Remember the Days of the Fotomat?

gone · Dec 2, 2014

I miss those tiny drive-up kiosks where you could drop off your film and pick up your developed negs and prints later, sometimes only an hour later. It's easy to forget they're gone, as in this "article" :]

http://newcameranews.com/2014/03/30/local-man-looking-for-fotomat/

Truzi · Dec 2, 2014

LOL, I remember Fotomat.

As for that web page, it appears anyone can be a writer now. The horrid quality made me cringe.

summicron1 · Dec 2, 2014

Truzi said:
LOL, I remember Fotomat.

As for that web page, it appears anyone can be a writer now. The horrid quality made me cringe.

oh come on, it was fun. The whole site is not to be taken seriously.

flatulent1 · Dec 2, 2014

Ahh, Fotomat. Many's the time I'd ride with my father to exchange used film for prints and a new roll. The kiosk was so small; where did they go in case of, uh, 'emergencies'?

Truzi · Dec 2, 2014

summicron1 said:
oh come on, it was fun. The whole site is not to be taken seriously.

I took it in fun, but here is an example:

NCN said:
with many arguing that the set should only include photos from full-frame photos

pdeeh · Dec 2, 2014

The guy who runs and writes NCN is a slight acquaintance of mine, and he tends not to make obvious mistakes unless he is meaning to make them.

I wouldn't quite call NCN "satire" but it's definitely taking the piss, and that includes out of the awfulness of most "photography" websites and their grammar ...

Trail Images · Dec 2, 2014

Gosh, I used them a lot for standard posters customers wanted. They took a long time to tear down the Fotomat we had in our home town long after they stopped processing there.
Thanks for the nostalgic look at a fun time back then.

E. von Hoegh · Dec 2, 2014

Truzi said:
LOL, I remember Fotomat.

As for that web page, it appears anyone can be a writer now. The horrid quality made me cringe.

I remember before Fotomat. They sold several varieties of film, too, at least around here. The nearest one was Plattsburg, about 50 minutes away.

Fotomat, it seems I turned my back and they were gone...

Richard S. (rich815) · Dec 2, 2014

I still see the occasional old fotomat huts in old strip mall parking lots. Some abandoned and covered in graffiti others repurposed as drive-up espresso/latte stands.

mike c · Dec 2, 2014

I think they turned those little Fotomat sheds into little Espresso sheds, at lest some of 'em.

Mike

Mainecoonmaniac · Dec 2, 2014

Fotomats went out with drive in theatres. But they do bring back fond memories.

Richard S. (rich815) · Dec 2, 2014

Check it out:

http://fotomat-history.blogspot.com

Sirius Glass · Dec 2, 2014

Yes I remember them and I used them a few times.

Truzi · Dec 2, 2014

Mainecoonmaniac said:
Fotomats went out with drive in theatres. But they do bring back fond memories.

We still have a drive-in theater in my city. Two cities over there is still a drive-in burger place

The Fotomat in our city closed long ago. I was too young to "use" the Fotomat myself, but remember my parents and grandparents going there.

Fixcinater · Dec 2, 2014

On the drive-in note, I have One Two within 30 min drive time.

I've seen some of the Fotomat huts repurposed for coffee stands, didn't know anything about it, though. Thanks for the link!

davidtav · Dec 3, 2014

I'm a huge Fotomat fan... here's a couple fun sites - www.FotomatFans.com and www.facebook.com/FotomatFans

Dave

Sirius Glass · Dec 3, 2014

One time I went back to get my prints from them but the prints had not come back from the lab. I asked when the prints would be available and I was told "soon". I drove off singing "Some day my prince will come!".

Wayne · Dec 3, 2014

I have boxes full of 110 and 35 prints that say Fotomat on them...

benjiboy · Dec 4, 2014

I don't think we ever had Fotomat kiosks in the U.K, it was probably confined to the U.S.

Dave in Kansas · Dec 4, 2014

I used to use Fotomat and then finally learned that I could take my film to K-Mart and request it be processed by a Kodak lab. Kodak processing was better quality at the time, at least in my experience.

Dave

blockend · Dec 5, 2014

No we didn't have Fotomat so far as I recall. We had Kodak film kiosks in stations and so on but no Fotomat.

Some Asda stores still develop C41 in an hour... for £2. I had good results for a few years but the last couple of times they got sloppy and there was plenty of dust, so I've gone back to home developing. It's important to support supermarket C41 because head office are keen to replace those Fuji wet machines with something new and digital, but there are limits. I'm not sure the operators think film care is a good use of their time anymore. There's still quite a market for disposable wedding camera processing, they tell me. Last summer the one hour service became a few days because they had a mountain of throw away camera film to work through.

I went in one time and asked a chap behind the desk if they still did film. He said yes we do disposable cameras. I said 35mm. He said disposable, sure. I said 35mm. He couldn't believe people still shot film in cassettes. Another time a lady was having prints from her smartphone made, and the machine was playing up. I said you want to use this stuff and dropped a handful of colour negative film on the desk. She thought it was amazing the staff knew what to do with it.

Shootar401 · Dec 6, 2014

I saw one the other day in south Jersey. It served coffee and donuts.

I've always wondered if the seat they sat on was really a toilet, I mean where else would you go?

Still have 2 shot rolls of E4 something Fotomat film at home from when I was a kid. Too bad you can't develop them anymore.

Remember the Days of the Fotomat?

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