C-41 labs closing too?

[bugmenot]

Good point about not knowing locations around for photo and film processing.

This really goes back to the remarks many older folks I have met who have seen me shooting film usually make:

"They still make film?"
"You can still buy film?"
"Do you have to process it yourself?"
"I haven't seen a camera with film in it in years. I thought they went extinct and all the film manufacturers are defunct."
"Didn't Kodak go bankrupt?"

As they say, Knowledge is Power.

[NLewis]

Developing is moving mostly to mailorder. In the U.S. there are four main processing labs that people seem to use:

North Coast Photo (San Diego). I've had problems here with BW but the rest seems pretty good.

Richard Photo Lab. Somewhat pricey but a quality "pro" job.

Precision Camera. I've had good experiences all around with Precision. Excellent hi-res scanning.

Dwayne's Photo. Not much in the way of hi-res scanning here, but they do a lot of volume with low prices. Quality might be a little lower, but C41 is pretty forgiving. I'm trying them for BW, let's see what happens.

[muser53]

Originally Posted by Steve Bellayr

We spend thousands of dollars on top notch film equipment and then send the film to the cheapest developer! It is best to find and develop a professional long term relationship with a professional lab. Yes, it costs a little more but the work is better.

Just what I was thinking---you beat me to it

[Guaranteed]

Originally Posted by anjoca76

Yes, there are not as many places these days to get C-41 processed, but I have not yet found it too hard here in Boston, either. There is at least one pro lab (Colortek), plus numerous other places, such as CVS, Walgreens, Hunt's, Ritz, to name a few. E6...now that's another story. E6 is getting tougher every day, but there are still numerous C41 options in my neck of the woods.

I've never used them but I've heard good things about Color Services in Needham, they do E-6, C-41, B&W, and Pyro(whatever the hell that is).

[Keith]

Originally Posted by gavinlg

Here in Melbourne we have quite a few dedicated labs running all day - I can get c41 developed and pick it up within a few hours at BONDS color lab in cremorne. Great consistency too.
There's also a place that's opened up near the Astor theatre that are a dedicated film lab, and theres now a guy that opened up his own home business developing film quite cheap.

But Melbourne is a particularly creative city - it's probably not like that in my old home town of Brisbane, for instance.

Hey ... we're too busy banging up shopping malls and creating ugly new housing developments for that sort of stuff!

[Aristophanes]

Originally Posted by bugmenot

Thankfully, where I live, quite a few large chain stores like Walmart, London Drugs, etc. still process C-41 film. There are quite a number of smaller shops that cover C-41 processing as well. I don't think people who shoot C-41 film will have to worry for a long time, at least in Canada.

Sadly, I can find just two shops within a 100km driving radius of my home that still processes E-6 transparencies. ._. Also, only one photo chain that does black and white.

Wal-mart Canada is phasing out film processing. Same for London Drugs and Pharmasave. All of them have scale down and out plans.

I used to work for one of those chains and still keep the contacts. In less than 36 months none of them will process negs.

[Aristophanes]

Originally Posted by NLewis

Developing is moving mostly to mailorder. In the U.S. there are four main processing labs that people seem to use:

North Coast Photo (San Diego). I've had problems here with BW but the rest seems pretty good.

Richard Photo Lab. Somewhat pricey but a quality "pro" job.

Precision Camera. I've had good experiences all around with Precision. Excellent hi-res scanning.

Dwayne's Photo. Not much in the way of hi-res scanning here, but they do a lot of volume with low prices. Quality might be a little lower, but C41 is pretty forgiving. I'm trying them for BW, let's see what happens.

I'd add in:

Indie Film Lab
The Darkroom
120processing.com

There are others.

What's notable about all these services is the primaries of scanning as a core feeaure, whereas the mini-labscanning was a kludge add-on. Printing was/is the main biz.

[dschal]

Originally Posted by Guaranteed

I've never used them but I've heard good things about Color Services in Needham, they do E-6, C-41, B&W, and Pyro(whatever the hell that is).

