Fair price developing and scanning negatives?

[bentheshark]

I have finally decided to ditch my DLSR and get a film rangefinder. (wahoo!) I haven't shot film since before digital became mainstream and it seems the world of film development has changed a bit.

What is a fair price to pay for developing and scanning negatives? The lab that I had been going to for printing quoted $16.50 per roll (independant of whether 24 or 36 exp).

Is this about what people (who don't do their own) are paying per roll, or is this really high?

Thanks,
-Ben

[aad]

Really high, unless you specify a high resolution. Walgreens will develop and scan to CD for like $4.00.

[bentheshark]

Thanks for the reply. $16 seemed really high. I would only be using the scans as sort of a contact sheet to pick the ones I wanted to blow up, and so don't care too much about resolution.

Is there much of a difference in the quality between the development of negatives at wallgreens vs. local pro photo lab? or is all the art in the printing?

Thanks,
-Ben

[Al Kaplan]

I used to think there was a difference until my "pro" lab owner asked me to drop off a bunch of film for him while I was heading to Walgreens to buy cigarettes. Turns out that he'd been making my prints but getting Walgreens to soup the film...LOL Then I decided to try Walgreens 8x10 prints and I'm very happy with the results. Of course it depends on which Walgreens and which lab tech you get. I always tell them "No rush! I'll pick them up late tomorrow." If you tell them that you're a pro they'll give you an additional discount, which their computer remembers for next time, and you'll get it at any Walgreens.

[jmarcus]

I think I paid something like $10 or $12 and $10 for the scan at my local pro shop. Plus buying Fuji Provia 400x was pretty expensive too. If Walgreens is $4.00 for development + scan maybe I should get a Leica MP

[Al Kaplan]

You could quickly pay for your MP with the savings.

[jmarcus]

Yes I was thinking that too.

[bentheshark]

I always tell them "No rush! I'll pick them up late tomorrow." If you tell them that you're a pro they'll give you an additional discount, which their computer remembers for next time, and you'll get it at any Walgreens.

hah! At 25% of the price of the pro shop and a chance to try a secrete handshake, I think this will be worth a try.

Thanks!

Now I just have to rack up enough savings to justify upgrading to an MP; it's like I'm getting paid to shoot--a pro before I've even started.

[mich8261]

I assume you are talking about C41 process. If so, $16 is high. My local Walgreens does process and scan to CD (no prints) for about $5. B&W would cost you $15 to $20.

[mackigator]

Sams Club in Asheville will scan a roll of developed negs at 300dpi and give you a CD for $2. Ive seen it with my own eyes - these were uncut self-developed Tri-X. Not mine.

[jalLee2001]

do yourself a favour and just go out and buy a good scanner. That way you can control most of the process

[ClaremontPhoto]

I get develop and scan to CD, no prints, for €5.

And that's high resolution about 3000 x 2000.

Often a shop will charge more for the high resolution because the film is in the machine longer and their regular work gets backed up behind it.

But if you offer to let them have, say, 24 hours to schedule your scans during a lull in work they'll often do it for no extra charge.

Especially if they think you'll be a regular repeat customer.

Of course this approach only works well when you're talking to the owner-operator not some minimum wage person in a supermarket who'll be serving doughnuts next time you visit.

[Al Kaplan]

If you develop your own B&W negatves Walgreens will scan it for the same price as color. DON"T cut the roll into strips of 5 or 6 frames! They want to run the entire thing through as one piece. The scans on the disc are more than good enough for 8x10 and OK for 11x14 too. I never tried larger.

[capitalK]

I don't get scans because I have access to a CoolScan 4000 ED at work but C-41 neg development in my city is a pain. I can go to Wal-Mart and pay $2.50 a roll, which is great but I have literally walked in on them taking my negs out of the machine without gloves and dropping them on the floor. Black's in the mall charges $8.50 a roll for neg development only which is way too much. The upside is they wear white gloves and do a good job.

The compromise I have come up with is to send the negs to a lab out of town through the mom and pop camera store downtown. They charge about $3.50 - $5.00 a roll (24 or 36) and do good work. The downside to them is the negs are gone for 3 to 10 days.

If I'm in a hurry I'll usually pay the $8.50 at Blacks. If I'm not in a hurry I'll send them out of town. If I really don't care what's on the roll I'll go to Wal-Mart.

[wjlapier]

If you develop your own B&W negatves Walgreens will scan it for the same price as color. DON"T cut the roll into strips of 5 or 6 frames! They want to run the entire thing through as one piece. The scans on the disc are more than good enough for 8x10 and OK for 11x14 too. I never tried larger.

This is good to know. I'm developing my first roll of Tmax and have been pretty happy with our Walgreens. My first thought, after watching my umpteenth youtube video, was to cut the negs after they were dry and scan them myself.

