KODAK TO CLOSE FAIRLAWNN

[Alcoman]

For those of us who still use K-64 film, this is not good news!
See the trains Newswire:
http://www.trains.com/story/story_list. ... ategory=10

[railohio]

Maybe it's time to switch over to the dark side after all these years...

Viva la Fujichrome!

[Ken W2KB]

Does kodak process Kodachrome at any other facility? From what I understand there are some significant environmental issues with the chemicals and processing may become prohibitively expensive.

[Don]

Until Kodak sorts this out you'll be better off taking K64 to Wal phart where it's sent to Dwayne's in Kansas. Return time will be longer but I've used them a few times w/no complaints. $3.88 for 24 x- $1 more for 36. I talked to a Kodak rep who said all mailers would be honored but he had no idea of where film would be sent & that includes E6 & print film. It's not yet known who will take over slide processing as several have been mentioned including Dwayne's but that would leave only 1 plant in the US processing it. Mention has been made of having it done in Cal. as there were some labs out there that handled it. Kodak recently lost the Wal greens acct to Fuji. W/4000 some stores that may have been the final straw & hastened the decision to close Fairlawn & other Kodak labs.
They will also go to a 2 day return on print film instead of the current 1 & Sunday pickup will be discontinued.
Don

[Srnumber9]

Did the rep give a cutoff date when the Fair Lawn mailing address will no longer be valid?

[MikeF]

Kodak mailers pre-printed with the Fair Lawn address will continue to be usable; they will be forwarded either to another Kodak lab or to the contracted Kodachrome processor. It may take an extra one or two days for you to receive your processed film. (If you take a close look at your Kodak mailers, you'll see they have an expiration date on them; I would guess the Fair Lawn address will no longer be valid once the last mailers printed with that address expire.)

Although Kodak has not officially announced it, it's obvious the Kodachrome processor will be Dwayne's Photo Service in Kansas, as they are the only other Kodachrome lab in North America.

[Don]

I've heard Aug 29 is the end. 220 people will be out of work. I'm not sure if they'll process up to that time. I'll try to find out more. Don't know if I'd send anything after 8/10 as the equipment will be dismantled/sent out or whatever. Even when I know where the K64 processing will be, I'd wait a mo or so before sending anything. Hopefully that'll give them time to work out any bugs. I got an email from a friend who uses Sam's club & has no probs w/them other than the 2 week return. I live 50 mi. from Rochester & when they did processing there, it could take up to 3 weeks. Sam's charges $4.28 for a 36x-- lab is Dwayne's in Kansas
Don

[Alcoman]

Not all of the mailers have dates. I have some that did have dates on them and I simply blacked the dates out. Kodak excepted them with no problem.

CVS also does Kodak processing and I have found that the turn around time so far is 4 days to Fairlawn & Back....Question is, will everything go to Kansas now?

It will be interesting to see how fast Dawayne's photo service is. I also wonder if Kodak will offer new mailers with Dawayne's Photo Service on them in place of Fairlawn.

[MikeF]

Question is, will everything go to Kansas now?

Depends on what you mean by "everything." Kodak will continue to process black-and-white, C-41 (color negative) and E-6 (Ektachrome/Fujichrome color slide) film at their own labs. All Kodachrome film, however, will be forwarded to Dwayne's.

[Don]

I talked to a Kodak rep today who said ALL slide film processing will take place at Capitol photo in Beltsville Md. Not sure of cutoff date for Fairlawn but should be good thru July. To be safe, after 8/15 I'll go the Walmart route for awhile.
Don

[Don]

Beltsville Md. rang a bell so I looked up mail order labs in Md. Sure enuf, Clark color labs are located there. Unfortunately I've read more complaints (lost rolls. poor customer service etc.)about them than any other lab. They still send me Mystic lab mailers, having taken them over a year or so ago but I refuse to send them any print work. Clark is really District Photo now. So it'll be Walmart for me until I see evidence of good work & service coming from "Capitol".
Don

[RailBus63]

What type of slide mounts do you get on the Wal-Mart orders? Not plastic, I hope …

JD

[Alcoman]

I agree Railbus63, I hate plastic mounts and have always requested cardboard mounts when having Kodak do the processing.

[Don]

walmart used to be cardboard. I may get some new samples from a friend & will let you know what they are. Don

[Don]

I rec'd some E6 slides from a friend that were processed thru Walmart. Slides looked good & had paper mts.
An update on K64. There has been quite a lengthy discussion on the film & processing forum of photo.net. Kodak will be ending tech pan films in '05. Reference has been made to K64's demise but Kodak will nether confirm or deny this. All K64 will be sent to Md. where it will be forwarded to Dwayne's in Parsons Ks. Turnaround times are said to be the same so I assume that if you drop it off at a Target/Walgren's etc., it would be back in the time it took NJ to process it. They will also honor Kodak mailers. If interested, go to the forums of www.photo.net & read the thread on the end of tech pan dated 8/6. There's a lot of info by a former Kodak employee that sheds a good deal of light on films & processing.
Don