Color Services is good. I used them when I lived in Newton. No worries.
Dave

[bugmenot]

Originally Posted by Aristophanes

Wal-mart Canada is phasing out film processing. Same for London Drugs and Pharmasave. All of them have scale down and out plans.

I used to work for one of those chains and still keep the contacts. In less than 36 months none of them will process negs.

Well, that's depressing. London Drugs nearby my home has quite a sophisticated photo lab. It would be a shame to see it disappear.

Any options for in-home C-41 processing? ._.

[anjoca76]

Originally Posted by dschal

Color Services is good. I used them when I lived in Newton. No worries.
Dave

Good to know, thanks!

[muser53]

I've had good results using:

http://www.lightwavesimaging.com/

http://www.photolaboratory.com/

[v_roma]

+1 for Precision and Indie Film Lab. I typically use Precision and recently tried Indie Film Lab. Precision camera do a great job for a reasonable price. Indie Film Lab was excellent but you pay a premium. I'll be using Precision camera for most of my rolls, I think, and Indie Film Lab for the special ones

[jbot]

I'm starting to wonder if it's time to sell my expensive film equipment. Seems like it would still fetch a high price now, but if the labs all disappear, I imagine even the not so cheap rangefinders would drastically drop in price. What do you guys think?

[farlymac]

The CVS closest to me has lost my business because they had folks that don't care how they handle the product, and were contantly wrecking the machines, and sometimes my film. You don't pay people minimum wage and expect them to give a hoot about their job.

But then the 'pro' lab about eight miles away doesn't do much better. They have someone there that will actually scuff up the negs for some reason. And they have lowered the scan resolution to about a quarter of what it used to be, just to reduce time spent on the machines. At least they are now stocking a decent choice of film, but I'm even thinking that buying by the brick is the way to go.

PF

[farlymac]

Originally Posted by jbot

I'm starting to wonder if it's time to sell my expensive film equipment. Seems like it would still fetch a high price now, but if the labs all disappear, I imagine even the not so cheap rangefinders would drastically drop in price. What do you guys think?

Yeah, I was thinking about that last night. May be time to let some of my toys go, so someone else can have some fun with them before it's too late.

PF

[Red Robin]

In my town CVS, a drug store, is where I have my processing & scaning done . Went through a lot to find the folks that do it now. But The tech. tells me his hours have been cut and they will drop out in another year or so. The adventure continues. I have been slowly buying things that will start me to begin my own processing. An affordable chemical source (local?), a super scanner of some kind. Not being a Pro it gets hard to justify some of the expense.

[dimension2]

Originally Posted by Steve Bellayr

We spend thousands of dollars on top notch film equipment and then send the film to the cheapest developer! It is best to find and develop a professional long term relationship with a professional lab. Yes, it costs a little more but the work is better.

I guess I was a little hesitant paying more for the processing than for the film itself. Snapfish was cheap at 3-5 bucks for processing, scans (low res, but still) AND prints. A few scratchy negatives later, I learn quality comes at a price. Still learning.

Thanks for the responses. I learn here there are more labs that take in mail orders than I was aware of. Richard Photo and North Coast were the others I had heard of, but good to know there are quite a few alternatives available, with affordable options. Now to get out and shoot some more..

[kuvvy]

I heard that here in the UK, Boots the High St pharmacy chain are looking to stop their film processing.

[mfunnell]

I'm staying here at Burleigh Heads at the Gold Coast:


burleigh_outlook_2012-1-web

for the first time in a few years. I had a word with Trevor who runs the local photography shop. He put some hard (though anecdotal numbers) on C-41 processing where he is. He's at a major tourist destination and his only real competition (Big W, who try to style themselves on Walmart) stopped all film development earlier this year. Still, he says, three years ago he was processing 25-30 C-41 films per day. Now he counts himself lucky if he gets half a dozen.

He has to charge more than he feels comfortable with, simply to support the cost of the chemicals and maintenance on his machinery (Trevor's a bit of a stickler for quality). For as long as I've known him, Trevor's been talking about shutting up shop, but he hasn't. Partly because of a lack of buyers, but also partly because he does it for love rather than money.

