Where can I get ....

25 responses total.

Kodachrome slide film and processing mailers at "discount" prices...

Meijer's carries the film but no longer sells the mailers. Are there
any other "discount" mailer sources in Ann Arbor? 

rcurl, I may be able to help. I'm taking a photography class and our professor
gave us some good national catalog photo supply stores:
Calumet, 890 Supreme Dr., Bensenville, Il. 60106 Phone:1-800-225-8638

Helix, 310 South Racine Ave., Chicago, Il. 60607 Phone: 1-800-621-6471


Our prof says " Other national advertising photo stores have great prices,
but poor shipping."
I hope this helps.

I am pretty sure you can order film and mailers through the New York (& other)
discount photo stores in the back of magazines like Popular Photography,
Petersen's PhotoGraphic, etc.  I can dig out an address & phone no if you
would like.

I did that once, but mailing charges require that one orders more
than I use within the "use by" date, in order to break even. I agree
that mail order is great if one is using film pretty rapidly.

Yeah, I agree that's a drawback unless you either refrigerate it and don't
worry about the "use by" date, or else get others to go in with you on shares.

Hmmm...do you think there would be interest in group purchases of photo stuff?

We could try it.  I think conf does not get enough traffic to make it likely,
but we possibly could do it in the classified conf.  Someone would have to
put the credit card on the line and then trust that everyone else would
deliver the cash.  This stuff is pretty low cost if you buy by the dozen!
I have an interest in Fuji 800 and at the office I work in, there are 3 guys
who want to go shares and buy a carton of 12 and split it.  Counter price is
7.95 for the Fuji 800.  Would you want me to draft an add seeking interested
parties, or would you like to take a shot at it?

I'd appreciate it if you would (I'm doing too many things already).
Maybe we should request cash-up-front (including shipping - can
refund overages) so we don't get "stuck". What about choosing the
vendor up front? I was dealing with a couple advertising in Pop
Photo. some time back - some are pretty nasty - but I don't have current
experiences. 

Ok, I'll put a feeler in the classified conf.  I have dealt with both good
and bad from the magazines like Pop. Photo. and my recommendation is to pay
with credit card.  I had a company stick me with bad merchandise once and my
wife called Visa.  No problem - all straightened out.  Visa said regardless
of their written guarantee (ie:  7 days) their Visa license is contingent upon
"customer satisfaction."  

Watch for the note in Classified later tonight.

Looks like no interest exists in share-purchasing of film.

It hasn't been announced in Announcements yet. (Hardly anyone reads
photography.) For myself, I've gotten out my pop-photo, to make my list,
but just haven't finished it yet. Also, no deadline has been fixed. I
think that group purchasing could be a general benefit of using a bbs like
Grex, but there is no precedent, so the idea will take some development.

Ok, how do we get it in announcements?  I did put a classified ad in and that
seems to have a fair amount of traffic.  (Is "announcements" an item in Agora?
 I'll check that out)

Here's some info for you:
        Locally, Focus Photo does 1-hour print _and slide_ processing.
        2588 W. Stadium Blvd (nr corner of Jackson, accross from Krogers)
        663-0800 (M-F 8am-6pm, Sat 9am-6pm.  also has film drop)

        The quality is good, and this is the first "1-hour" place I've
        ever found which can really do 1-hour service.  Prices have been
        reasonable (so far as I can tell) but not discount.  They can even
        make quick blow-ups direct from prints or slides without an inter-neg.

        Not local, I found a place called Seattle FilmWorks, PO Box 34056,
        Seattle, WA 98124-1056, (206) 283-9074.  They sent me 2 free trial
        rolls (200 ASA and 400 ASA) and they can make slides or prints (or
        both) from the same film.  Even from Kodak or Fugi film.  They also
        can put your prints on disk for you, and create a picture index.

        I recently got their sample film, and haven't tried them yet.  They
        give you film back (free roll for each roll processed) so you get
        to reduce costs further, and their mailer is business reply postage,
        so you don't have to pay to ship it (at least, the sample one is).

Personally, I've become fond of Focus Photo because I like the near instant
gratification of seeing the prints the same day I take them out of the
camera.

I have had bad results from both Focus Photo and Seattle Film Works, to
the point I refuse to use either. But it was "burnt once, twice shy", so I
have no record of the % of time each screws up. However I was looking to
have two slides printed upon one print at Focus, and they made a terrible
copy (not as sharp as the originals). This is not straight print
processing, of course. Seattle Film Works just misdeveloped a roll of
slide film so that the internegatives were so thin, useful slides could
not be made. I'd be glad of more positive data points, though.

