Processing And Printing Old Film-Who Goes Where?

Questions for the photographers out there. I've got 7 rolls/cartridges of undeveloped 110 film,and a LARGE number of 110,126(the REAL prizes in this batch-more on these later)and 35mm negatives that I'd like to get developed and printed. Been checking online and have it narrowed down to a few possible places. Rocky Mountain Photo is NOT one of them. Expensive,long turnaround time,and on their site,they're selling off a LOT of old processing equipment. What I'm considering is Dwayne's Photo out of Kansas,Film Rescue International(an office/lab in North Dakota),The Darkroom out of California and Titan Photo Labs from here in Michigan. Any of you cats have any experience with any of these shops for your old film needs? I lost virtually all my prints in the Infamous Basement Flood of 2000,though many negatives were above the waterline and survived. There were a whole lot that didn't survive,as they were with the prints.

What's so special about this stuff? Well;the 110 cartridges have portions of my personal life from the late Seventies to the early Eighties,but also some drag racing history-like shots from the last season run at Tri-City Dragway,and stuff from the 1982 and 1983 U.S. Nationals at Indy. I mentioned the 126 negs as being special;well,it's more Tri-City action from the 1974 NHRA points meet held there in July. I snuck up to the guardrail with some of the "real" photographers doing shots for National Dragster and the like,and this kid with a 126 "toy" camera got off some good staring line shots.

So-o-o-o...any advice or suggestions? Lots of cool Mopar stuff on these as well-I really want to share that stuff with this group.

I used Rocky Mountain Photo several years ago, and I wouldn't use them again either. Very long turn around and they screwed up my order. They were rude too. If I needed to use one again I would probably go with Dwayne's first (heard good things about them) then maybe Film Rescue.

I've been told there is on average about a 50-50 chance you'll get something off of them. If the film is in a metal can, it is better than 50-50. If it is Kodak film it is a lot better than 50-50. If it is black and white it's a lot lot better than 50-50. On the other hand, if it is plastic cartridge, like 110, or if it is non-Kodak (like Fuji, Agfa, Polaroid, or store brand) it is probably not any better than 50-50. If any of the film you have is Kodachrome, forget it; I don't think it can be developed anymore. If it is Kodacolor, Ektachrome, or others; it can, but the colors maybe gone and it will have to be in b/w.

Now, if you have negatives that have already been developed and you're just looking for new prints, take them to any good photo shop and they can scan them on a computer and give you digital prints. Those usually turn out pretty good.

Basically there is no way of knowing if a roll will turn out. But, the only way to find out is have it developed. I know it is expensive, but you might find some great pics that you wouldn't have otherwise. Good luck!

Al-K, As you may already know, "I'm not much of a photographer", never really spent much time at it in the past either, I wish I took a bunch more photos when I was younger of cars & tracks etc., I use a digital camera now, not very well I may add...LOL... when I had a bunch of film developed, usually I just went to Longs Drugs now called CVS, they were inexpensive & had a quick turn around, good quality from what I saw, I'm not an photography expert by any means thou...

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:iamwithstupid: I took some old Kodachrome 110 & Kodak 35mm film in that was 20 years old "at-least", all but 1 roll of photos came out pretty good, from multiple rolls of film, like 350+ photos, most were a little dark maybe, still good visuals, but that could have been me setting the camera wrong too...LOL..., also all the rolls of film, was always kept in a drawer, in the little canisters & in a baggy or Manila envelope & in a dark cool dry spot, it's whole storage time... I don't know if that actually helped or not...

I would call the best independent commercial photographer in your area and ask them where they think the best local lab is. I wouldn't want to take any chances with some drugstore sending your film to god knows where and having them screw it up. Some of the film/negatives sound pretty old so I'm hoping it can still be processed successfully. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

dunno if it will help Al, but i found this...

http://www.flickr.com/groups/exposuredetroit/discuss/72157612359743390/

Moparsmitty said:

I would call the best independent commercial photographer in your area and ask them where they think the best local lab is. I wouldn't want to take any chances with some drugstore sending your film to god knows where and having them screw it up. Some of the film/negatives sound pretty old so I'm hoping it can still be processed successfully. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

Click to expand...

I tried to do that also, they wanted way too much money, like 10 times the amount, the Longs Drugs/CVS I only paid for what I wanted too... like I said I'm no photographer thou... just an option

Guys;thanks for the advice! As far as the 110's;there are three Fujicolor HR100 rolls,a Kodak Kodacolor VR400,a Kodak Kodacolor Gold 200,a Kmart/Focalcolor(AGFA?) and one from Perry's Drugs(maker unknown). Quite the variety;I'll presume slightly different methods of processing involved. I emailed Dwayne's with some questions;awaiting a reply. I'm also trying to reach a local guy(in Fenton;about 20 miles away) who does this work as well. We'll see. I know some of those pics are of the local street racers hanging out on our usual Friday and Saturday nights,and some shots from Lapeer Dragway of the same group of hooligans. Good times! The shots from the Indy Nats covers 1982-1983;in '84-5 I had stepped up to a 35mm camera and have virtually all of those negs.

Another prize in my collection is a box of 35mm slides from the late 1970's through the early 1980's that was found in a dumpster at Buick. When Buick Special Products(nee: Buick Motorsports) shut down in the late 1990's(they were in the Engineering building with us),a lot of stuff got tossed. Another mechanic and I were in the salvage area borrowing parts off some old engines to keep our dynos running,walked by this dumpster and were amazed at all the old pics and slides in it. Suffice to say that we salvaged what we could(yes,I climbed in and got some things) and got permission to take it home. This collection is amazing;there's a lot of Buick Promotional items,but there's also shots from the 1977 IMSA Daytona 3-Hour race,a number of other IMSA event shots,and the real prize-to me-are shots from the 1983 LeMans 24 Hour race. There were also some 35mm negatives from the 1977 World 600 NASCAR race from Charlotte,including a great pic of Waddell Wilson,Junior Johnson and Smokey Yunick shootin' da bull. Wow. We also found some old movie film containers of Buick related stuff;I donated that to the local Buick Museum. I'm not sure what the other guy found,nor if he kept his share.

As soon as I get this stuff developed and printed,I'll post it here. I think you guys will appreciate the history,even if it isn't all Mopar-related.

OK;a little update. Had Woodward Camera develop the 110s and...no racing,no cars,no bikes,just shots from the first marriage and that family(good folks;not like the loonies in my second one). I was rather disappointed;thought there may have been some auto-related treasures on them. They also recommended Dwayne's Photo for printing;gathering up negs for that order. Hopefully,I'll get that stuff posted here-soon!

equal opportunity car ****...LOL...

I look forward to the car ****/photos, lots of old Mopar stuff hopefully...LOL... & even the Buick stuff, I've liked many Buick's over the years, owned a couple too, especially the mid 60's Riv's, 68-71 GS's, Stage 1 & Stage II & GSX or even latter GNX turbo cars, many times overlooked muscle cars for sure... keep us posted...