I suspect that once the likes of Trevor retire, well, it's "all over, red rover".

...Mike

[ebolton]

I'm shooting a few rolls of Tri-X now, and with the help of Chris Crawford's tech pages and a few other sources, re-aquiring the skills to soup it myself. This is basically a step toward processing C-41 myself, since I really see and prefer the world in color. Thanks to my professional life,I have an account at Automation Direct and have just ordered the parts I'll need to make a temp controlled water bath. There are still a few places around here for C-41, but they are getting scarcer and the quality has been slipping for all of them.

[goamules]

I keep saying 35mm film is not worth it except I love the old, quality rangefinder cameras! I do shoot a lot of Large Format black and white, and Wetplate, which are totally worth it, nothing else like them. But when I screw an old 50s RF lens on my G1 m4/3 and get great color and exposure every shot, it's disappointing to pay $10 for a roll an find a lot of flaws. Again, I shoot a roll or two every month for the fun of using the camera. Not the fun of getting it developed.

[jwicaksana]

Originally Posted by goamules

I keep saying 35mm film is not worth it except I love the old, quality rangefinder cameras! I do shoot a lot of Large Format black and white, and Wetplate, which are totally worth it, nothing else like them. But when I screw an old 50s RF lens on my G1 m4/3 and get great color and exposure every shot, it's disappointing to pay $10 for a roll an find a lot of flaws. Again, I shoot a roll or two every month for the fun of using the camera. Not the fun of getting it developed.

I am beginning to feel like this too

[clayne]

Originally Posted by Aristophanes

Wal-mart Canada is phasing out film processing. Same for London Drugs and Pharmasave. All of them have scale down and out plans.

I used to work for one of those chains and still keep the contacts. In less than 36 months none of them will process negs.

I thought you were done with the doom and gloom? What's wrong? Get run off APUG and have to find a new outlet?

[Aristophanes]

Originally Posted by clayne

I thought you were done with the doom and gloom? What's wrong? Get run off APUG and have to find a new outlet?

For being right?

Labs are closing all over. That's what's being heard anecdotally in this thread and others. Almost all major pharma chains (my old corporate stomping grounds) have plans or are in the process of eliminating film processing services both in-house and send out. Film consumption is still on a very steep decline.

People need to be aware that if they are long-term counting on inexpensive, local film processing, those days are very close to being at an end. A few dense urban areas may have some volume to keep it going, but for the most part, we're looking at C41 mail order at $10+/roll, prints extra. Get used to it.

Fuji has stopped all new manufacture of lab and RA equipment. Same for Noritsu. Their sales teams (who I used to work with) only sell and service dry print systems, with processing labs relegated to service and salvage ops. Even RA printing in North America (and I've been told, Japan) is on the rocks.

Sorry. That's just the truth of it.

[Nikon Bob]

Originally Posted by Aristophanes

For being right?

Labs are closing all over. That's what's being heard anecdotally in this thread and others. Almost all major pharma chains (my old corporate stomping grounds) have plans or are in the process of eliminating film processing services both in-house and send out. Film consumption is still on a very steep decline.

People need to be aware that if they are long-term counting on inexpensive, local film processing, those days are very close to being at an end. A few dense urban areas may have some volume to keep it going, but for the most part, we're looking at C41 mail order at $10+/roll, prints extra. Get used to it.

Fuji has stopped all new manufacture of lab and RA equipment. Same for Noritsu. Their sales teams (who I used to work with) only sell and service dry print systems, with processing labs relegated to service and salvage ops. Even RA printing in North America (and I've been told, Japan) is on the rocks.

Sorry. That's just the truth of it.

That pretty well sums up what I am seeing locally and in this thread and others. The few exceptions being posted are indeed in high density urban areas for the rest of us it is a different story. Reality sucks and burying your head in the sand won't make it go away and neither will getting upset at those that don't bury their head in the sand. I don't doubt that APUG hostile to that train of thought. I don't think film will disappear but just get more difficult to find and get processed which will go hand in hand with much higher associated costs.

Bob