AgfaPhoto Vista Plus 400, Bangkok (2017)
One month ago, the cheapest film developing shop in Singapore increased their price, mainly by $1 for different categories of services. For example, developing + 4-base scanning of colour film used to be $8.50 but has become $9.50.
Previously, if you want the express 1-hour service, that’s additional $2 per roll, which makes it $10.50. Now, it’s $2.50 per roll for express, making the impatient or people who live far from Bugis to pay $12!
My gawd.
Thankfully, I am very patient now. Because I am no longer extremely eager to see my colour film results like I used to when I first started film photography.
I can wait.
Ayutthaya, AgfaPhoto Vista Plus 400 (2017)
Also, I spent half the time shooting black & white films and develop them by myself. So, my thirst to see film result instantly is still satisfied, haha!
Since I knew I would be going to Bangkok again, I decided to accumulate a bunch of them to be developed there.
If you want to know where to develop film in Bangkok in 1 hour, click here.
Now, let’s see how much I have saved:
Number of films developed in Bangkok- 12 rolls of 35mm and 1 roll of 120mm
Cost of develop & scan in Singapore: $9.50 x 12 + $15 = $129
Cost of only develop: $4.50 x 12 + $6 = $60
How much for everything in Bangkok (dev + good quality scan) = approx $47
Oh yeah.
Alternative to Bangkok
Ayutthaya, AgfaPhoto Vista Plus 400 (2017)
Of course, dropping your film when you go Bangkok for holiday is not the only way to spend less money on film photography.
If you won’t be going to Bangkok in the very near future, you can always send your films via mail to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, being the nearest to Singapore.
There’s a lab in KL called Darkroom8 which does professional developing and very good scanning. Good news, I think they are going to also start doing E6 processing soon.
The price for one roll (include scanning) is RM14.80 (about SGD5), and I heard if you send in 8 rolls, they will develop the 9th for free. That’s like buy 8 get 1 free.
Ayutthaya, Fujicolor Industrial 400 (2017)
Actually I have not tried Darkroom8 but this is the suggestion from readers after they read my post about saving cost while enjoying film photography and felt pity for me on spending so much on developing.
After this Bangkok trip, I am going to accumulate and send my colour films to KL. I don’t know if I should go back to Johor to use Post Laju or just use Singpost.
I will update on this blog of course.
P/S The photos in this blog post were all scanned by PhotoCity, Bangkok.
If you are new to this film photography blog, Start Here. Or head over to Film Look to see samples of each film.
Hi there, thank you for this post! Sorry to trouble you but I need some help as I am not able to develop my film roll (Afgaphoto vista plus 400 Fujifilm 8583 400T) and the photos I took in this roll on a vacation means a great deal to me :(. I tried developing at a lab but they told me that the film roll is a movie film and they cannot develop it? Is there really no way for me to develop it? But as I read online (and your post), it seems like it is possible to develop this roll of film? I would really really appreciate your help! Thank you so much in advance!!
Hello! Yes, Fujifilm 8583 400T is a motion film and you need to either send it to a lab that does ECN2 development or you can wash off the layer of Rem-jet with baking soda yourself before sending it to a normal lab. I don’t know where you are from, but in case you are from Singapore, there’s no lab here that does ECN2 developing. You have to send it nearest to KL, Malaysia. Read about the KL lab here.
Hey, thanks so much for your reply! I am from Singapore and I actually sent the film to Triple D lab and they couldn’t develop it for me. Is it still possible to salvage the photos? If it is not too much trouble, could you advise me on how to wash off the layer of Rem-jet with baking soda?
If I mail it as a parcel over to KL as in your post, do I send it over in its original condition now? 🙂 Thank you SO much for your help!
Yup, if you send it over to KL, you can send the motion film in its original form. No need to do any washing beforehand. And I’ve never done washing before so I can’t advise you :/ but I heard you will need to wash in the dark and then hang dry before sending to lab. So I guess it’s safest to send to KL 🙂
Hey There,
great article, I am travelling to Bangkok next month and I was wondering if should buy film there or before travelling. Do you know how much can simple fuji c200 cost there? What are the general prices for film? Thanks in advance,
Lev
I think you can bring a few of your own and buy more when you are in Bangkok. I can’t remember the price of a FujiC200 and I think the films there are generally okay priced. Those that are expensive (FujiPro400H, Kodak BW, Portra & Lomo) are still expensive there.