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Found Undeveloped Film
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Aug 22, 2019 19:47:23   #
Buddy Love
 
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask.
I recently found 5 rolls of exposed 35mm film in a box in the back of the closet. I took it to the pharmacy for development. They all came back with no prints and the developer keeps the negatives so I don't know what might have been on them.
Here's the uncomfortable part: The film was used probably 25 years ago when my wife and I were much younger and adventurous. They could have been of an adult nature. Get what I'm saying?
My question is, if the pictures were of such a nature would the developer simply not print them and not tell me why? Or could the film be so old that nothing developed?
Thanks and I appreciate any opinions.

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Aug 22, 2019 19:54:07   #
Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York
 
Buddy Love wrote:
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask.
I recently found 5 rolls of exposed 35mm film in a box in the back of the closet. I took it to the pharmacy for development. They all came back with no prints and the developer keeps the negatives so I don't know what might have been on them.
Here's the uncomfortable part: The film was used probably 25 years ago when my wife and I were much younger and adventurous. They could have been of an adult nature. Get what I'm saying?
My question is, if the pictures were of such a nature would the developer simply not print them and not tell me why? Or could the film be so old that nothing developed?
Thanks and I appreciate any opinions.
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask. br... (show quote)


It depends on the place, temperature and humidity of where stored. It will be age damaged preferably on the reddish or orange side. If you want to spend money possibly wasting it go ahead and try to have the rolls developed. You may never see the results.

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Aug 22, 2019 20:09:52   #
Quixdraw Loc: x
 
25 years on, are you readily recognizable? Doubt my wife and I are - film likely seriously degraded / blank. You probably could make an issue of it at the pharmacy. What was "adventurous" back then is nearly mainstream now.

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Aug 22, 2019 20:14:47   #
Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida
 
Buddy Love wrote:
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask.
I recently found 5 rolls of exposed 35mm film in a box in the back of the closet. I took it to the pharmacy for development. They all came back with no prints and the developer keeps the negatives so I don't know what might have been on them.
Here's the uncomfortable part: The film was used probably 25 years ago when my wife and I were much younger and adventurous. They could have been of an adult nature. Get what I'm saying?
My question is, if the pictures were of such a nature would the developer simply not print them and not tell me why? Or could the film be so old that nothing developed?
Thanks and I appreciate any opinions.
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask. br... (show quote)


You will never know. Forty years ago I accidentally mingled some adult nature shots with others; and they were printed. Embarrassing.

Reply
Aug 22, 2019 20:15:08   #
rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA
 
Buddy Love wrote:
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask.
I recently found 5 rolls of exposed 35mm film in a box in the back of the closet. I took it to the pharmacy for development. They all came back with no prints and the developer keeps the negatives so I don't know what might have been on them.
Here's the uncomfortable part: The film was used probably 25 years ago when my wife and I were much younger and adventurous. They could have been of an adult nature. Get what I'm saying?
My question is, if the pictures were of such a nature would the developer simply not print them and not tell me why? Or could the film be so old that nothing developed?
Thanks and I appreciate any opinions.
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask. br... (show quote)


Yes, used to happen to me all the time, which is why I switched to transparency film with prepaid Kodak mailers. Why don't you ask the developer directly?

Reply
Aug 22, 2019 20:20:24   #
RGG-Test-account
 
I do not care about what it in the film...

What I care about is under what 'reasoning this store allows themselves to keep your negatives?

THAT IS THE QUESTION.

Reply
Aug 22, 2019 20:21:56   #
Quixdraw Loc: x
 
rgrenaderphoto wrote:
Yes, used to happen to me all the time, which is why I switched to transparency film with prepaid Kodak mailers. Why don't you ask the developer directly?


Actually, that is one of the reasons Anscochrome / GAF slide film was popular. DIY!

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Aug 22, 2019 21:47:34   #
lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA
 
Buddy Love wrote:
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask.
I recently found 5 rolls of exposed 35mm film in a box in the back of the closet. I took it to the pharmacy for development. They all came back with no prints and the developer keeps the negatives so I don't know what might have been on them.
Here's the uncomfortable part: The film was used probably 25 years ago when my wife and I were much younger and adventurous. They could have been of an adult nature. Get what I'm saying?
My question is, if the pictures were of such a nature would the developer simply not print them and not tell me why? Or could the film be so old that nothing developed?
Thanks and I appreciate any opinions.
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask. br... (show quote)


Why didn't you think of that BEFORE taking the film in for development. The last time I had old film processed, someone else's in a camera they gave me. I had only the color negatives processed and not printed figuring there would be junk on the roll. There was. My friends identified what seemed to be mainly insurance pictures for wind damage. Most everything was OOF and mostly unused film.