Does anyone have suggestions on where to get the best price on a C-41
process 100 or 200 asa film?  For my purposes price is about the only
consideration. I have several thousand images to catalog by the most
economical means possible.

I have not price compared, but K-mart has a really low price option.  I'd
be surprised if you could get it a lot less.

Store brand film goes for about 6.00 per 24 + 24 + 36 pack.  Mail order is
about $2 per 36 (various sources).  Considering processing (only +$.20 for
36 exp.) I'll be using mail order.  I've been trying to balance cost,
convenience and effectiveness in creating a digital version of a large
collection of scrapbooks.  I've tested a few rolls and am reasonably
satisfied with the results.  

Are you interested in the quality of the negative more so than the film?  What
film are you using?

You might try and find it in bulk rolls and buy some re-usable film cans.

re: 18 - I meant to end the first sentence with " . . than the print?"

Quality of film is a threshold issue.  I'm not using prints.  I'm scanning
with a Microtec 35T negative & slide scanner.  Looking at a scan of a
single 35mm negative enlarged 1250 to 1600 times, I can read every
character on the image of a double page scrapbook.  As long as I can
manipulate the image to be readable cost & convenience rule(edge
sharpening helps... scanners have some very darkroom-like software control
as well as the more digital-only types of tricks normally associated with
something like Photoshop).

  Although I'll be saving 90% B&W 2 bit per pixel images, I will want to
be able to choose some color images from the mass.  I know something like
Tmax would give me better gray scale, but I don't have time to process
100-200 rolls.  I can have C-41 process done at Precision Photo for about
$3.00 per 36 exp. (B&W is more) The negatives come in a nice sleeved
sheet, ready for storage or reference.  I've considered bulk film, which
is less expensive for the film, but costs more to commercially process on
a per foot basis, at least at P.P.  Anyhow, if I can buy film off the
shelf or through the mail, and get it handed to me over the counter in
negative file sheets for +/- $5.00 per 36 exp. total I'm not likely to
find any more convenience or much more economy.    That's about $.014,
plus another $.03 to $.06 per image to store a readable image on an Iomega
Zip drive ($15.00 per 100 meg).  For reference, the archive where I do a
lot of research charges $.20 per image for photocopying material I flag,
not considering that there are many items that cannot be photocopied
because of size or fragileness.

  

A couple of mail order places have costs down in the .05+ range.  You could
call and check these out. (Listed in 12/95 PhotoGraphic):       

1-800-489-3677 - Smile Photo - Fuji CN asa 100 @ 2.09/36
1-800-533-2237 - Abe's of Main - Fuji CN asa 100 @ 2.04/36

These seem to be the lowest listed in the multitudes of adds at the back of
PhotoGraphic.  Kodak comes in in the $2.49 range.  Perhaps they would give
you added discount if you bought 60 rolls which is about what you need.

Good luck

You can definitely get a deal by buying bulk packs of rolled film (sealed
packages like the stores buy).  Some shops even have some of these around
which are either out-dated or about to become out of date.  They'll let those
go pretty cheap, and I've never had any real problems with outdated film
(especially for the kinds of use you intend).

You might ask at some local photo stores, and if you can't find a source, one
of the stores might be inclined to place an order for 50-60 rolls for you and
charge you only the discount rate (as long as you process it with them).

Here are the places I frequently buy from:

B&H - based in NYC, its a very repudible dealer and has a huge inventory. 
 their prices are very reasonable.

Adoroma - pretty much identical to B&H, sometimes you if you can't find
 it at B&H, you'll find it here (or vis-a-versa).

eBay - (IMHO) 99% of the people (dealers) here are honest and are just 
 trying to sell there equipment minus the middle-man. however there are 
 some scumbags so buyer-beware.

Ritz - Good for general 35mm camera gear. The main advantage is that they
 are everywhere. Prices seem to follow closely to the MSRP.

KEH - Based in Atlanta. I found this place at random trying to find used 
 equipment for my Mamiya. They are very reasonable with there prices for
 used equipment; even beating out eBay sometimes. Just like B&H/Adoroma,
 they list a grading scale that there equipment is in and frequently post 
 a picture of the item.

It is interesting jumping ca. 8.5 years into the present. Back in 1996, when
the previous response was made, web shopping was in extreme infancy. Now,
I do what Jeff does - and in fact, my most recent photographic/optical 
purchases have been online from, amazingly enough, B&H, Adorama and ebay...

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