Getting Colour Film developed in Africa

[Len Middleton]

I will be spending the next four weeks in Africa and bringing some 120 transparency film to use in a 4x5 rool back on my Technika.

Anyone know what the availability and quality of E6 work in the Southern part of Africa (not exactly South Africa).

Thanks,

Len

[cdholden]

South Africa still includes a lot of dirt. If you could be more specific as to which cities you will be able to access, you may get a better response.

[tgtaylor]

You may want to e-mail some of the African photographers listed on this data base:

http://library.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/photographs.html

Four weeks is not that long and if it was me I'd try to keep the film refrigerated in a cooler and wait to process it until I got back home where I know I would get good processing results.

Thomas

[Len Middleton]

Chris, yes that does cover a lot of real estate. Country I am going to is Botswana.

Thomas, I will be going back and forth on a regular basis, and be doing some photography with a work contact (non-photographic work). So obviously he would like to see the results... Thanks for forwading the link.

[tautatis]

I am originally from East Africa, but I have travelled extensively in Africa for work on international development. I would recommend you just Fedex your film back home and develop it. In most parts of Africa, 120 film is hard to find a lab to process. On several occasions I have made mistakes of thinking about cost of processing and process them in Africa only to get my film back with scratches and finger marks. Africa is the most beautiful place to do photography.

Enjoy your time in Botswana!

Adrian.

[Len Middleton]

Adrian,

Actually on a related note on APUG, people are enquiring where to get film processed (including 120) back in Toronto, so I guess that is my best solution. I did bring 4x5 B&W film and chemistry and a Jobo tank and reels to develop it, so I have that covered.

I am looking forward to get out and do some shooting as I have someone here who has worked in the area for a number of years and is a keen photographer. Digital mind you, but I will try to turn him to the dark slide...

Thanks,

Len

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Personally, I don't like having my undeveloped film X'rayed and will avoid it at every turn. Flying to Africa it might be hard to avoid this especially if you send packages back home after exposing film. I'd be sorely tempted to scrounge up all the Astia 4x5 Quickloads that can be found as individual Quickloads muster hand-inspection better and less suspiciously than little rolls of 120--with only that fragile little glued paper band standing between you and ruined exposures. Either that or I'd persist in trying to find a well-recommended E6 lab in Johannesburg or wherever one can be found.
(Alternately, C-41 neg material in roll film might be a better choice, since nearly every place with a 1 hour minilab can do a credible job on the negs, and most can burn a CD/DVD of the images for a quick and dirty preview-- which might also prove invaluable mid trip if there's a light leak or shutter problem, etc... or, do it yourself in the Jobo tanks. C41 is just three steps, only the developer is critical on temperature.)

[tautatis]

Len,

My only concern developing your own negative in Africa is dust. Botswana is a semi desert country and dust is hard to avoid. You will have to be very careful. I once carried my Shen Hao to Zanzibar while visiting my family. I asked the local B&w studio owner to develop my film - I even bought several bottles of distiller water, to my surprise, my negatives came scratched and full of dust holes. I was very disappointed as the negatives were developed perfectly. A number of years later I did the same stupid mistake in Dar es Salaam!

In Botswana you may try to ask your colleague to see if you could go to Etosha Pan. It is the right time of the year wild flowers show there is the best in the world.

Enjoy your time in Botswana!

Adrian