[Leica] Film Processing

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

Ten years ago, every photographic shop of any size would do E6. Now there is
precisely one left in a city of 6-7 million inhabitants. C41 is no problem
as yet...like Ric, I am thinking of switching 100% to Reala, if I shoot
film.
Cheers
Jayanand Govindaraj

On Dec 15, 2007 2:45 PM, Nathan Wajsman <nathan@nathanfoto.com> wrote:

> Absolutely. Earlier this year, the lab I had been using since moving to
> the Netherlands in 2003, s-Color in Amsterdam, announced that they were
> getting out of film processing altogether. Then, when I came to
> Alicante, I looked up several labs in the phone book--some of them still
> did film but only 35mm, so for medium format I have to use a lab in
> Barcelona, 550 km away.
>
> Of course I realize that I could just buy some developing tanks and
> chemistry and do it myself again, but I am not prepared to do that
> anymore.
>
> Nathan
>
> Mike Stoesz wrote:
> > "Its not buying film that is difficult, its trying to get it processed."
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> > How true.
> >
> > I own a photo lab, retail store, digital imaging center,
> portrait/commercial studio.
> > Two years ago we were processing 30-80 rolls of C-41 per day with peaks
> of 100+ some days in the summer.  We also processed 10-20 rolls of E-6 per
> day.
> >
> > Now I am processing about 10 rolls of C-41/WEEK (three this week), and I
> parted out the E-6 machine in March since I could not keep the chemistry in
> balance on fewer than 10 rolls each WEEK--the chemistry needed at least 
> 5-10
> rolls per day.
> >
> > It is a decreasing spiral of demand and available services.  If the
> services are not utilized then they are not efficient to provide.  When it
> costs the producer (the one providing the service) more in labor costs
> (time)than the return then the producer searches for other ways to achieve 
> a
> better return on the time investment.  It takes me about 1-3 hours to set 
> up
> and process 1-10 rolls of C-41 film.  This includes setting up the
> processor, the printer, calibration, time preparing the films, mixing
> chemistry if needed, cleaning racks, processing and printing the orders,
> packaging the orders.  At an average return of $10.00 per roll and 
> competing
> with W**-M*** at less than $5.00/roll do you think I can justify this
> service.  I am currently processing only about one or two days per week.
>  Some clients are not satisfied with this but I have little choice.  I even
> had someone in last week that wanted one-hour service on a day I did not
> have the equipment even turned on.  They!
>  w!
> >  ere a bit upset and disappointed until I explained the problem and then
> they were understanding at least.
> >
> > What this gets down to is the fact that the services cannot be provided
> unless there is an economic benefit to the provider to offer the service.  
> I
> am in a position to offer this on a limited basis for a long time but I 
> will
> not be processing every day.  I can receive a much better return on my 
> labor
> (I am the sole employee)(at one time we had 3 full-time and 3 part-time
> employees) by doing copy and restoration, large format prints, slide
> scanning to CD, and portrait/commercial photography.
> >
> > I am applying for my Social Security benefits as a hedge against the
> further decline as I am rebuilding/remaking the business.  I will be
> changing my marketing stratagies, providing new products and services,
> reinventing the business for the demise of film and domination of digital.
> >
> > End of rant.
> >
> > Best wishes to all in the holiday season
> > Mike Stoesz
> > Laramie Digital Photo Center  (formerly Rainbow Photography, Inc)
> > Laramie, Wyoming, USA
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
> >
> >
>
> --
> Nathan Wajsman
> Almere, The Netherlands
>
> *Opportunistic Image Acquisition*
>
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>
>
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