In the past, I always took my film to Eckerd Drugs to be developed. However, the drug store chain has done away with their 50% teacher discount so I'm looking for a new photo lab to develop my film after my trip. Does anyone have any advice regarding good quality developing at an affordable price?

I use Costco 1hr. I think my pictures look great--I really don't know how they could look any better. I know they aren't considered on a par with some professional quality labs, but I swear by them. And the price is certainly very competitive.

Our Costco one hour photos are awful. I guess it depends on your location. I would certainly try them out with a roll of film before you leave for your trip.

Ruthie, is your Costco an old store? Ours is almost brand new and maybe that would make a difference. New equipment, etc. But yes, it would be a good idea to test any lab you've never used before going on a trip.

I took 20 rolls of pictures on my trip to Europe and used both Target and Wal-Mart's 1 hour processing. The rolls that were done at Target were horrible. They came out really dark. So I decided to give Wal-Mart a try. I was really impressed with them! The colors were rich and all came out clear as a bell. Prices ranged from $5.50 to $8 ( I had some panoramics done too!)

Don't use Target at all. When I went to London and Paris I took 13 rolls of film. I got a little snap happy. Anyways Target lost 4 rolls of my film. I was not happy and the only compensation that they offered was an apology.

You'll probably get a lot of variation in opinions from any brand-name place. Experience has taught me that you should find a developer and stick with them. Even the technician makes a big difference. I have a favorite for 1-hr. at a particular Walgreen's drugstore. Mary tells me they will also redo pic's to take red or yellow out. She's particular and I've learned from her - also trust her with my prized photos.

If you are not in a big hurry to see your pics, consider mailing your rolls to one of the big mail order developers: Clark or York. If you are using slide film, buy mailers from the manufacturers with the film-36 frames of Fujichrome with developing runs about $7.00 US.

I've never had a bad print from either, they pay postage both ways and are cheaper than drugstore developing.

Only drawback-it takes 10 to 14 days to get your prints back.

Glenn

hate to generalize but Walgreens lost a roll of my film last year.

Locally, I've had the best results with Kmart, although a friend of mine lost a roll of film through them also. I'm still deciding where I should take my film once I return from my trip this summer. No matter where I take or send my film in for developing I know I always cross my fingers hoping it will return.

When I get my film developed, I always use a one hour service because my films stay on site. Usually when you use the 3 day service (or what have you) your film is sent off to another location, to another service contracted by whoever you left it with in the first place. And because of the high volume of processing they do at these sites, losing rolls of film is common.

Tiggs has an excellent point. We have a camera with "Panasonic" on it and mark the envelopes VERY carefully and if we have them sent out they still miss most of them and we have to have then re'done. Now we bite the bullet and pay the extra to have then done"in-house"

Hi Everyone, Just waiting for all of you photographers to post some of your photos for all of us to enjoy. Always look forward to them. Barb

I used CVS for my last trip and had next day service. They came out great. The only error was that I had panoramic shots on some rolls also and though I clearly marked the envelopes, none were printed ion the larger size. I was disappointed to start with, but then I remembered that they charge more to print a mixed roll. It was easy enough to determine which ones were shot in panoramic (black lines across top and bottom), so I sorted through them, found the ones that were truly great shots and had reprints made in the larger size. Ended up costing less in the long run since I only paid extra for those that were the best.

Hi Barb!
I've got some pictures posted that I took last year in June and July. The European Supreme and the Scan, Russia and Independent States tours. So far I have 17 albums on Yahoo and 4 on PictureTrail.

http://photos.yahoo.com/yarbrough32533 and http://www.picturetrail.com/archiey

All were taken with APS film and were developed at Eckerd's.

Later,
Archie

PS: For some reason the url for Yahoo isn't working. It comes up for me if I'm logged in to Yahoo but when I log out and click on the url from here, it says it is inaccessable, contact the file owner (me?) I don't know?? It has worked before. Oh well the PictureTrails works and maybe the other one will work later.

[ May 04, 2002: Message edited by: Archie Yarbrough ]

I use to go to CVS, Eckerds or Walgreens but have changed to a 1hr. photo store b/c the owner is a professional photographer (he has a portrait studio in his store) and I feel he would know more than someone at the local CVS or whatever, who usually is some high school kid working the machines. This is just my opinion and I probably sound paranoid but once a film is ruined that's it, it can't be fixed. So, I will be keeping my film developer busy next month when I go on my trip. I think I bought over 15 rolls of film already.