This 2 pound Tesco processing thang...

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Prince-Myshkin

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Hello all

I'm currently in Campeche, Mexico :thumbs: , but am unfortuanately returning to the Big Smoke in about 4 days. Whilst I've been here I've shot about 12 rolls of film. Never really got stuff developed before as new to film, so have been searching through these forums for ideas. I would love to send themall off to get developed but cant really spare the 60 odd quid right now. I ahve read about this Tesco deal though where foraround 2 quid they ll develop the negatives and scan them onto a CD, no prints. This sorta sounds too good to be true?! What I'm looking to find out is ...

1) If after looking throughI decided to have prints made of certain negatives, willthe quality be worse due to cheap processing
2)Is there one of these places in London?! :love:

Muchas gracias
 
The processing is fine, but like all these thing it can depend on the diligence of the operator. I got some recent C41 B&W developed at Tesco Osterley, you can see the results here..

Flickr

There's no reason why you can't get your prints done by one of the better regarded companies at a later date.
 
The problem I found is that the supermarkets don't do many films, and my theory is:- if your film is the first for a length of time, you get all the crap dried on the neg e.g.
Film done by Morrisons for £1 and the guy said "they don't do many films"...tak 35mm 800 asa fuji
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn172/chakrata/pentax35mm009.jpg

After I re-washed the neg (still a few minor spots to clear up though in PS) :-
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn172/chakrata/afterwashing024.jpg

Also I took two films into Tesco the first one was very spotty and the 2nd was quite clear.
 
Yes, I can only echo what's been said, inasmuch as 'it depends'. I've had some excellent results from my local Tesco in Chorley, and some awful results. Bear in mind that the operators are part time, mainly students, so you're relying on how diligent they are, as well as varaibles in the machinery. The negs have come back scratched as well on one occasion. After that I took them elsewhere.

If you want good consistent results, I'd take them elsewhere.
 
Thanks for all the replies

Mmmm. Most of the rolls are Fuji superia 200/400, a couple Canon Gold 400 and one or two Canon 100 pro shot. I'm just not too keen on spending 70 odd when likelihood is half i won't want to keep and 10% might be general crap (no film-digital wars here please;) )

Is there any medium between 2 quid at a supermarket at 6ish for a pro job?
 
The Peak Imaging prices are good, but are process only and not for scanning, that costs a bit more.

In terms of the high street, I've had some good results from Boots as they normally have a full time person there in the lab, so are likely to be a bit more consistent. I've also heard some good things about Snappy Snaps, although I've never tried them as they don't have any shops in the north west.
 
viewfromthenorth said:
The Peak Imaging prices are good, but are process only and not for scanning, that costs a bit more.

In terms of the high street, I've had some good results from Boots as they normally have a full time person there in the lab, so are likely to be a bit more consistent. I've also heard some good things about Snappy Snaps, although I've never tried them as they don't have any shops in the north west.
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AAMOI some branches of Snappy Snaps e.g. Watford do 120 dev @ £3.50
 
Thats a bit expensive for Snappy Snaps, the two stores I've used have only charged me £2 a roll for processing.
 
My local Tesco charge 99p to develop a film and 97p to transfer the negs to a disc. The quality is pretty good really. It is done in an hour and a few months ago when their machine was being serviced they ended up with a backlog of 30 films in a couple of days before I turned up with about 8 so I would suggest that some stores do turn over a few. You will most probably get a better result taking your films to a specialist but then you do pay far far more.
 
kreuzberg said:
Thats a bit expensive for Snappy Snaps, the two stores I've used have only charged me £2 a roll for processing.
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Erm well this is near London prices, the cheapest I've found so far is in Bournemouth for £2.50, but £1 postage to send.
 
Im watching this thread closely, as i would like some reccomendations on places to get photos processed.

I recently took a roll into max spielmann and they charged £6.99 for a 7 day service!!! when i got the photos back, i wasnt impressed with the quality and there were two negs missing!!
 
Raj_p said:
Im watching this thread closely, as i would like some reccomendations on places to get photos processed.

I recently took a roll into max spielmann and they charged £6.99 for a 7 day service!!! when i got the photos back, i wasnt impressed with the quality and there were two negs missing!!
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Well I always used to get mine done by a LARGE Boots store but the cheapest price is if you wait about 2-3 days. But if you are an amateur and have a program like Photoshop to touch up spots...I'd go for Tesco plus CD for £1.96. Also a plus, if they are not busy, will do your film in 30mins and you can shop in the meantime, and that's what I do now
The digital guys must laugh when the film guys wait up to a week and then pay about £6 for 24 exposure 35mm, crazy policy in a recession and pushes film guys to digital or to use film less.
 
At least the film guys dont have to worry about upgrading the black box every year, becuase someone realised a fatal design flaw in the digicam design ( like they forgot to put s decent sized sensor in the top of the range camera..oops:)lol:

As far as real cameras are concerned, the best body and lens have already been made. All failure now is down to the photogrpaher :D
 
Thanks for all the help guys

I think I'll take a roll to Tesco to see what the results are like. If its pretty poor i'll just have to save up for peak imaging.

