Film Drop-Off Sites Fade Against Digital Cameras

[johnastovall]

"Fresh from a family vacation in California, Rick Wallerstein went to the Stop & Shop supermarket in Berkeley Heights, N.J., last month to drop off a roll of film, as he has done for about two decades...."

Full story here...

[kenw]

As market penetration drops, so do associated services. Economics 201

i hear it is also difficult to find a good buggy-whip repairman.

[Buddha]

The local HEB here is north Austin converted it's photo lab to a news stand a few months ago. I don't know about any others.

[venchka]

It is getting tough. If you find them, the quality usually sucks. If the quality is ok, the services are going down for the same price. Wolf Camera reduced the maximum size scans they produced and kept the price the same. Ironically, the few high quality film processing labs that can manage to hang on AND offer their services through the mail are seeing an increase in business. There are reorts that 4x5 and larger sales are increasing slowly. Econ 201 at work here too.

Last weekend I was in Palm Harbor, FL. As luck would have it there was a Mom & Pop camera store within walking distance of my daughter's home. On Friday I took them 3 rolls of film. Explained I was leaving Sunday and could they process & scan before closing. Even though they didn't normally develop film on Friday, they did my order that afternoon. They also provided hi-res scans for a slight additional charge. I was pleased with their work and dropped off 2 more rolls Saturday in their drop box. The prints & CDs were ready by 2pm that afternoon. Service like that is rare, but may keep them going.

All things considered, I'm heading in the direction of my own black & white processing. I can now develop 135, 120, 220 and 4x5 black & white film. If the quality isn't up to my standards I know exactly who is at fault.

[JohnT]

Remember the Fox Foto drive-up, drop-off booths? Now that was a while back. :-)

[Spec A!]

Well, if you are ever in MD and need some quality processing I would ONLY recommend Severna Park Photo. I actually used to work for them back when I was in College- I ran their second location in Annapolis for a few years. We did everything in house (and I mean everything), and it looks as if they still do. They are the true mom and pop family biz, run and staffed by photographers, and always offered very high quality and custom work. It looks as if they are now doing online ordering too, so it may be worth checking out. It's nice to see they are still in business even if the website's a little lacking.

http://severnaparkphoto.com/services.htm