Walgreens Getting Out of Processing

GRHazelton · Mar 13, 2015

GRHazelton said:
I dropped off a cart of C 41 at a local Rite-Aid almost a week ago. The pleasant guy told me that they sent film to Fuji, as does Wal-Mart in this area, near Atlanta, GA. Turn around is a week. When I asked if negatives were returned, in addition to the CD, the guy said, "Of course!" and he seemed surprised that Wal-Mart didn't. I told him that I suspected that it saved the cost/effort of getting the physical objects to the customer, since image files could be sent electronically to the store, where prints from files can be made. And Wal-Mart is well known for cutting costs wherever possible.

I'll be curious to see the results. What I left was nothing of consequence, but still....

Well, RiteAid had told me on Thursday March 5 that my film would be back today, March 13. Before I drove over I called, and ... Monday March 16 is now the day! Not a good way to build customer confidence!

So, I called http://www.dunwoodyphoto.com/ The are across town (Atlanta) from me, but they do C 41 in 35mm, 120 and 220, E 6 in those sizes, plus 4x5 ! and BW in all of the above. Turnaround is a day or so, except on E 6 where the run the line once a week. Understandable. Plus they have the usual print services, etc. They're sending some mailers, so I'll try them.

madgardener · Mar 14, 2015

The walgreens I used to go to removed their machine just before Christmas. The CVS I go to now seems to keep busy, they have one person run it and she does a very good job. I will be upsetting if that machine is removed...

fotch · Mar 14, 2015

Costco is building store in Kenosha, WI and is advertising for someone to work in the photo department.

GRHazelton · Mar 14, 2015

fotch said:
Costco is building store in Kenosha, WI and is advertising for someone to work in the photo department.

Don't get your hopes up. They may offer only printing, at which our local COSTCO is quite good.

bergytone · Mar 14, 2015

Where do all of these retired machines go... and why can't they adapted for home processing? Don't they just pass the film strip though tanks using conveyers... so you could in thoery put whatever chemical you want in them??? I must be oversimplifying it, but It seems like there would be a market for used mini-labs?

Paul Howell · Mar 14, 2015

bergytone said:
Where do all of these retired machines go... and why can't they adapted for home processing? Don't they just pass the film strip though tanks using conveyers... so you could in thoery put whatever chemical you want in them??? I must be oversimplifying it, but It seems like there would be a market for used mini-labs?

Most of the larger printers are 3 phase, need commercial level amps to work, need dedicated drains, a few of smaller film developer use standard 110, but it is heated all day to keep chemistry at correct temp. Many of used units are sold to the 3rd world.

heespharm · Mar 14, 2015

PDH said:
Most of the larger printers are 3 phase, need commercial level amps to work, need dedicated drains, a few of smaller film developer use standard 110, but it is heated all day to keep chemistry at correct temp. Many of used units are sold to the 3rd world.

If it's anything like cvs does, they collect them in our warehouse then shipped to an auction company

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

cmacd123 · Mar 14, 2015

I have seen the machines for sale on e-bay from time to time. the scrap value of all that stainless steel is not trivial, and most only work well if you can run 10-20 rolls of film a day.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...lab.TRS0&_nkw=minilab&ghostText=&_sacat=69323

Tamara · Mar 15, 2015

PDH said:
Most of the larger printers are 3 phase, need commercial level amps to work, need dedicated drains, a few of smaller film developer use standard 110, but it is heated all day to keep chemistry at correct temp. Many of used units are sold to the 3rd world.

^^^This right here.

Cranking up the processor in the morning, it was about ~30 minutes or so before it even got up to operating temperature to run a test roll. (Conscientious lab techs run a test roll in the mornings before they start risking customers' vacation or graduation films.) The tanks in even a smaller machine like the old Noritsu nine-hundreds used gallons of chemistry and the "small" machine was the size of a large chest of drawers. I suppose if you shot a bunch of C41, it could be of use if you got it cheaply enough.

The printers, on the other hand? They were maintenance nightmares. If service tech visits averaged less than one every two months, I'd eat my lab smock.

ParkerSmithPhoto · Mar 16, 2015

Tamara said:
Hey, great blog post! I worked as a photog's assistant in the ATL in the early '90s, too. Do you remember The Automated Darkroom, down on Roswell Road just north of Buckhead?

Thanks, Tamara! I do remember them. I did time in several of the area commercial darkrooms, too, mostly out at Rich's(!) Photo Studio where we'd run film and make prints or exciting things like toasters and lingerie which ended up in the AJC Rich's sale du jour advertisements.

I was always up to date on my printing when I worked there, too. I'd have one enlarger with my work and one with theirs and I'd run back and forth all day making prints and slapping them into the print processor! Good times.

ParkerSmithPhoto · Mar 16, 2015

GRHazelton said:
So, I called http://www.dunwoodyphoto.com/ The are across town (Atlanta) from me, but they do C 41 in 35mm, 120 and 220, E 6 in those sizes, plus 4x5 ! and BW in all of the above. Turnaround is a day or so, except on E 6 where the run the line once a week. Understandable. Plus they have the usual print services, etc. They're sending some mailers, so I'll try them.

Wow, thanks. I had no idea that place existed. Gonna get printing some color negs that have been making me feel guilty for about 20 years.

GRHazelton · Mar 16, 2015

Well, I'd posted earlier in this thread that I'd left some Agfacolor C 41 in the tender mercies of our local Rite-Aid. I was first promised they'd be ready in one week, on Friday March 13 (not an auspicious omen); when I called on that day I was told the film would be ready today, March 16. When I called the pleasant if scatter-brained woman couldn't find the film, so she called Fuji. When she called back, rapidly I must say, she said something about lab said the film being "blue line" or some such, and said it would be at the store on....March 20. So, that is TWO weeks. I find this unacceptable.

wblynch · Mar 16, 2015

Unacceptable is not getting your negatives back. Thank your stars if you get them at all.

