Slide developing and Negative developing

[Rinthe]

I've read from many online sources that slide developing is cheaper than negative developing but slide film is more expensive. I just checked with my rite aid, they send out the 120 slides and negatives. but they charge $8 for slide and $2 for negative. Did they mess up on the pricing or was i imagining things.

 

[Ian Grant]

Imagining things

Slides are cheaper from a professional lab, than negatives and prints. But from a small high street lab it's the other way around as they send the slide film to another lab usually then have to add a profit.

Ian

 

[Rinthe]

but the rite aid sends both 120 slides and negative to the same lab. shouldn't that lab charge less for slides then?

 

[Chan Tran]

Slide film processing has gone up in price significantly in the years past. Developing negative film has always been cheaper and only the printing cost made it expensive. Printing cost nowaday has fallen dramatically, you typically can have a 4x6 for around 20 cents. Many times it's only 11 cents. 20 years ago (even the money was worth more then) it was hard to have a print made for less than 20 cents. 20 years ago it was only $5 or even less to develop a roll of slide film. Today it's more like $10.
So if economy is the reason then negative film is much cheaper nowaday.

 

[Ian Grant]

It's time & effort.

The Negatives go through a minilab, pretty much automatically nad usually very cheap. The slide processing may be using a manual Dip & Dunk machine or small automated system, but through put is much lower overheads higher, tighter quality control, far more chemistry, semi manual mounting etc, so you pay more.

I'd add my lab used to run E6 continuously, they were extremely busy, last time I ent it was down to 3 process runs a week, they closed early this year. E6 isn't economic any more, a UK city which had maybe 15-16 E6 labs now has 1.

Ian

 

[Rinthe]

is E6 dying? should i shoot more negatives then?

 

[Ian Grant]

Hopefully the use of all films will stabilise that was what was predicted by now but then the current economic crisis came along and caused a further dip.

E6 should be around for some considerable time, but the number of labs processing it has been slashed dramatically. It's not a reason to change it's important to shoot what bets suits your need.

Ian

 

[Rinthe]

i actually never did any slides but am thinking about it because i heard that it can really help me learn. but the high cost of developing is the only thing stopping me

 

[goldenimage]

Hi. I shoot slides often, but I use the kodak kit. It costs me around 2.00 a roll maybe less. I use a jobo processor I picked one up pretty cheap and it works great. When processing slides its important that a pretty high temp is maintained unlike neg film. Good luck

 

[Rinthe]

oh you develop your own slides hmmm. what does teh jobo processor do? i don't need a darkroom to do this right? are you talking about 120 film btw?

 

[Chan Tran]

you can develop your own slide film without a darkroom and without much in term of equipment but it's going to cost you more than a lab would charge you.

 

[Rinthe]

goldenimage said "It costs me around 2.00 a roll maybe less." hows that more than what lab charges me?

 

[goldenimage]

the above is probably talking about the initial cost of the jobo. I shoot a lot so It was worth it to me. It has paid for itself many times over. I have the basic set up. A jobo cpe2 not a whole lot to it. Yes I shoot 120. I have a darkroom but its for black and white work.

 

[nickandre]

I process my film in steel tanks. You can process 2 120 rolls per liter or 10 rolls per $50 kit, more if you double or triple use the chemistry. The process is very long however. I find it easiest to maintain a water bath at the necessary 102 degrees F and then heat the chemistry by double boiling it over my gas stove. At optimal pace it still takes an hour or so. It's good if you want to dedicate more time and less money (like for a photo student) but less good if you just want to photograph things and get the pictures, like more advanced phtographers.

 

[goldenimage]

10 rolls per liter? is that using the kodak kit?, i can get much more than that out of the kodak kit, its 58.00, i find the best value is 220 film, same amount of chemistry and double the images.