Does anyone have any experience of using a Tesco in London? I live in Notting Hill and the places near me are tiny lil Tesco metros..!
 
Prince-Myshkin said:
Does anyone have any experience of using a Tesco in London? I live in Notting Hill and the places near me are tiny lil Tesco metros..!
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Erm....The Tesco at Cromwell rd/Holland rd is quite large and they might do film? Asda do film at Park Royal but I wasn't impressed with the results.
 
There's an awful lot of discussion going on about 'where' to take your films for developing. Processing a film yourself is one of the easiest and most basic of film proceedures, I understand that a lot of people think it's some form of 'black magic' to process a film, it's not. You dont even need a darkroom, just a bag to feed the film onto the spool prior to popping it in the developing tank. The only thing you need to keep constant is your chemical temperature.

Agreed its not worth the bother if you only have 1 film a month, but if it's 1 film a week (or more) its worth considering. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

Nigel.
 
Nigel, I think most of the posters in this thread are talking about c41 processing, not black and white. Processing c41 at £2 a roll works out cheaper than buying a development tank, reel, graduated measuring cylinders, a thermometer, film clips and developing chemicals for the amount of rolls the original poster wants to process. Although, it's nowhere near as rewarding.

Not to mention C41 isn't as easy as B+W to develop and probably isn't the best starting point for a beginner.

Rob
 
I appreciate what you're saying Rob, and whilst C41 processing can be done it may not be an economic option if you can get processing done for a couple of pounds. I'm probably being a little simplistic here and totally agree that C41 is not for beginners, more a case of starting on b&w then progressing onto C41.

Having said that, I believe everyone should have the opportunity at some stage to try b&w processing, even just the once to understand the process.

Nigel.
 
***Processing a film yourself is one of the easiest and most basic of film proceedures, I understand that a lot of people think it's some form of 'black magic' to process a film, it's not. You dont even need a darkroom, just a bag to feed the film onto the spool prior to popping it in the developing tank. The only thing you need to keep constant is your chemical temperature.***

...and then what? Use a scanner and turn the images to digital files?...might as well get 35mm film developed and put onto a CD for under £2.
You have a point with 120 film as no one wants to develope it cheaply. I don't know if I have mentioned this here, but for example:- 6X7 takes 10 shots and the keepers might be 2 frames on average, so if the charge is £4 to develope the film it works out at £2 per keeper frame...erm ok for the pros.
 
I wouldn't want to convert film to digital, if that were the case I would use a digital camera ;)

Nigel.
 
excalibur2 said:
You have a point with 120 film as no one wants to develope it cheaply. I don't know if I have mentioned this here, but for example:- 6X7 takes 10 shots and the keepers might be 2 frames on average, so if the charge is £4 to develope the film it works out at £2 per keeper frame...erm ok for the pros.
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Genie Imaging in Wandsworth will develop 120 colour negative and slide film for £1.99.
 
spaniel said:
I wouldn't want to convert film to digital, if that were the case I would use a digital camera ;)

Nigel.
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Well I disliked doing colour prints by chemical means, congrats on your enthusiasm.
 
The thing is I tend to get my films developed, get them put on cd, then get only the pictures that are successful printed. I suppose I am a little different here as I've been going through my Fathers camera collection, a lot of which he just kept films in to keep the shutters and film speeds working correctly. So consequently I only print out the good pictures I find which I do two copies of and give the other copy to my sister.
 
pepper said:
The thing is I tend to get my films developed, get them put on cd, then get only the pictures that are successful printed. I suppose I am a little different here as I've been going through my Fathers camera collection, a lot of which he just kept films in to keep the shutters and film speeds working correctly. So consequently I only print out the good pictures I find which I do two copies of and give the other copy to my sister.
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I think this is probably wghat I should do. Otherwise I'm going to have around 500 prints! Where abouts do you get the processing done?
 
Struggling to find any Tescos in Central London that provide any photo processing service. Can anyone help?!
 
Sorted. One in the shopping centre near Canada Water tube. Very happy with results, though did cost 3 50. Bit of London pricing...
 
do they do black and white film for £2 as well?

my processing gear is still in cumbria and even then i have no way of scanning the negs onto the computer?
 
whitewash said:
thats my thinking, if places like jessops have to send it off then theres no chance that tescos will do it at all!
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They'll process XP2, Neopan 400CN and KODAK BW400CN - all three are films that are designed to be developed in C-41 chemistry, same as colour negative films. I'd pretty much guarantee that any other film will be met with :thinking: or a flat :thumbsdown:
 
Prince-Myshkin said:
Sorted. One in the shopping centre near Canada Water tube. Very happy with results, though did cost 3 50. Bit of London pricing...
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Huh Tesco charged more? Well unless they have put up their prices in the last few days......before paying they scan bar-codes in a book (after finding the right pages), so I'm surprised they have a special bar-code book for east London.
 
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