Railfan Technology > Film Processing Options

This is something that's been bugging me for a while and I wanted to get some other opinions.

Like many of you, more and more of my photography is digital. However there are times, scenes, or locations where my preferred format is 35mm film. I used to shoot a lot of Kodachrome, but since I bought a slide/negative scanner, I've shifted to negative films.

What's bugging me is whether to use a "pro" lab (or the 1 hour processing at a local camera store) or use the 1 hour processing at my local drug store? The machines that process the film look pretty much the same and as far as I'm concerned the print is a "proof". I scan the negatives as soon as it's convenient to do so.

Why spend extra money at a so called "pro" lab (or camera store)? It seems to me that C41 processing is the same whether I pay someone $6 a roll, or $12. So far, my nearby drug store has yet to mess up an order. I can't say the same for a local "pro" lab that I've given far less business.

What are your experiences?

In my view the extra money for "professional" processing hopefully reduces (but does not eliminate) the chance of somebody screwing up, like forgetting to refresh chemicals or putting a thumb print on your favorite pix. In theory the professional lab technician is better trained and is perhaps a bit more "into" his job, but nobody is perfect.

Is the extra cost worth it? Depends on how replaceable the picture is. If you just got back from a once in a lifetime time trip to China, might be worth paying the "insurance". But for a weekend trip somewhere close by.....the one hour lab sounds pretty good to me. And the one-hour lab I deal with looks pretty professional, with the same people there for a long time.

JBW

As a news photographer that travels, I will report many times I, as well as the other photographers I work with, have used a one-hour lab to quickly process time-sensative film. We would only get the film processed and not get any prints. Doing it this way saved time, often it took between 12-20 mins total and saved money. We would then scan and tranmit photos via a laptop.

Since I have been digital for a few years I have not needed to do this recently but it always worked well for us.

Keep in mind most one-hour labs have folks that know more about cash registers than they do C-41 film processors. I would often ask questions of them about there equipment that usually got the "deer in the headlight look."

You should test it and keep in mind the staff can change quickly at these locations.