Film purchasing and developing in Paris?

[keithp]

Hi All, I am going with the family to Paris for the month of July. It is mostly pleasure but I booked some work there too. I am intending to walk around with my Zeiss ZM for personal work. My question is can anyone recomend a place for film and processing that is hopefully resonably priced? Thanks. I can't wait. We leave next week.

-Keith

[Vics]

I was there last month and I looked all over for film, finally finding some tri-x at a shop near the funiculaire going up to Sacre Couer (sp?). Just a little camera shop with a Kodak sign. Very nice guy runs the place. Don't know about processing, though. I'd say take your film with you.

[keithp]

Thanks Vic. Hope you had a good time.

[doolittle]

Not sure where is the best value, but there are a ton of camera shops along Boulevard Beaumarchais (clicky link to googlemap)

[keithp]

Thanks Doolitle.

[kdemas]

If you shoot color Photo Service outlets actually did a nice job for me a few years back. They have (had) many locations though they were a bit pricey. One of the locals or a more recent visitor can maybe shed more light.

Enjoy your trip!

[Haigh]

I have bought film at Fnac (they are strong supporters of photography ) bu usually take enough with me from Australia having actually bought it from the US. I can't imagine anything to do with photography being cheap on Rue Beaumarchais but it fun to wander there. I have used one of the Picto labs and they were fine. This above info could be a little out of date however.

[loranger]

The place you need is Negatid + on rue de La fayette, they offer professionnal service at reasonnable price and they're quite fast: http://negatifplus.com/
They sell film also but I can also give you another address to buy film, the cheapest I know in Paris, Photostock: http://www.photostock.fr/index.cfm

Enjoy Paris !

[jdriffill]

How about Arka Lab? www.arkalab.com (Not the cheapest, I guess, but they seem to have everything. They did a great job on processing some Agfa Scala for me a few years ago. I still have 5 rolls of Scala to expose and process. Must do it sometime before it gets too out-of-date!)

[Lauffray]

Yes I was going to suggest Negatif+, they're pretty good, they have a counter service which is quick to check out, and good results.
My friend dumps his film at lunch break and picks them up after work

[ulrich.von.lich]

I second the voice of loranger.

IMO Photostock is the best place (lowest prices, nice and competent people) to purchase films in Paris.

Négatif plus is the cheapest for development but they don't value their customers as much as professional labs. Once I lost my ticket and got into some trouble getting my films back. And they don't excuse when your films are scratched occasionally. In professional labs they know the face of every customer and it's quite easy to give the technician special instructions: for example, if you want the development to be supervised manually, which is extremely useful in case you forget the speed at which you shot the film. Sometimes you have choices over developers as well. For example, Xtol, Microdol X or Id11 (if my memory is good. Microdol X should be gone now.) for Publimod in the Marais. If the price is important, try Processus (another professional lab) in rue de la roquette near Père la chaise. It costs about 6 or 7EUR (around 4EUR for Négatif plus I believe) for development only, E6 being more expansive. They use TMAX developer but I have had nothing but good experience with them.

And of course, enjoy Paris.

[keithp]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I am in such a hectic state getting everything prepared for the trip. I can't wait to walk the streets with my ZI. I hope I get something worth posting. If I don't then it's my fault because you cant say that Paris has nothing to photograph.

[Gabriel M.A.]

Originally Posted by loranger

The place you need is Negatid + on rue de La fayette, they offer professionnal service at reasonnable price and they're quite fast: http://negatifplus.com/
They sell film also but I can also give you another address to buy film, the cheapest I know in Paris, Photostock: http://www.photostock.fr/index.cfm

I concur.


There are places dotted all over Paris which process film, but many of them outsource it "elsewhere". If you are lucky to stumble upon one (finding info about much anything in France is an exercise or two in patience) that is not in an area with heavy tourist traffic (Montmartre, for example), you'll generally get better customer service. Keep in mind that "customer service" is an oxymoron in places that are not "mom and pop", and the seller is always right, so demanding good service won't get you that. In general, you will be treated as you treat the merchants. I have stumbled upon some expats that don't get this and consistently get grumpy service. Just throwing it out there so that you don't get that culture shock and start off on the wrong foot.

Other than that, enjoy!

[JohnTF]

I would hope that Odeon Photo is still there, near Metro Odeon in the 6th Arr. , however, I do not know, perhaps a google search to find out.

I see they moved-- http://www.odeon-occasions.com/en.html

There were several serious stores in the north, and I used to buy paper made in France, they claimed to be the oldest in the world.

Regards, John

Kodak's office used to be in Villejuif, end of line 7, I used to drop off slide film and they posted the slides to my home for me. Ave Stalingrad? The address was on the Kodak Mailers-- even back in the day, if it was Kodachrome, they sent it to Switzerland for processing, and then it was posted to the US.

[Hazan]

Hello, be sure that the best (the bigger choice) and quite cheapest place to buy films in Paris is Photostock
http://www.photostock.fr/index.cfm
http://www.photostock.fr/page_4_copi..._1,fr,8,25.cfm

[Kawabatnam]

Originally Posted by loranger

The place you need is Negatid + on rue de La fayette, they offer professionnal service at reasonnable price and they're quite fast: http://negatifplus.com/
They sell film also but I can also give you another address to buy film, the cheapest I know in Paris, Photostock: http://www.photostock.fr/index.cfm

Enjoy Paris !

I much prefer PCP for developing -unlike Negatif+, it's a small family run place where they do care for customers, and they actually do the job themselves. And they work fast, well if you bribe them with... a smile!
http://www.photo-pcp.com/
For films, +1 to Photostock.

[elude]

For film, depending on what you use, I would highly recommend selsd'argent, located between République and Gare du Nord. It has the BEST prices in the city and the guy actually knows what he's talking about. He sells all sorts of darkroom products, way more interesting than Photostock in my opinion. Plus it's the kind of boutique that has been disappearing these last years, he needs support.
But it doesn't change the fact that Photostock is a really good boutique too, it's just more "commercial".

As for processing, negatif plus is cheap and "okay". Never heard of PCP (except for the drug... )
And forget about FNAC and PhotoService, that's just crap.

[keithp]

Thanks to all the new replies. I really appreciate everyones help. We just got here and I hope to get some film exposed soon. I brought 18 rolls with me so developing/scanning wii be my first issue. Money is a bit tight.