Expired Film Shots

[bribrius]

walmart, least one in my vicinity, doesn't send back the negatives. Just a low res cd. so don't drop off unless you are willing to give up the negatives.

 

[Authentic Southerner]

I can only speak to my experience with local WM... but this is how it goes for me....

I ask the ladies who work there.. Will I get my negatives back ? (35mm or 645) and they say... NO ! Only a cd with scans...

I tell them I will take a chance..... and this is what happens... for going on 2 years now...

35mm c-41..... no negatives returned.. crappy prints & crappy cd scans
35mm e-6....... takes about 3 weeks and the slides come back exactly as expected albeit not much cheaper than other alternatives... but there is no postage..

120/220 c-41 I always get back both negatives and prints for what seems to be about 10 cents per exposure.... same slow turnaround... about 3 weeks... prints are crappy but I think of it as if I am paying for processing...

120/220 e-6 ...... transparencies come back uncut, sleeved, rolled around a little red cardboard tube piece (just like the ones I have sent off to Dwayne's) and the quality is great.... same slow turnaround about 3 weeks....

120/220 B&W ...... comes back with negatives and prints (which aren't bad) but it is rather costly imho... not worth it given a local "real" photography store still processes B&W 35/120 for $5 per roll processing...

I always cross out the generic instructions... Write SEND OUT across that area and below in the area of special instructions put something like... Kodak Portra 160 / 220 c-41 Thanks.... and they always come back just fine.. well one roll didn't make it back but they gave me almost $20 for the expired roll of Kodak Portra 220 they lost and apologized profusely.....

In the process Ive gotten to know "Shirley" the one lady who works in that department with a lick of sense.. and she finally asked one day... If you don't mind me asking... What kind of pictures do you have on those ROLL things they send back ? When I explained they were transparencies, like large slides she had a very puzzled look on her face and then asked... What do you do with those things ? She is with the program now and usually calls to tell me my film is back and ready for pickup.... Honestly the other 4 or 5 girls who work back there are rude, insolent and lazy.... but hey, where else can you get a 32 exp roll of 220 c-41 for $3.20 ?

No guarantee it will work at your local WM.. but this has been my experience... I say shoot a roll and give it a shot.... But don't drop off 35mm c41... you will be disappointed !

 

[bribrius]

I can only speak to my experience with local WM... but this is how it goes for me....

I ask the ladies who work there.. Will I get my negatives back ? (35mm or 645) and they say... NO ! Only a cd with scans...

I tell them I will take a chance..... and this is what happens... for going on 2 years now...

35mm c-41..... no negatives returned.. crappy prints & crappy cd scans
35mm e-6....... takes about 3 weeks and the slides come back exactly as expected albeit not much cheaper than other alternatives... but there is no postage..

120/220 c-41 I always get back both negatives and prints for what seems to be about 10 cents per exposure.... same slow turnaround... about 3 weeks... prints are crappy but I think of it as if I am paying for processing...

120/220 e-6 ...... transparencies come back uncut, sleeved, rolled around a little red cardboard tube piece (just like the ones I have sent off to Dwayne's) and the quality is great.... same slow turnaround about 3 weeks....

120/220 B&W ...... comes back with negatives and prints (which aren't bad) but it is rather costly imho... not worth it given a local "real" photography store still processes B&W 35/120 for $5 per roll processing...

I always cross out the generic instructions... Write SEND OUT across that area and below in the area of special instructions put something like... Kodak Portra 160 / 220 c-41 Thanks.... and they always come back just fine.. well one roll didn't make it back but they gave me almost $20 for the expired roll of Kodak Portra 220 they lost and apologized profusely.....

In the process Ive gotten to know "Shirley" the one lady who works in that department with a lick of sense.. and she finally asked one day... If you don't mind me asking... What kind of pictures do you have on those ROLL things they send back ? When I explained they were transparencies, like large slides she had a very puzzled look on her face and then asked... What do you do with those things ? She is with the program now and usually calls to tell me my film is back and ready for pickup.... Honestly the other 4 or 5 girls who work back there are rude, insolent and lazy.... but hey, where else can you get a 32 exp roll of 220 c-41 for $3.20 ?

No guarantee it will work at your local WM.. but this has been my experience... I say shoot a roll and give it a shot.... But don't drop off 35mm c41... you will be disappointed !

Informative. I think you said in another thread you send out your 35mm c41 to mpix. I punched it up and it says 19 cents per exposure. I have a couple local labs within a hour of me, but figuring time and fuel it almost makes more sense to just send it out. Thought of dwaynes too with another member heres recommendation. Seems the best way to deal with dwaynes is send a lot of rolls at once to save shipping costs???. mpix seems to have shipping costs figured in the price at 19 cents per exposure.

 

[bribrius]

here is my most local developer. But it costs me 20 bucks just to drive there...

Store Services - Photosmith Imaging Dover NH. Photo printing services from Digital and Film.

 

[Authentic Southerner]

Absolutely as to MPix... they will send you free mailers...and although the scans you see when you unlock (code for PAY $) to view the images aren't very good... I don't really care about that.. in a very short time (literally a few days later) the sleeved negatives appear in my mailbox and I've not had a problem yet with them... If you scan your own negatives then for 35mm c41 they are the best deal going that I have found....

My wife and I took a 6500 mile to the Northwest and back trip last summer and on the same logic ( I had about 40 rolls) thinking I would save on the shipping I sent them all to Dwaynes....mix of 35mm and 120/220 B&W, C41 and E6.... the thing that most impressed me was that with their order form I successfully calculated to the penny the exact costs for that many different types of rolls of film...and the shipping was reasonable given how many rolls I shipped.... The downside for me was that it ended up not being much faster...I received essentially no feedback from them as to anything...ie We have your film and are working on it...or it is processed and will ship tomorrow etc (which can be reassuring when you ship off 40+ rolls of film to an unknown (to me) entity....and I have to say, particularly on the B&W 35mm I noticed a number of scratched negatives (these ran the entire length and clearly came from machine induced scratches) and splotchy development on some of the 220 rolls of black and white film...One might say well that is the old expired film, but I have developed rolls of that film from the same batch myself without the same problem..so logic says what it says on that ....

As to the "quality" of Dwayne's processing, it seems to me in my limited experience to be about the same as WM honestly... on the c-41 rolls I requested prints from they were of similar/very poor quality..comparable to WM...and the 120/220 transparency rolls came on the same red cardboard tube rolls that the WM stuff comes back on... only difference is the Dwayne's rolls have their sticker on the red tube...

Essentially I send all 35mm c41 to Mpix.... develop most B&W at home or occasionally drop it at the local photo "real" photo store that develops B&W every morning for $5 a roll.....I take all 120/220 c41; 120/220 e-6 and all 35mm e-6 to WM.....

So far I have had positive experiences with WM except for the 4 out of 5 employees who occasionally argue with me ..and proclaim I won't get my negatives back (120/220) so I simply avoid interacting with them except to make a pick up...