[David Murphy]

I have finally decided to ditch my DLSR and get a film rangefinder. (wahoo!) I haven't shot film since before digital became mainstream and it seems the world of film development has changed a bit.

What is a fair price to pay for developing and scanning negatives? The lab that I had been going to for printing quoted $16.50 per roll (independant of whether 24 or 36 exp).

Is this about what people (who don't do their own) are paying per roll, or is this really high?

Thanks,
-Ben
My local pharmacy did a roll of C41 for about $2.50 negatives only. I pay aboyt $5 now at Walgreens, but I also get a photo CD.

[Chris101]

Think of the CD as a contact sheet.

[boy_lah]

You guys are so lucky! in UK, a B&W dev + scan (no prints) costs me £8 + pp. And that's the cheapest I can find!

Depending on the lab/machine, some of them the scans are only 1000x800 (Nurito). If Agfa/Fuji machines they tend to scan at 3000x2000.

Anyone in UK have a better deal pls advise!??!

[philipp.leser]

In Germany, the drug store chains will develop and scan your film for something like 6 Euros, but you can't expect great quality: the negatives will not be sleeved individually, the quality of development varies from good to finger-prints and the scans are heavily sharpened and over-saturated.

Pro labs offer the same service for about 11 Euros (about 4 Euros for developing, 7 for scanning) and you can expect well-treated and individually sleeved negatives that were developed properly.

I don't shoot much color (mostly b&w with home dev), but the cheap drug store service is hit and miss so I usually invest into the better pro lab service.

[davelrods]

$2.99 at Costco for dev and their default scan. They tell me their default scan is high resolution. I have compared it to my Nikon scanner and the prints seem to compare in size to about a third what the scanner is capable of which is still a pretty good resolution. Plenty for most any printing you would like. Costco seems to be the deal in town.

[tyrone.s]

I live in a regional centre in Australia. $10.00 for develop and scan at my local shop. That's for 24 exposures. $12 for 36!

Very ordinary shop aswell (for a place that presents itself as being a 'proper' 'ask the experts' camera / developing shop. When they were developing my negatives earlier in the year I was getting spots on the prints - turned out their machine had a flaw in its lens or something. They offered to reprint my negs upside down!

But hey, for my $10-$12 I get the guy dragging the negatives all over the place for free!

[tyrone.s]

Thanks for the reply. $16 seemed really high. I would only be using the scans as sort of a contact sheet to pick the ones I wanted to blow up, and so don't care too much about resolution.

Is there much of a difference in the quality between the development of negatives at wallgreens vs. local pro photo lab? or is all the art in the printing?

Thanks,
-Ben

Sorry Ben, my last reply was more of a whinge than an answer to your original question.

I've found the quality really variable. Some cheap places have been more than good enough and some expensive pro places have been really disapointing. I've learned the hard way that being charged more and getting a more knowledgeable, expert level of service are not related in a linear manner.

I work in B&W mostly with my rangefinder. These days I use 2 scanners. A cheap Canon flatbed to make a contact strip of the roll that I've developed and then I scan and work on any negs of interest using my negative scanner. I then catalogue my work in Lightroom and 'develop' my image from there.

At any rate, hopefully your local pro lab will be pro in mindset and know more about the subject than its customers. Otherwise I'd be using the cheapest developing / scanning option and taking care of the rest yourself.


Cheers,
Tyrone

[djonesii]

I just paid $16 for a roll of 220 E6 done at the only place I can find in Houston to process E6. The came out beautiful. The claim hand processing dip and dunk only. The main reason that I went there was to get 4X5 processed.

As for black and white, I have just started doing it my self, and its easy. I do need to upgrade scanners as my Epson only does two frames (6x4.5) at a time, that sucks.

At another lab in town, I get my C41 processed, and they charge $10-12 for a roll + scans ( 110/220) It's a great deal as they really take care to do it right. Everything sleeved, The one guy who works in the lab always wears gloves, and its a pleasure. I think 35mm is a bit less, but I have never used them.

The one time I tired costco I did not care for their work, but I will give it a go again. My Sams has removed their wet processing.

Dave

[kuzano]

Picked up the pics and color negative. 15 3x5 prints and the negs from WALMART. Shot the roll in my Fuji GA645Zi. Fujicolor.

The Walmart here in Bend Oregon uses the Fuji lab and the process took ten days. The $1.80 covered processing, printing the prints I specified, and shipping both ways. I have a roll of E6 just sent off.

No scans...as I did not ask for them. You have to know how to fill out the order yourself using the kiosk drop and the Fuji envelopes, since the counter people just glaze over when you say 120 or 220 film.

I learned how to fill out the order from one of the posters here on RFF.

As I recall, 35mm film was in the $4 to 5 range, but who shoots such small film any more. Isn't full frame 4x5 inches???