Since we've been tossing around the Wal-Mart name a bit, and since I've been doing some scanning recently, this has been on my mind and I thought I'd share (with the other 2 of you who are still shooting film).
When I was working in Hagerstown, MD I brought my E-6 to a little independent shop called FirstLook Photo. They had a 2 hour slide service than ran about $8. Drop off before my shift, pick up during lunch. It was wonderful and well worth the price. The finished product was mounted in plastic and filed in archival pages punched for 3-ring binders. They also still did B&W in house. Not having the volume to process it every day, the store owner would do it himself once per week. I think he just liked black and white processing and wasn't too terribly interested in making money from it. After moving north a bit, FirstLook became inconvenient. So I started looking around for another E-6 processor. I tried three different small shops. None of them did it on site, turn around was at least a week, and the end result was variable. Prices ranged from $8 to $12 per roll. So I decided to try Wal-Mart. In case you don't know, Wal-Mart sends everything that's not 1-hour C-41 to Fuji. As I have had good luck with Fuji's processing in the past, via mailers, I put a few rolls in Wal-Mart's send-out bin. Success! About a week, quality was consistent, and the price tag was $4.88. Turns out, sometime between a year ago and now, Fuji closed their E-6 facility and contracted with Dwayne's. I like Dwayne's. A lot. They do good work. Bottom line, Wally World send out goes to Dwayne's. 36 exposure 35mm (E-6 and Kodachrome), 120 or 220 E-6 is $4.88 per roll, and it usually takes 7 to 10 days. I'm a happy camper. FWIW - there are a couple of "pro" labs in the area, but I haven't tried them. They cater mostly to wedding photographers and don't seem to have much interest in developing a roll or two for guys like me. They're also considerably more expensive. I suppose I'd use them if I was being paid for it, but for the amateur crap I shoot, Wal-Mart is fine. Thanks for listening. -- Scott Loveless http://www.twosixteen.com/fivetoedsloth/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
