Tuesday, February 24, 2009

And they're off

My poor scanner has been sitting idle waiting to eat new film, but I have no film to feed it.

Yesterday I mailed off a package of two exposed rolls of 120 film to Dwayne at his photo shop in KS. I've had three rolls developed there before, and for a lot cheaper than I can find locally, so until I go all B&W and start developing at home, I'll probabaly keep mailing Dwayne my film.

Last set of film I mailed off took about 10 days round trip before I got it back, We'll see how long this batch takes.

The B&W develop only cost is 4.49, the color develop only option is $3.49. Return mail costs $4 for the first roll, and $.50 thereafter. So for two rolls I spent $12.48. Seems pricey, but it's still cheaper than the $7.99 per roll my local lab charges.

I'd love some suggestions for cheaper processing, so if you read this, and you've got a tip please add a comment.

In the long run I might end up buying a developing tank and some chemistry to do my own processing at home, but if I do that I'll probably still send my color negatives out.

Here's a link to Dwayne's Photo: http://www.dwaynesphoto.com/

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Sorry no suggestions. The developing costs are what drove me to give up my trusty film Nikon and go to D80.

W. M. Rutherford said...

Do you feel that when you use your scanner to get prints, that they are the best possible product? Does it depend on the scanner?

Matt Allen Photography said...

Mattivere - I haven't printed from a scan yet, but I am thinking I'll probably end up scanning them for the web only, then if I find a frame I want to enlarge I'll have it drum-scanned at a local shop. Those scans are usually much higher quality than what you get on a flatbed scanner.