, and was always willing to chat and discuss the results.
When he retired, it went to pieces, just left to the junior staff, the prints were dreadful and negs so marked and scratched that you could't even use it for C-41 dev only.
The mini-lab side has closed now, presumably lack of demand as well.

nsouto · Oct 20, 2008

I gave up on 1-hour mini-labs back in the 90s, so for me they've been dead a long time...

And after lunch today I dropped one e6 and one c41 at my choice photo processing shop in downtown Sydney. They had a new guy who asked if I wanted them back today.
I said: "No, tomorrow at lunch time. Do a good job, not a rush job". He fully understood.

Guess which shop will take my film first, for as long as they do the right thing?

Vonder · Oct 20, 2008

I dropped off film at my local pro lab Saturday, and the gal there remarked they'd taken in 20 rolls that day, which was good for a Saturday. They are pricey, and high quality too, so I wonder how they compare in volume to a typical 1 hr lab.

Paddy · Oct 20, 2008

Costco provides a fairly decent service, including fairly large file size scans, so you get the best of both worlds. Remember, that unless they keep their quality control up to speed, a 1hr mini lab will always be riskier for film, due to the roller transport mechanisms used. Likewise, a pro-lab's dip & dunk developer can also spell misery if the chemistry isn't kept fresh/replenished. (more of a problem now, with drastically reduced daily/weekly runs)

In western Canada, London Drugs provides good service (all 1 hr stuff though)

Lee L · Oct 20, 2008

I just ran some C41 at my local Costco today. They tell me they are still decreasing, and at about 30 rolls/day right now. Their Fuji machine is designed for 300 rolls per day and the tech told me that they need a smaller machine for efficiency and better replenishing rates, etc with their current work load.

Lee

Uncle Bill · Oct 20, 2008

Markok765 said:
The shoppers near my house still does 35mm. They even print and scan my tri-x negs, and they look great. Its great for an assignment where I need digital files but I want to shoot film. Its 3$ to scan it.

I also vouch for Shoppers Drug Mart, I too have one with a 35mm C-41 lab and they are pretty good.

Thanasis · Oct 20, 2008

nsouto said:
And after lunch today I dropped one e6 and one c41 at my choice photo processing shop in downtown Sydney. They had a new guy who asked if I wanted them back today.
I said: "No, tomorrow at lunch time. Do a good job, not a rush job". He fully understood.

Would that be Fotolab on Castlereagh St?

eddie gunks · Oct 20, 2008

i use my local sams club. they have had declining sales also....one day the machine will be gone. i have been giving them all my slides i need scanned....i am afraid they will take the scanner someday soon.

my sam's is located in kingston NY. they do an awesome job. they all wear gloves, clean the machine everyday and take pride in their work. most are photographers too. they even figured out they could do my 120 C41! so now i get that done real cheap! i have been working with this lab since it arrived.......a great lab! way better than my "pro lab" for sure!

e

Photo Engineer · Oct 20, 2008

And here in Rochester I have to wait weeks for 120 film to be processed.

Damn!

PE

Lee L · Oct 20, 2008

eddie gunks said:
my sam's is located in kingston NY. they do an awesome job. they all wear gloves, clean the machine everyday and take pride in their work. most are photographers too. they even figured out they could do my 120 C41! so now i get that done real cheap! i have been working with this lab since it arrived.......a great lab! way better than my "pro lab" for sure!

I always choose a lab based on personnel. It's the same as with cameras. A fancy machine is no good if the operator isn't interested in doing a good job. And you can't always predict where the good people will be. I've quit using more than one lab when they changed operators, and have my preferences among the three that currently work at the lab I use.

Lee

nsouto · Oct 20, 2008

Thanasis said:
Would that be Fotolab on Castlereagh St?

Nope, Pitt St. Just after intersection with Park St, past the Wollies windows. Where the lunch time chinese mall is.
And they do 120 as well, same conditions.

isaacc7 · Oct 20, 2008

Lee L said:
I always choose a lab based on personnel. It's the same as with cameras. A fancy machine is no good if the operator isn't interested in doing a good job. And you can't always predict where the good people will be. I've quit using more than one lab when they changed operators, and have my preferences among the three that currently work at the lab I use.

Lee

I always told people that labs are like barbers/hairdressers. Once you fins one that does a good job and you trust, you stick with them...

Isaac

Curt · Oct 20, 2008

Costco and Walgreen's in my area do a pretty good job. Nothing will beat dropping off Kodachrome 25 in the morning having Kodak process it at Palo Alto and getting it back in the late afternoon. Those days are over forever, except in the memory.

Will it come to the point that anyone wanting a color print from a negative or slide have to do it at home in a home darkroom?

Film no longer processed (at Wegman's markets)

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