How were film developed/printed for customers prior to mini labs?

rayonline_nz · Jan 28, 2019

For all I can remember my childhood photography labs were mini labs ie 1hr 2hr labs or drop them off at the local chemist or bookshop or the local drycleaners. Prior to mini labs how were film serviced for mainstream "high street" customers?

I wold love to know about this.

Cheers.

Ozxplorer · Jan 28, 2019

My early days one found a photographic retailer who offered the processing service. Alternatively, professional photographic studios did the work. All hand made by suitably experienced darkroom printers/assistants - their work was pretty consistent too! Then there were the photo processors providing commercial services... The key feature was that all output was manually mass produced!

alanrockwood · Jan 28, 2019

We used to drop our film off to the local drug store, usually after the roll had been sitting in the "junk drawer" for a year or two. I don't know if the drug store did the developing and printing themselves, but I think maybe they did. Those "drug store prints" look better than the black and white prints from the automated minilabs. (I still have a few of those old prints, so I can compare.) I live in the US.

ozphoto · Jan 28, 2019

Drop off at a local store to be sent to Kodak for processing. When I managed a lab, we still had the yellow K collect films for processing and make enlargements bigger than 6x8“.

russell_w_b · Jan 28, 2019

At the chemist's, down the road. He sold film and developed it. I'd go in as a ten-year-old with the 127 film out of my Brownie, all eight shots used up, and was told to 'come back in three days' or so.

guangong · Jan 28, 2019

Hidden somewhere in my basement is a kind of printer made by Kodak that is prefocused for a standard print size. I always assumed that the local druggist used something like this to print films after development using a standardized print size.

removed account4 · Jan 28, 2019

rayonline_nz said:
For all I can remember my childhood photography labs were mini labs ie 1hr 2hr labs or drop them off at the local chemist or bookshop or the local drycleaners. Prior to mini labs how were film serviced for mainstream "high street" customers?

I wold love to know about this.

Cheers.

How far back are you talking ?

Some shops sent to local labs that did the work for them;
some shops sent to Kodak ( EK had a processing division since the 1880s );
and others if they were big enough ... might have souped the film themselves
and contact printed onto Azo ( or similar silver chloride paper ) using a contact printer in the back room.

ic-racer · Jan 28, 2019

Much of the machinery was larger (for example the E-6 machine filled a room) and sometimes did not have "daylight loading traps" to feed the film or paper, thus requiring a dark room. The enlargers would not be "light tight" and would also need to be in the dark. The clip of the article below is from 1985:

markjwyatt · Jan 28, 2019

When I was shooting medium format, with some professional activity, I used a commercial lab (Viusual Productions). Before that, drug store or similar, or develop it myself (B&W).

MattKing · Jan 28, 2019

Much of the consumer developing happened in largish labs with large staffs and big, moderate to high volume machines.
Think hundreds to thousands of rolls per day.
After the film was developed, it would be printed using semi-automatic or automatic printers. The prints were made on roll paper, which was developed in a roll fed processor.
The semi-automatic machines had more operator involvement - much of my colour printing experience involved use of a Durst machine that was on the smaller side of things.
The professional labs were smaller, but their volumes were high, and their film processing machines were less likely to be roller transport and more likely to be reel and cage or dip and dunk.
A very large percentage of the labs were independent, but the Kodak (and later Fuji) big labs did high volumes.
Here is an interesting flickr post and thread about Mortifee Munshaw, a fairly high volume (and lower cost) lab in Vancouver. Note the job descriptions and the lists of remembered co-workers: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigsnit/4132930460/

rayonline_nz · Jan 28, 2019

jnantz said:
How far back are you talking ?

.

Good question. Prob from my parents days ie from 1940s onwards? Something that isn't DIY by some photography interested individual. Ie mum and dads, uncles and aunties went to the local store to process some films. Prior to mini labs what were they? If other labs and Kodak (?) did them on behalf of that local shop was it hand processed/printed or was it done by some processor? Again something more day to day with every day people who didn't have an interest in photography, not talking about professional work or how wedding photographs were developed.

jtk · Jan 28, 2019

guangong said:
Hidden somewhere in my basement is a kind of printer made by Kodak that is prefocused for a standard print size. I always assumed that the local druggist used something like this to print films after development using a standardized print size.

Correct. It was once common for druggists to print B&W with that sort of setup...after developing film in replenished developer.

mshchem · Jan 28, 2019

My Dad always sent his Kodachrome to Kodak labs in Chicago. I would always request Kodak processing when I was shooting Ektacolor S back in the 70's. I have a friend who opened a shop in the early 80's ,he did and still does great work. When I was a kid and color prints took off ,it was usually a few days to get stuff back, longer if you insisted on Kodak.
Go back to the 30's through the 50's drug stores contact printed black and white on Velox.

Mainecoonmaniac · Jan 28, 2019

One way was a lot of film processing was done was through film processing plants. I met a fellow that his job was to "Twin check" the film and the envelope that the film came in. Then he would splice the film on to other people's roll of film. They had a pretty good deal going. Some would charge a price for the film processing and for printing each print. I think they got a few pennies for the silver off the fixer too. Those days are long gone now.

foc · Jan 28, 2019

If you want to see how a wholesale, high volume lab operated back in the early 1990's then have a look at this.

