Mark Sheftick wrote:
> I have a quick question. I had some T-Max 400 (24 exp) developed and got a
> contact sheet made but no prints. It was US$ 11.00 before any taxes. I was
> wondering if this is a normal cost for something like this. I guess,
> compared to the $8.00 most places charge for C-41 and one or two sets of
> prints, I was a little disappointed at what I got for my money.
>
> This of course is not to mention the fact that I had to go in 3 times to get
> it because the first two times someone apparently just forgot to develop my
> film.
>
> Please let me know if I should look around based on cost. I may be looking
> around based on service regardless.
Mark,
That's about par for the course. You may find this service for as low as $9,
but seldom much lower, at least in the areas of the US I'm familiar with.
The problem is that very few labs have automated lines for B&W. It has to be
done by hand, and there's no money in it for the labs. No steady business,
either.
You can do it better and much more cheaply yourself. I once calculated
everything out very exactly, and figured that it cost me $2.11 per roll and
21 minutes of my time per roll for developing and proofing six rolls, doing
2 tanks of 3 rolls each. It's a little over 2 hours total for developing the
film, cutting the film after it dries, and making the proofs. That's been a
few years, and your methods wouldn't exactly duplicate mine, but you can see
that $12.66 is quite a bit cheaper than $66, presuming you can spare the two
hours. I just used to do the work while watching sports on TV on the
weekends. It's "wasted" time anyway.
--Mike
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