Question Home

Position:Home>Visual Arts> Does anyone these days actually develop film or has that been wiped out?


Question: Does anyone these days actually develop film or has that been wiped out!?
Due to the introduction of digital cameras!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I am a photo lab manager in a small town/rural setting!. Nine years ago when our lab opened we averaged between 50 and 80 rolls per day, depending on the time of year!. In November, December and January we would have routine 100+ days!. We had no digital equipment!. Now our film volume is in the teens and twenties consistently, maybe 30 around Christmas!. I have not had a 100 roll day in 4 years!. But we do 20,000+ digital prints per month on three digital systems, and more that are uploaded on line and delivered to our lab!. To put my figures in perspective, my lab is constantly a top performer, both in product, customer service and volume!. In our region (NC, SC, TN, VA, GA and part of KY) we are usually in the top two or three in sales (and often #1) among about 600 stores!. Many labs do less film than ours!.

During this same time period, my film selection has dropped from a 12 foot section and a six ft backwall that included Kodak, Fuji, Ilford, slides, and real B&W down to a two foot section of Fuji and store brand!. And that two feet includes the disposacams and memory cards!. We dropped 100 speed over a year ago, and are going to drop 200!. So we will have only 400 and 800, that will be four pegs of 35mm film, single rolls and multipack, and one peg of APS!. The last time I went into Ritz to buy a roll of Portra, they had none!. Luckily B&H carries about any kind of film there is!. Now when I need film, I order it online!.

The truth is, we have zero commercial accounts now!. The real estate companies, fire depts, law enforcement etc have all gone digital!. I do still have a few local portrait and event photographers who shoot 35mm film!. Several hobbyists and enthusiasts are still film shooters, and some people (especially the elderly) who will never use digital because of the fear factor and learning curve!. The bulk of my film volume is disposable cameras!. Not too many casual shooters use 35mm now!. It's a shame in a way!. Overall, most were getting better pictures from their 35mm P&S than they are getting out of their digicam P&S!.

I am fortunate to have a great optical printer/processor in my lab!. Corporate has been making noise for a year or two about replacing my "obsolete" machine with a nifty digital dry lab, a suggestion I am vigorously opposing!. A good 35mm negative printed on a real optical printer using real wet chemistry has a warm and mellow look that I personally love!. That look is what keeps many folks hanging on to their film systems!.

So 35mm film for the masses is still around here in the USA, although much less of it!. In other countries film is still king!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

No!. No-one develops film anymore!. All the film that's being sold today is destined to languish, unprocessed, in some dusty cupboard or other!. Still, film still keeps being manufactured and used in vast quantities!. Can't work it out, myself!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

When I was in school I used it every once in a while, but that is because of the fact that we had our own dark room and there's nothing more relaxing than developing your own photographs!.
Now that I've graduated, I stick strictly to digital!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

There has been a slight increase in sheet film sales in 2008!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

No, using film these days is like using a fan over aircon!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I know that our local drug store still develops filmWww@QuestionHome@Com