# How old is that film? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 10, 2026, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-that-film/1030789 "2026-06-10T02:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-that-film/1030789/21 "2026-08-27T19:17:35Z")
I think I should elaborate on my earlier post. Developing isn’t all that expensive. Like I said, it’s about $10 per 36 exposure roll. It’s the scanning and/or printing that’ll get ya. That’s where it gets expensive quick. Most places use Noritsu scanners (not sure why, but they do) and they seem to have a more or less standard set of resolutions and formats they’ll scan and output. The labs seem to pick and choose from those- some will have a high res jpeg, others will have the same resolution, but in TIF format, for example. All seem to have fairly low resolution jpeg scans and a higher res jpeg scan for a little more, usually called “Enhanced” or something like that. My local lab’s “enhanced” scan is a 3130x2075 pixel jpeg. The “16 bit TIFF” is a TIF file of 6774x4492 with 16 bits per color channel (versus the 8 of a JPEG), giving it a lot more color information. My thinking is that if I do need that extra resolution for some reason I can always have the negative rescanned at a much higher resolution, but otherwise I’m just taking up storage space and paying money for something that I won’t really use. Of course, this hinges on me hanging on to the negatives; most will charge you a dollar or two less to not have the negatives returned, so if I went that route, I’d probably be getting the highest res scans every time. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Oh God, where to? I haven’t had film developed since those disposable cameras about 7-8 years ago. Walmart electronics film lab. Do they still do that? I’d look at “Legacy Photo Lab of Dallas” (my local shop), “The Darkroom” or “Brooktree Film Labs”. They’re all good- I mostly stay local because I don’t have to pay shipping, otherwise I think Brooktree would be my lab of choice. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-that-film/1030789/22 "2026-08-27T22:14:16Z")
> [@xtenkfarpl](#): > > A slightly different but related topic. Cleaning up the garage recently, we discovered five 10.5 inch reels of quarter inch tape which apparently contain recordings I made with a couple of bands decades ago. > > So I’m now looking at possibilities to transfer the recordings to digital format (the Revox they were recorded on is long gone, of course). I regret to tell you that decades-old recording tape stored in a non-climate controlled area will probably be so brittle that it will break as you try to thread it through a tape recorder. However, I’ve had 20-year old tapes that were stored better that held together and still sounded pretty good. A lot depends on what material the tape was made from. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-that-film/1030789/23 "2026-08-28T13:24:40Z")
This. If you are at all serious about trying to recover the audio on those tapes, DO NOT try to play them yourself (assuming you still have a working RTR deck). Find a professional recovery service that can evaluate them and determine how best to treat and recover them. This often involves baking the tape to help keep the magnetic oxides on the tape from flaking off as it is played. Much will depend on the quality of the original media. [Top brands](https://reeltoreelwarehouse.com/best-reel-to-reel-tape-brands/) like Ampex, Maxwell, Scotch, etc, can yield good results, but cheap stuff like Radio Shack or no-name brands may not be worth even attempting to recover. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-that-film/1030789/24 "2026-08-28T19:34:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Best case, it’s random vacation and birthday pictures of people I don’t care about. Worst case… But what if the black-and-white roll in that old twin-lens reflex camera turned out to be key to solving the Judge Crater mystery? [https://www.ebay.com/itm/227494465403](https://www.ebay.com/itm/227494465403) ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-that-film/1030789/25 "2026-08-28T19:56:47Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > many with artifacts wrecking the pic AI or the PS jockeys on Reddit can fix that for you for free. About a month ago, I was going through some old boxes and found 3 disposable cameras that had been used. I have not a clue what’s on them. If I didn’t care then, I probably won’t care now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-is-that-film/1030789.md?page=1)