Different businesses seem to have different policies for handling what they may deem as pornographic or illicit. I had not thought about this in a long time with the advent of digital photography but I remember lots of discussions about how ones film and privacy is handled. I've got to tell you, you must be careful. A friend of mine at one time worked for a film processor that handled processing film for a Police Department. The employees would look at and gawk at gory crime photos. You'd think such processing would be in-house. But I guess many agencies didn't have the budget for a photo lab. Hope the cops don't come knocking on your door!

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Aug 22, 2019 22:04:19   #
JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco
 
RGG-Test-account wrote:
I do not care about what it in the film...

What I care about is under what 'reasoning this store allows themselves to keep your negatives?

THAT IS THE QUESTION.


That is commonly done these days, but usually the negs are scanned and kept, probably discarded. But they should tell you that upfront. And if there was nothing on the film, they should have said that.

Reply
Aug 22, 2019 23:20:32   #
Scruples Loc: Brooklyn, New York
 
RGG-Test-account wrote:
I do not care about what it in the film...

What I care about is under what 'reasoning this store allows themselves to keep your negatives?

THAT IS THE QUESTION.


I'm not entirely sure. My hunch is that the proprietor of said store does not wish to engage in a legal battle over the distribution of "adult material." But that is a guess at their rational. Besides I don't like to accuse anyone of something immoral without proof.

Reply
Aug 23, 2019 00:35:05   #
speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho
 
Buddy Love wrote:
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask.
I recently found 5 rolls of exposed 35mm film in a box in the back of the closet. I took it to the pharmacy for development. They all came back with no prints and the developer keeps the negatives so I don't know what might have been on them.
Here's the uncomfortable part: The film was used probably 25 years ago when my wife and I were much younger and adventurous. They could have been of an adult nature. Get what I'm saying?
My question is, if the pictures were of such a nature would the developer simply not print them and not tell me why? Or could the film be so old that nothing developed?
Thanks and I appreciate any opinions.
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask. br... (show quote)


Get your negs back, nobody has the right to just keep/steal them. Sue the shit out of them or beat the crap out of them!

Reply
 
 
Aug 23, 2019 06:16:59   #
sb Loc: Florida's East Coast
 
I did a lot of film photography in the "days of film". Sometimes a roll would not get caught in the sprocket in the camera and I would end up submitting a roll of film with no images. NEVER would a processing place NOT return the blank film.

Reply
Aug 23, 2019 06:28:04   #
chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY
 
Buddy Love wrote:
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask.
I recently found 5 rolls of exposed 35mm film in a box in the back of the closet. I took it to the pharmacy for development. They all came back with no prints and the developer keeps the negatives so I don't know what might have been on them.
Here's the uncomfortable part: The film was used probably 25 years ago when my wife and I were much younger and adventurous. They could have been of an adult nature. Get what I'm saying?
My question is, if the pictures were of such a nature would the developer simply not print them and not tell me why? Or could the film be so old that nothing developed?
Thanks and I appreciate any opinions.
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask. br... (show quote)


They should have returned the negatives (even blanks) unless there was something really egregious such as child porn...but even after 25 years in a closet should have some latent images. I would never use them again if you are still shooting film.

Reply
Aug 23, 2019 06:57:26   #
billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
 
Buddy Love wrote:
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask.
I recently found 5 rolls of exposed 35mm film in a box in the back of the closet. I took it to the pharmacy for development. They all came back with no prints and the developer keeps the negatives so I don't know what might have been on them.
Here's the uncomfortable part: The film was used probably 25 years ago when my wife and I were much younger and adventurous. They could have been of an adult nature. Get what I'm saying?
My question is, if the pictures were of such a nature would the developer simply not print them and not tell me why? Or could the film be so old that nothing developed?
Thanks and I appreciate any opinions.
I hope I don't offend anyone but I have to ask. br... (show quote)


Unless they expressly told you before hand that the developer keeps the negatives you have a right to them, they belong to you, not him.
And, you better start paying attention to all social media, there may be new additions of photo's of you and your wife doing, who knows what.

Reply
Aug 23, 2019 07:13:39   #
BebuLamar
 
RGG-Test-account wrote:
I do not care about what it in the film...

What I care about is under what 'reasoning this store allows themselves to keep your negatives?

THAT IS THE QUESTION.


The reason they didn't return your negative is just save the shipping cost of the film back to the pharmacy. Many places now would develop the film, scan it and send the scan (via internet) to the pharmacy for printing. I don't use those places as I only care about the negative because they never scan nor print the way I like anyway. It's a bad practice but so many places are doing it now.

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