Black&White | Film | Where to Develop?

[D-B-J]

I want to use some Ilford Plus HP5 400 film and my old Canon AE1, but don't have a local shop that can process it or process it myself as I don't have the necessary tools. Where can I get it developed? I see Ilford does it for about $20 a roll, which seems steep (although I won't be using it a lot.. So maybe only a roll or two a month). Any suggestions?

Jake

 

[KmH]

In a closet or a bathroom with no windows.
The tools and chemicals are not expensive.

 

[480sparky]

It will run about $100 to purchase the stuff you'll need to develop it yourself (reel, tank, chemicals, dark bag). That's the route I took.

You can also send it to Dwayne's if there's no local options.

 

[compur]

Is your location a secret?

 

[D-B-J]

Is your location a secret?

Southeastern CT

 

[D-B-J]

In a closet or a bathroom with no windows.
The tools and chemicals are not expensive.

It will run about $100 to purchase the stuff you'll need to develop it yourself (reel, tank, chemicals, dark bag). That's the route I took.

You can also send it to Dwayne's if there's no local options.

But wouldn't I need a scanner and all that too? And an enlarger? And printing paper? Etc?

 

[limr]

To develop at home, you would need tank and reels and chemicals, and if there's no option for a completely darkened space, you can use a changing bag. The only part that has to be completely in the dark is loading the film onto the reels and getting them into the tank (which is lightproof). The rest can be done in the bathroom in regular light.

But you are right - this just leaves you with the negatives. To see the images, you'd need to either scan them in or print them. Only if you print them will you need an enlarger, more chemicals, trays, or photo paper, and you'd also now need that room with no light in it, and a red light.

That's a lot of money to lay out for a set up if you're not going to shoot a lot of film. I mean, you might end up liking it enough to shoot film more regularly, and if so, then I'd definitely suggest the self-developing route, but if you're just messing around with it once in a while, then I'd send it out. Sparky mentioned Dwayne's, and there's also darkroom.com.

Another possibility is - and this is going to sound bad, I know - is to find out if Wal-mart takes film for development. None of it is done on the premises, but it might be worth it to find out where they send it. The last time I looked into this, they sent black and white film to a place that actually knew what they were doing. I wouldn't trust them with color, but for black and white, it might actually be an option. But you'd have to do some digging at your local store.

If you were in southwestern CT and near the NY border, I'd suggest the place where I take my color film, but you being in southeastern CT makes that suggestion a bit impractical.

Wherever you send the film, ask for scans but don't ask for prints. Waste of money, imo, at that stage of the game. You can look at the pictures easily on the computer and you might want to edit them anyway before you print some, if you print any.

And as a final thought, you might want to google film developing in your local area. The lab that does my film is a little mom-and-pop operation that has been around since 1935. They have the color machine on the premises and do the black and white themselves. These are guys that have been shooting and developing for years. I discovered them years ago when I first started shooting medium format. There might be little operations like that around you, maybe even in places you'd never think of looking.

Actually, I just did a quick google maps search in the general southeastern CT area - Cooper's Imaging in Norwich, CT Prints in Hamden, ABC Photo Lab in Mystic, and a few around Hartford.

 

[480sparky]

If you scan the negs, you can print from the digital file.

Unless you want to get into wet printing. That will involve a true darkroom (not necessarily a permanent one, just a room that can block all outside light sources. Bathrooms can be pressed into service for this if there's no windows), more chemicals, trays, an enlarger and various other sundry items.

There's plenty of online videos out there about developing film, scanning it and making wet prints.

 

[Light Guru]

Personally I would recommend developing it yourself.

If you still want to send it out I don't think Walmart will do regular B&W film.

I have heard good things about Film Developing at The Darkroom | Develop Film by Mail for $11

 

[limr]

Personally I would recommend developing it yourself.

If you still want to send it out I don't think Walmart will do regular B&W film.

I have heard good things about Film Developing at The Darkroom | Develop Film by Mail for $11

I think it depends on the Walmart. I've been poking around a little and there seem to be different reports of what Wal-mart does or doesn't do. Many say that they send out to a Fuji lab, which is often Dwayne's. I suppose the only advantage to sending it through Wal-mart instead of directly to Dwayne's is if the price is lower. Only way to find out is to go to the local store and look at the prices.

 

[Mike_E]

Or you could check around for a place that does their own color developing and see what they'd charge you to scan your negs.

A walgreens or cvs or one-hour or in my case my local camera shop. If they don't do B&W then they are still getting your business (which should make them happy) without losing any money for the developing. JUst be nice and explain your situation. It helps if you are a regular there as well.

 

[480sparky]

If some places that won't develop black & white film, but DO process color (usually C-41 process) film, check out Ilford's XP-2. It's a B&W film that uses the C-41 processing.

 

[Gary A.]

I would only trust B&W to a custom lab. There are a few highly recommended labs out here, Richards, NCPS, Pro Photo in Irvine all have good reps. I know that Richards does mail-in/mail-out and (IIRC) that $21 is good for a B&W development and a CD with a medium scan.

 

[gsgary]

I know this does not help you but it may help others, this lab just 1 mile from my house is getting rave reveiws on the forums they put a lot of work into the scans, i have noticed quite a few people posting their films from Germany
UK Film Lab | Professional Film Processing and Scanning

 

[dubiousone]

I have a place locally that does C-41 for just under $10 a roll with single prints. My camera guy sends out B&W which is $22 a roll and takes forever. The C-41 stuff I can get same day if I want.

I've tried Ilford XP2; Not entirely happy with the greys.....