[monochrome]

Just went down the street to get some Sunday afternoon quick stuff and I was shocked to see the entire film area had been replaced by .....

iPhone accessories and cases.

The photo counter is still there, but reorganized as a consultative print sales desk selling packages of prints from a card you bring in or an image you email.

The yellow Kodak self service print kiosk is gone, replaced by a Clearance Items bin.

[EDIT] I'm not so shocked that the developer is gone - but the pegboard full of film? Replaced by iPhone cases?

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Last edited by monochrome; 03-17-2013 at 07:33 PM.

[Adam]

I bet that in five years, you'll either have to mail in your film to get it developed, or do it yourself, now that we're almost 2 decades into the digital era!

[monochrome]

I bet that in five years, you'll either have to mail in your film to get it developed, or do it yourself, now that we're almost 2 decades into the digital era!

I have to mail it anyway. The commercial lab I use only does C-41 - they mail the B&W to Dwaynes.

I was really surprised they don't even SELL film any more not so much that they only do email or SD digital prints.

[boriscleto]

The Rite-Aid down the street from me was the last place you could get 2 hour processing in my part of town. They got rid of the machine last year, but you can still buy film and single use cameras, at least for now...

[twitch]

When my "local" shop stops developing C41 film I'll have to switch to develop my own and switch to B&W. I can get B&W developed now at a specialty store but it's $15 a roll develop only

[stevebrot]

Sorry to read this. Film and processing are still present at our local Walgreens and Target. So, did you ask where they dumped the minilab?


Steve

[brofkand]

Even the chemicals for C-41 processing are difficult to find for the at-home darkroom user. Freestyle of course still sells them, but they do not sell any kits with a separate bleach and fix anymore. They all have Blix.

Nearly all the film work I do these days is B&W anyway, and when I do color a Tetenal Press Kit will suffice. Otherwise, the only feasible and repeatable option for me is mailing out to a lab like The Darkroom ($10 per roll for process and scan). This is uneconomical.

I think a few Rite Aids, Walgreens, and CVS in my area still process film but I'd rather take my chances with a Tetenal kit than I would risk ruining film with a machine that probably hasn't been properly maintained for 5 years.

I shoot a lot of B&W film, and it's all processed and scanned by me. I've read a few pieces that say C-41 film will be gone within 5 years (probably sooner, hastened by the demise of Kodak and the shift of Hollywood from film distribution to digital distribution).

[Professor Batty]

The lab I worked at just shut down last week. We were the only place in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that still did C-41, E-6, and B&W film developing in house. There are still a few places that do all three, but the film industry is in its death spiral. Hobbyists may hold on in B&W and E-6 for some time, but I think C-41 will be gone within 3 years. You really need at least 10 rolls a day to keep C-41 chemistry in balance in a processor and we couldn't even get that, even when doing work for other labs.

[TomB_tx]

The lab I worked at just shut down last week. We were the only place in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area that still did C-41, E-6, and B&W film developing in house. There are still a few places that do all three, but the film industry is in its death spiral. Hobbyists may hold on in B&W and E-6 for some time, but I think C-41 will be gone within 3 years. You really need at least 10 rolls a day to keep C-41 chemistry in balance in a processor and we couldn't even get that, even when doing work for other labs.

Sorry to hear that also. In our suburb town of Cedar Park we still have 2 Walgreens doing C41 - but I'm sure they are working through their stores to do these changes. Austin still has Precision Camera which does a fair film business, but not as convenient for me to get to.

[kc.virginia]

That's a bummer. My Walgreens still has a photo counter and does develop film, but I suspect they will start phasing them out. Some of the older Targets and Walmarts here still have film development, but newer ones only do send-out service. Costco still develops film here, which is where I go if I want to do a quick roll and I don't care too much if something happens to it (ie, it's not something super special or unique).

My local CVS removed their film developing machines a while ago. They do sell film, surprisingly even 400TX B&W and the C-41 B&W kodak stuff, but it's $10 a roll. Eek. Their color film is cheaper but they only carry Kodak and I think maybe only 400 speed.

It does make me sad. I love my digital camera and I love getting prints from it but I will miss having film be readily available and easy/not too expensive to process. I do have the stuff to do B&W development at home but with 3 kids I don't have much time to do it.

[maxfield_photo]

Back to wet plates, anyone? They can't discontinue that.

[Steve Beswick]

Back to wet plates, anyone? They can't discontinue that.

... Until the EPA does a blanket ban on chemical photography.

[Kerrowdown]

2 decades into the digital era!

Good grief, is it as long as that already, it seems only like yesterday that I took the leap of faith to digital.

[wombat2go]

And this morning I got email from my store in reply to my query, with advice that the Rollie Digibase C41 home devel kits are no longer being exported to USA.
The Tetenal kits are still available in 1 litre and 5 litre . The 5 litre kit does 60 rolls and costs about $85 with shipping.
I presume it can be mixed progressively for about 4 ~5 sessions over a year, so I will try one.

My first session using the Rollie kit, I did about 7 rolls and got 100% success in development, but there were a few spots from the dried stabilizer that needed to be wiped off with dry cotton swab.

[gofour3]

We used to have a drug store chain in the Vancouver area (London Drugs) which had in-house film processing in each store. A few years back they all stopped doing their own processing and now have a contract with one of the big three pro Labs in Vancouver. You can still buy film and drop it off for processing in each location.

The same goes with camera stores. They sell film and will accept it for processing, it’s also sent to one of the pro Labs for processing.

This consolidated method works well as it give more work to the pro Labs and you get more consistent processing/prints/scans, than you would with a non pro drug store.

The prices may be a bit higher, but so are your results.

Phil.