Hi I was wondering if anyone used a reliable service where a person could mail in their film, and have it developed and scanned to digital, I dont need prints ,then have the files sent back as a disc or even made available via FTP. OTHER than Walgreens , CVS, Walmart etc. Thanks for any pointers I have not shot any film for 20 or so years. BK
I dunnno if it will help i am dividing the work in 2 , the development just the development done by in my case Negatif+ i am in france then i invested in a scanner 200 bux and with a decent film you get a result close to digital. As i suppose you are not in france have a look for place that just do development.
The issue is archival processing. Many places state that they do it but really don't. You can do this at home after you get the film back. Mpix will do this and make nice scans. Mpix.com - Home
Thanks for all the info! I am trying as effortlessly and cheaply as possible to recreate a kinda Digital flow for my 1964 VITO, drop off film or mail in, download or pickup CD, import to Mac. I just dropped off two test rolls at Walgreens and asked for no prints , just a CD. Starting simple to see what roadblocks/quality issues I run into. We will see after lunch if they are useable. Thanks again! BK See VITO Below : ) Same age as me but in much better shape. {} {}
Walgreens CD Grrrrr Well that was a waste of time, I got the negatives of course but the CD's will not mount on my Mac. Grrrrrrrr.
Maybe they can upload the images to their photo site and then you can download them. I do that at Rite Aid sometimes... Don
Next is Rite Aid as Walgreens seemed to care less that I could not open them and just gave me my money back. BK
Firstly, where are you located? To find a list of better than average labs go here and enter your ZIP Code http://www.ipiphoto.com/default.aspx Labs that have joined IPI (Independent Photo Imagers) tend to be ahead of the curve and far better equipped to develop your film than any of the mass merchant or consumer stores. Walgreens, Walmart, CVS, and the like use software modified Fuji Frontier processor/scanners. The CD's they create have a built in viewing program that is not Mac compatible, but the images are there. You'll need to create a folder on your Mac and then access the "pictures" folder on the CD and copy the images from there onto your Mac. Nearly all C41 processors for the past 20 years (for use in consumer and prosumer labs; IE Costco, QVS, Target, Ritz, etc.) have been based on a "washless" stabilizer based system. So long as the machinery is kept clean you shouldn't have much to worry about. You can get good to great scans from many labs, you just need to know where to go. Or~ Have your film "developed only" and buy an Epson V600 scanner to do that all important part yourself.
I have found an IPI Lab in my town and dropped off the negatives this afternoon. Ill report back on the progress.
It looks like in the end ill need two things if I want to persist in using film with this camera. Better Zone Focus Skills : ) and a Negative Scanner. Out of 40 plus stills one keeper, here are two examples below, one a fun shot thats sadly out of focus and a decent one of course of a cat. BK {} {}
