Ever try to talk the guy at the mini-lab in to running your slide film through his C41 processor? Mostly you get a blank stare…followed by a firm NO. Not wanting to deal with talking a new kid in to it every time I cross process film, I worked out how to get slide film processed in C41, so far, every time.
It’s simple.
After shooting, I drop the film in a changing bag and crack open the can. I then roll the film up and put it in a black plastic film bottle. It then goes to the drug store where I tell the kid I have an old camera that rips film. He’s happy to help, and he never looks at the film in enough detail to realize it’s slide film. In all likelihood, he wouldn’t know slide film if he saw it.
If he ever notices and calls me on it, my story will be that I thought it was color film and didn’t realize what I’d loaded.
Yes, I’m being selectively honest here (that’s called lying if you’re not a politician). I somehow manage to live with myself.
I'm lucky enough to live close to a great lab and they reckon that xprocessing is one of their specialisms. That said, I have had a slide film in a lomo camera for almost 6 months now and I've still not finished it so I haven't actually put this particular specialism to the test.
Posted by: Paula | December 21, 2009 at 11:10 PM
Sneaky. We used to have a photo lab up here that would not only hold the film for cross processing until the last run before changing the chemistry. Not only did they know not get confused when I'd ask, they'd get excited to do it.
Too bad they've stop their development services and only do digital print finishing now.
Posted by: K. Praslowicz | December 23, 2009 at 01:51 AM
A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
Posted by: SteveM | December 23, 2009 at 04:24 AM