I am the last of four children in my family. As such, my mother claims she was beyond the Picture Freak stages by the time I came along and has very few pictures of Baby Me. A couple professional shots, a few she took herself, but not many compared to my older siblings.
She says she did have a camera and took plenty of shots but, with four kids to feed, she just couldn’t afford to develop them at the time. These pictures would have been taken starting in 1983. Could this film be developed today at a drug store photo developer? If not, are there special shops that could develop them?
I had film from 1986 and a ‘dedicated’ One hour photo store developed them no problem. I suggest you get your film to a camera shop as soon as possible, if there is any chance at getting the pictures, it would be best to have the film in the right hands at the right time. Its not like you can stop film from being developed once it has gone under.
Depends on the size of film and its development process. If its 126, which was still pretty popular then, they’ll probably have to send it off. When I was working in a Wal-Mart lab this took about 2 weeks. Same for anything other than C-41 processing.
Disc film was another one that was popular then that would need to be sent off. If its one of them, considering the negative size and age, I wouldn’t be too hopeful on the quality of the pictures.
No matter what type it is, from 1983, there’s somebody that’ll develop it. The local drugstore might have to send it off, which will probably take a few weeks and cost twice as much as 35mm C-41, but they’ll get it done.
The quality of the pictures is another matter. Film does degrade as it ages – depending on how it’s been stored, you might get color shifts or fogging. Heat, especially, hurts film; the best long-term storage for film is to keep it refrigerated or frozen. If it’s been indoors in a cool place, it’ll probably be okay (or at least good enough to justify having a roll or two developed to check); an un-air-conditioned attic in Texas, chances aren’t so good.
My advice is to take a few rolls to a reputable place (that is, a national-chain drugstore) and have them developed, and proceed based on those results.