houdel Loc: Chase, Michigan USA

I got a new (to me) Nikon F3 HP last week and a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens this week. Thursday I loaded up a roll of film & took a bunch of casual snapshots around the yard just to test the new combo out. Friday I gave the roll of film to my 19 year old son to have it processed at the Walmart 1 hour photo lab after work (in our nearest "big city", Big Rapids MI, pop 10,600, 25 miles away).

He called me after work & informed me Walmart no longer had a 1 hour photo lab. I told him to try Walgreens and Meijers. A little later he called back, no one there does 1 hour photo processing anymore.

The last time I needed 1 hour photo processing, a couple of years ago, Walmart, Walgreens and Meijers all offered it. Today, nobody? The change must have been fairly recent as Meijers still had the 1 hour photo processing signage in place but they no longer offer the service, all film has to be sent out and has a 2 week turnaround time.

Now I understand film processing is way down in this digital age, but I thought it had pretty well leveled out or perhaps was even seeing a mild resurgence, so why did all three vendors in one area discontinue in house processing in such a relatively short time frame? If the answer is lack of demand I would have expected that after the first two discontinued the service there would still be enough remaining business to keep the third vendor going.

Is there something else in play here? I seem to vaguely recall from a couple of years ago that the EPA was going to issue some new regulations on waste photo chemical disposal due to the silver content in the processing solutions. So is this demand driven, or did the EPA put 1 hour photo labs out of business?

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Simple lack of customer demand has led to the demise of 1-hour labs all over. Too few people using them to justify the cost of chemicals and maintenance.
Beware sending your film out through these outlets as they will NOT return your negatives, and that negative IS YOUR COPYRIGHT! Use a pro lab that will always return your negatives.

houdel Loc: Chase, Michigan USA

With a two week turnaround I wouldn't think of sending my film out through Walmart/Walgreens et al. Photoworks San Francisco or North Coast Photo would be just as fast and get I'd quality processing & high res scans. They do cost a bit more but the quality is worth it. The only reason I considered the 1 hour processing was that the one roll had only casual snapshots to test the new camera and lens and I wanted them back for review ASAP.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Most major cities still have a proper professional processing lab or two, which you should be able to find in the Yellow Pages. The turn-around time is usually anywhere from a few hours to the next day. Generally, they do a far better job with a superior level of quality control than Walmart and the like, yet don't really cost that much more. If you don't necessarily need to have your negatives back same day, consider a dedicated lab with trained technicians and dip and dunk processing machines rather than a drugstore or department store 1-hour lab.

ralphc4176 Loc: Conyers, GA

The one-hour photo labs used a large and sophisticated machine which would take your film, process the negatives, feed them through the machine, make prints, and give you back the negatives in strips of four (for 35 mm) and each individual print. The machines were expensive, and infrequent use could not justify the cost.

houdel Loc: Chase, Michigan USA

That's fine if you live in a metropolitan area or suburb. But when you are in a very rural area that is not an option. The nearest "city" of any size in my area is 25 miles away, has a population of only 10,000 and now NO processing labs of any sort. The nearest "major" city is 80 miles away - not worth the drive to get a roll or two of film processed!

BebuLamar

The resurgence is only in B&W. I think today the number of B&W film users is about the same if not more than the number of color film users. B&W film users don't use 1hr. lab.

BebuLamar

the machine is now can be had used for relatively low price because so many 1hr. labs closed. But to operate the equipment you need a lot of work to make it economical. There were some newer machines designed to run a minimum of 10 rolls a day but even with that most labs don't get 10 rolls. The older machines would want something like 50 rolls.

jrh1354 Loc: Dayton, Ohio

I had similar experience with Walgreens here in Dayton. The manager told me that the corporate policy was to continue using the film processors until they needed maintenance. At that point, they were to be shipped to (I think he said New Jersey) a recycling facility. We're lucky. There's still one Walgreens store in south Dayton that has a working film processor. When it dies, the 2-week turn-around goes into effect. No more Kodachrome processing 2 years ago - C-41 processing is on endangered list.