Film processing costs

[MikeMike]

I recently treated myself to an old Leica M4-P with a couple rolls of Ilford (first film camera). Now while the pictures are amazing, when I picked them up today the total was 42$ for developing the two rolls of 24 along with 4x6's. Is it just me or is that a bit much? he justified it by saying it was BW and had to be manually processed but 20$ a roll? bit much for me with the film cost taken into account.

My question is is this the standard cost of processing and 4x6 prints or is this guy off his rocker.

Lemme know! Thanks,
Mike

[Richowens]

Nope....not if he did a dip and dunk process. Local labs here charge $5 to $7 to just process. Prints are .60 to .80 each.

 I have paid $12 or so to have a 24 exposure roll of color developed and printed on a machine, my wife refuses to give up her film camera for digital. So I don't feel that hand processed and printed for $20 is out of line.  My 220 Provia is now up to $12.50 for dip and dunk.

 What you might consider in the future is have the negatives developed and a contact sheet made.

 IMHO

 Rich

[Dale_Cotton]

have the negatives developed and a contact sheet made

Emphatically agree - on top of the expense, anything to avoid lab 4x6s as a means of identifying keepers.

Given you're doing B&W, what about developing your own film? Or joining a local club with appropriate facilities? (Ah! The ambiance of the single red light bulb. Oh! The aroma of wet chemistry gently wafting up to one's nostrils!)

I'm in Toronto, where Blacks is the standard chain. Most Blacks will scratch my film to rat spit but I've found one that is near by yet consistently pretty good. Micro-scratches only. They're happy just to develop and cut, no prints.

[MikeMike]

What you might consider in the future is have the negatives developed and a contact sheet made.

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Thanks Rich and Dale,

The contact sheet seems like the most economically smart things to do, Given not every print I make is worth the money. And Dale, I would absolutely LOVEEE to get myself a dark room but right now I'm paying off the Leica and my family isn't going to appreciate the fumes running through the house, or me being under the "influence" during dinner   Thanks!

[Kevin W Smith]

Thanks Rich and Dale,

The contact sheet seems like the most economically smart things to do, Given not every print I make is worth the money. And Dale, I would absolutely LOVEEE to get myself a dark room but right now I'm paying off the Leica and my family isn't going to appreciate the fumes running through the house, or me being under the "influence" during dinner   Thanks!
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Developing black and white film at home without a darkroom is easy, you only need a changing bag to load the film into the can. The chemistry part isn't difficult or obtrusive,  and you can use a shower to dry the film in. Once you're setup you can develop a couple of rolls for just a few bucks.

Then just have contact sheets made by the lab you used before...or scan them with something like an inexpensive Epson flatbed with a 35mm adapter to see what you have.

[Ken Bennett]

Mike,

You might consider using one of the chromogenic C-41 process b+w films, like Ilford XP2 or Kodak T400CN. Back in the Film Age, I shot many thousands of rolls of both, and got very good results. I did find XP2 better for making prints, and the Kodak for scanning, but that might not be true anymore.

These films can be processed at any color lab for a few bucks a roll. Ask for 'process only, do not cut,' and you'll get your film back in a long sleeve. You can then have contact sheets made if you like. The film has a long tonal range, and makes very nice custom prints. (Though be warned -- any auto-printing machine will give you very flat prints, sometimes with a nice green cast as a bonus.)

Some photographers dislike these films because they can't easily be push- or pull-processed, but that's not an issue if you're just dropping them off at the lab for standard processing anyway.

--Ken

[seamus finn]

Mike, I second that. You can then scan the negs and go digital, thus cutting out the darkroom altogether. I have thousands of b/w negs (Ilford, Kodak etc) from back in the time when I had a darkroom in the attic at home.. The problem is when scanned with a Nikon V ED, every tiny scratch is magnified beyond belief. Sometimes it can be a real horror show just trying to get rid of the flaws - not to mention the hard labour.