Sirius Glass · Mar 16, 2015

GRHazelton · Mar 17, 2015

Point taken! If I recall correctly there was nothing of enormous value on that cassette, pretty much exercising the Vitessa L.

Element 6 · Mar 17, 2015

wblynch said:
Unacceptable is not getting your negatives back. Thank your stars if you get them at all.

Getting back to film recently, I read the fine print "negatives will not be returned". I promptly walked out of walgreens/cvs and mailed them off to indiefilmlabs. I couldn't be happier with my scans and returned negatives.

Ektagraphic · Mar 17, 2015

jnanian said:
our "corner of happy and healthy" got rid of their chemical mini lab 6 months ago
i just got prints back from the last minilab in region ..
she is fantastic, and i know i am blessed to have her around.

I heard the same about my local "corner of happy and healthy too". I got a good laugh from that John! I wonder who will be taking over the send out film processing. Whatever it may be...I hope that they will RETURN peoples NEGATIVES...I see a post earlier mentioning that at one persons store it is going to be Fuji just the same as Walmart and negatives will be returned. If that is the case, perhaps there would be better results overall since Fuji would be getting a higher volume than the individual store.

Tamara · Mar 17, 2015

Not returning negatives, just a digital CD, sort of misses the point of using film in the first place. You wind up with all the disadvantages of both film and digital, with the advantages of neither.

shutterlight · Mar 17, 2015

The idea of negatives not being returned is so ridiculous that I actually can't really get my head around it. It's your property-- why wouldn't you get them back? As always, I'm spoiled because I have a high quality lab near me, but really-- how could you not get your own negatives back?

fotch · Mar 18, 2015

shutterlight said:
The idea of negatives not being returned is so ridiculous that I actually can't really get my head around it. It's your property-- why wouldn't you get them back? As always, I'm spoiled because I have a high quality lab near me, but really-- how could you not get your own negatives back?

They must think that since there are no return negative with digital, that it will be OK.

cmacd123 · Mar 18, 2015

One previous poster had the theory that the scanned data from the order was transmitted to a local location where CD and prints were made, (or perhaps just prints) thus saving the return shipping of the actual orders.

Certainly is a BAD BAD idea, as even the best CD scans I have ever seen are at a MUCH lower resolution than even a Point and shoot electrical camera like the one I carry in my briefcase.

GRHazelton · Mar 18, 2015

cmacd123 said:
One previous poster had the theory that the scanned data from the order was transmitted to a local location where CD and prints were made, (or perhaps just prints) thus saving the return shipping of the actual orders.

Certainly is a BAD BAD idea, as even the best CD scans I have ever seen are at a MUCH lower resolution than even a Point and shoot electrical camera like the one I carry in my briefcase.

Its only a BAD BAD idea from our viewpoint, that of folks who care about photographic quality and who know what can be done. I scan my 35mm and 120 negatives to my computer with an Epson V-700, then add subject headings and fiddle the image a little in Lightroom. Gives me "contact sheets" and a proper catalog. Then I can run a quick and dirty print on my inkjet, or wet print the best.

Let's face it. If those who still shoot film don't object to Wal-Mart and others discarding OUR negatives, they will do so, because its CHEAPER!!!! And in our throw-away culture, cheaper is better, as we circle the drain. For example, I can easily hear the difference between CDs, vinyl (on a good record deck), and the MP 3 "quality" of my newly-acquired digital tuner. The MP 3 and whatever is okay for casual background ambiance, but certainly not for serious listening.

cmacd123 · Mar 19, 2015

The Whole idea is CRAAAZZZYYY as far as I am concerned. It may be a subtle way of moving folks to buy a digital camera..

(Looks you get MUCH better picture quality from a 12 magapixel point and shoot camera than the 4 megapixel scan from that old Canon A-1.) It may just be playing off the ignorance of the average consumer. (when I sold cameras I did actually have one customer ask me why the photo-finisher bothered to "make Negatives" wondering if just prints would be easier.)

Certainly it would be worth a letter from each potential customer to the president of the firm in question asking when they will return to providing a service that returns negatives, and also a letter to your media folks (newspaper etc) abot why the company is "cheating" the consumer.

wblynch · Mar 20, 2015

The 'film industry' (meaning I don't know who...) experimented with a processing kiosk which accepted film into the machine where it got a quick and dirty development with no wash nor stabilizer - perhaps not even a full fix. The film ran straight into a scanning station which produced prints (assumed it could make a CD too) and the film continued out into a discard bin.

The prints came out the front and the customer walked away.

I guess the idea was to save 10 minutes a roll and make it self-service.

Of course digital came along and eliminated the need for such a machine.

...or DID it ???

cmacd123 · Mar 21, 2015

wblynch said:
The 'film industry' (meaning I don't know who...) experimented with a processing kiosk which accepted film into the machine where it got a quick and dirty development with no wash nor stabilizer - perhaps not even a full fix. The film ran straight into a scanning station which produced prints (assumed it could make a CD too) and the film continued out into a discard bin.
...or DID it ???

I recall reading about such a machine, it was "processed" by an outfit called "Advanced Science Fiction" which was bought out by Eastman Kodak. I assume thye used custom developing agents so the image could be scanned without removing the silver. The film was apparently wound on a roll while still wet and allowed to develop out to black. (cited as an advantage because it provided "customer privacy" Customer received a "Kodak Picture CD" which as we all know was great for web posting or 4X6 prints.

At the time I figured it would only have an application for applications such as the events where kids get their picture taken with Santa.

Walgreens Getting Out of Processing

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency