Where Did I Get My Film Processed?

October 5, 2005 8:48 AM

I want to start shooting 35mm black and white film after a 20 year absence. I used to get my film processed via the US Mail, but can't remember the vendor.

Here's a few clues/requirements - feel free to recommend new and exciting vendors or alternatives.

1) Prepaid mailer. Pop the film in, seal it and mail it.
2) They did those cool (to me) white borders around the black and white prints for free. Call me nostalgic but I think they are cool.
3) Great price and short turnaround time.

With all this new fangled intermanet and flickr and such, I'd like to get all the photos put on a CD (I know I'd pay extra for this, that's cool) to share and post, etc.

Thanks!

posted by willmize to sports, hobbies, & recreation (14 comments total)

I used to use York Photo for mailing my film, but never got the borders on them so not sure if it's the same company? All else sounds familiar.
posted by tristeza at 8:51 AM on October 5, 2005

I remember this service. It seems to have been the name of a city, like San Francisco Photo or San Diego Photo. The envelopes were heavy plastic with a red/white/black color scheme.
posted by odinsdream at 8:57 AM on October 5, 2005

You're probably thinking of Seattle Filmworks, which is now Photoworks.com
posted by icontemplate at 9:05 AM on October 5, 2005

seattle film works? I remember my dad mailing film to them and getting back prints. Don't know about black and white or borders though. fits with the "city name" idea though...
posted by cosmicbandito at 9:07 AM on October 5, 2005

Icon template!!1!1!
posted by cosmicbandito at 9:08 AM on October 5, 2005

Most places can do white borders on prints (even colour), you just have to ask for it.
posted by Capn at 9:18 AM on October 5, 2005

Seattle Filmworks was a crap outfit that made you buy their own substandard (color) film.
posted by matildaben at 10:21 AM on October 5, 2005

Matildaben, true, but I do know they would develop black & white film for an extra charge. I used them more than 10 years ago.

And yep, anyone should do borders if you ask - even mall-type places like Ritz, Wolf, Kits, etc. I love my pictures this way.
posted by peep at 10:25 AM on October 5, 2005

Was it Mystic Color Lab ?
posted by ericb at 10:56 AM on October 5, 2005

A thing to consider.. if you're not a purist, you could try a roll of cromogenic film, like Kodak BW400CN and T400CN. They are C-41 process (the color process), but use a dye instead of silver in the film, and come out, more or less black and white. There is sometimes a strong blue/green tint, but I've seen it look quite decent.

I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole, but it would make for easy B/W shooting and processing, you can take it to any 1 hour joint.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 11:00 AM on October 5, 2005

Here are three other options: Vermont Color, A&I Photo, and Dale Laboratories.

Kodak's C41 is ... meh (from a purely personal aesthetic viewpoint) but I've never had a problem with the prints coming out weirdly tinted. Unlike Ilford's XP2, which from time to time comes out purplish to brownish on colour paper, it doesn't stop me from using the XP2, I run the tinted photo's through the channel mixer in PS.
posted by squeak at 11:55 AM on October 5, 2005

Was it Clark? They've been around for a while and fit your criteria.
posted by Caviar at 1:16 PM on October 5, 2005

There's little point in using C41 B&W film anymore, since any one-hour lab using a Fuji Frontier can easily print any color film in B&W.
posted by neckro23 at 8:45 PM on October 5, 2005

If you want to shoot B&W and not do the processing yourself (God forbid), then stick with a chromogenic film as Jack Karaoke suggests. I could not imagine shooting B&W without doing my own processing and printing but that is just me.

Otherwise, if you want real B&W film done by a lab, stick with a pro lab. A quick google search shows Reedy Photo located in St. Petersburg. Check their page for Optical Services, B&W Services and you will be good to go. Typical pro labs will have same day service so you can get it done quick. Any lab you might have dealt with in the past through the mail is quite likely no longer around thanks to digital.
posted by JJ86 at 4:25 AM on October 6, 2005