I have a couple of film cameras that I use every now and again.  One is a Holga 120CFN toy camera that shoots 120 format film.  I’m resigned to taking film shot with that camera to a lab near where I work.  It’s the only bricks-and-mortar place nearby that I know will handle my medium-format negatives.  I also shoot a 35 mm SLR on occasion.  I took it out last weekend and ran a couple of rolls through it, and have been looking for a local place that will process the negatives and provide me with high-resolution scans thereof.  And herein lies the problem.

Downtown Camera has a web site that includes a section that describes and defines the lab services that they provide.  It’s very clear to any reasonably web-savvy viewer how to retrieve information pertaining to what types of film the lab processes, how long to expect before receiving a finished product, and (most importantly) how much to expect to pay for those services.  This kind of organization is rare, and that’s probably for more than one reason.  When I leave out places such as WalMart and the large supermarket chains, I am left with two local options for film processing.  Neither has as well-organized an online presence as Downtown Camera, and indeed, I am terribly disappointed about how difficult it is to get what I would like to have.

What I would like to have is this: I want to be able to go to the appropriate web site, and I would like to see a comprehensive list of lab services and prices offered.  While it’s true that the use of film is dwindling very sharply and also true that many photo outlets no longer devote resources to processing film, I would very much like to be able to navigate to a web page that will tell me up front how much it will cost me to print a simple 4×6 print.  The focus nowadays seems to require that users upload digital files to the outlet’s servers using proprietary ROES or design software.  I was dismayed to find that until I download and install some software or other on my computer, I am unable to find out how either Henry’s or Black’s prices their images.  As a result, I will most probably wait until I am able to hand my 35 mm film over to another lab for processing and scanning.

I will still buy most of my equipment at Henry’s.  They almost always have what I intend to buy in stock so that I can handle it to see how it feels in my hands before I make a final purchasing decision.  I will still send a lot of my day-to-day digital printing to Black’s.  I like the range of products and print sizes that they offer, so I downloaded their ROES software and I use it to order prints from the comfort of home.  My preference would be to place all my eggs in the same basket and to have my film processed and scanned at one of those two places, but I suspect that I will continue as I have, relying on my weekly trips to downtown Toronto to be able to see what my film-shooting escapades have produced.