It will start after 20 sec and is a bit long, but it is worth the time as it shows what was involved from start to finish

tedr1 · Jan 28, 2019

Back in England in the decades post WW2 one of the ways it worked was for an urban processing lab to send out a small van on a collection run to pickup negs for processing and printing back at the lab, and at the same time drop off customer orders that been completed. The same route was followed on a schedule so that you knew if your film was dropped off say on a Thursday the prints would be back on Tuesday and so on. For summer work while at school I was hired by a lab in Bristol to assist in the black and white lab while the summer rush was in progress. Orders were brought in from all over the city by the lab vans and finished work sent out the same way. It was necessary to match up the customer paper order and the customer roll of exposed film at the completion of film processing so that printing instructions could be fulfilled, and when that was finished the completed order was sent back to the correct retailer with the correct ticket on it for collection by the customer. But mix-ups happened from time to time and then it was the devil of a job to retrace everything and try to put it right!

Born2Late · Jan 28, 2019

rayonline_nz said:
For all I can remember my childhood photography labs were mini labs ie 1hr 2hr labs or drop them off at the local chemist or bookshop or the local drycleaners. Prior to mini labs how were film serviced for mainstream "high street" customers?

I wold love to know about this.

Cheers.

I can only comment on my experience which of may or may not reflect what it was like in other areas.
I received my first camera somewhere around 6 or 8 years old (late 50's). To the best of my knowledge there was one processor in the area and they are still in business today; so they have been around close to 60 years or better. We would buy our film from our local drug store and they would in turn send it to that lab for processing; it was magic. I am pretty sure that there were local camera shops; they might of provided processing too, but I didn't get acquainted with them until the mid 70's. In between those periods, the late 60's I believe, a company called Fotomat showed up with tiny kiosks (overgrown phone booths) (do I have to explain what a phone booth is?) in parking lots. They were mostly staffed with pretty young girls and provided overnight processing (film, not girls (officially anyway)). Their quality was hit or miss and their private label film wasn't to good. In the late 70's I started up my darkroom and processed my own stuff, except for Kodachrome which of course went to Kodak.

That's the way I remember it, Including Patty, the Fotomat girl.

wiltw · Jan 28, 2019

in the 1950s I remember that my parents would take their film to the photographic store in town and the store would send the film to Kodak for processing.
I recalled in the 1960s we would take the film to a drugstore and the drug store would send the film out to a processor lab.

Arklatexian · Jan 29, 2019

rayonline_nz said:
For all I can remember my childhood photography labs were mini labs ie 1hr 2hr labs or drop them off at the local chemist or bookshop or the local drycleaners. Prior to mini labs how were film serviced for mainstream "high street" customers?

I wold love to know about this.

Cheers.

Don't know about New Zealand but here in NW Louisiana and elsewhere in the USA, most people left their exposed B&W (color was almost unknown when I was a child in the 1930s) film at a "Drugstore" . The photofinisher came in, picked up all of the exposed film left there and delivered finished prints and negatives. I am sure money changed hands at that time. When the film was received at the photofinishing establishment, it was labeled with a number and taken to a dip & dunk processor under a red safelight.( all film at that time was orthochromatic) where it was processed, washed and dried. Then the negatives went into a printing room where they were mostly "contact printed". At that time most film was large enough to not need enlarging. The prints, after processing, washing and drying were put into an envelope along with the "cut" negatives. and the customer name and price marked on it. These were then delivered to the "drugstore" where they were picked up and exposed film picked up, etc. Photofinishing was done that way from just before World War 1 till the 1960s......Regards!....The exposed film may have been put into its envelope while still in the drugstore before being picked up by the photofinisher rather than later at the "lab".

Ian Grant · Jan 29, 2019

A mini=lab is really two different machines one for film processing, usually quite small and a larger digital printer/processor. Prior to this the mini-lab printers were optical/

Before mini-labs many labs used dunk dip film processors, and larger D&P labs used bulk processors where 35mm films were taped end to end. Printing was done using roll-head printers where the operator was in daylight and the fixed enlarger was enclosed, focus was fixed different focal length lenses on a turret were used for enlargements, the apertures were fixed to give constant exposure times regardless of the degree of enlargement.

B&W was also done on roll-head printers, sometimes these used flashing to control contrast allowing the use of one grade of paper.

Ian

MartinCrabtree · Jan 29, 2019

Took mine to the local pharmacy. A week or so later it came back. Pay the man look at photos.

dmr · Jan 29, 2019

Drug stores in the neighborhood used to send their film to Berkey Labs, which did a totally vile job with color.

I started sending to Kodak Labs over in Fair Lawn either using mailers or dropping them off at Spiratone and they sent them to Kodak.

I always assumed that the large labs had some kind of automated process but never learned what it was.

rayonline_nz · Jan 29, 2019

foc said:
If you want to see how a wholesale, high volume lab operated back in the early 1990's then have a look at this.

It will start after 20 sec and is a bit long, but it is worth the time as it shows what was involved from start to finish

thanks for that v interesting ...

John51 · Jan 30, 2019

Post offices in my area of the UK had mailers for 'Bonus Print'. They were coded so I guess that that the PO got a % from any orders. One of the few places that did half frame at the time.

There was a large lab on an industrial estate that processed my colour walkie snaps. Most accommodating. I've give them a roll or or two of film with a printing list eg. 2m(ale)+4f(emale)- 4 off / m+f- 2 off / etc. and my prints would be in the order I shot them. Made it easy and reliable to get them mailed out.

There was a young lady who did the colour spotting. She was fast, only seconds per print.

Bud Hamblen · Jan 30, 2019

For some reason Cleveland, Tennessee, became sort of a hub of photographic activity and a lot of photofinishing, mostly for school and wedding pictures, was done. Beattie made and serviced equipment for high school yearbook photographers there. I had to do an insurance inspection of their shop long ago. I believe Deardorff made their last cameras in Cleveland. Kodak or Qualex had a lab in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in a small building off Signal Mountain Highway as I recall.

How were film developed/printed for customers prior to mini labs?

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