Cutting the Cost of Vacation Photos

Almost everyone who goes on a vacation takes along a camera. When they return, an additional expense is the processing of their pictures.

It is not unreasonable to estimate that the average traveler spends more than $150 on film processing.

As a professional photographer I am probably more impatient than most in wanting to see the results of my work. So I, too, head for the one-day or one-hour photo development center.

But impatience has its price, and it can be horrific.

For seven rolls of prints, some 24 exposures and others 36 exposures, my bill hit an alarming $100.

What made it sting even more was the realization that in London I had four rolls of 36-exposure film processed for about $6 a roll.

I discovered a photo-processing store while on an evening stroll near my London hotel. Just a block away was a one-hour development shop with great prices that suited any pocketbook.

I had my choice of one-hour, four-hour or one-day processing, with appropriate reductions according to choice.

When I returned home I mentioned this to the woman at my nearby one-day photo center and she said: “It’s amazing how cheaply they do it there, isn’t it?”

Bargains Should Be Sought

Reflecting on the difference in prices, I realized that perhaps I hadn’t been conscientious enough in trying to seek out photo processing centers in Holland and France.

A quick check at your hotel’s front desk will let you know if such services are available.

You will pay about $15 to develop a 36-exposure roll of color prints at home. See if your European developer can compete with this price (including any gratuities for hotel personnel). If so, you might consider taking advantage of the European service.

Of course, if you have the time and can find the store, drop it off yourself.

The advantages are obvious:

--You save a lot of money.

--You can examine your photos. If something didn’t turn out, you can reshoot before you go home.

--Most importantly, you don’t have to worry about your unexposed film being damaged by an overly potent airport X-ray machine.

Tapped for Advice

On my trip, when other tourists discovered that I knew about cameras, they sought my help with camera ills, most of which involved their lack of familiarity with the equipment.

Here are some of their simple problems:

--The camera shutter won’t cock. A glance at the film counter revealed that the person had used up all of the film. I pointed this out and was told: “But the camera is supposed to shoot 36 pictures.”

This is true if you put in a 36-exposure roll. This person had used a roll of 24 pictures. The solution: Rewind the exposed roll and insert a new roll.

--The meter won’t function. Usually there are two reasons--some cameras have a meter switch (to conserve the battery) and it wasn’t on, or the batteries were dead.

--The camera won’t work. In this case a schoolteacher from New York City had borrowed a camera from her cousin. She knew nothing about the camera and hadn’t familiarized herself by using it before she left home.

The camera shutter was jammed and not fixable on the spot, so she had to buy a camera at a London department store.

--The same woman had problems with her new camera after a couple of days. The batteries were depleted.

Always carry backup batteries. Some stores have plate-glass windows that face the sun and the batteries were probably drained by sunlight (i.e., heat exposure) before the package was ever opened.

Watch for Airport Security

While almost everywhere airport personnel were kind enough to hand-search my camera bag, there was an exception at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. There a very nice man with a very nice machine gun said: “Put your bag on the X-ray conveyor belt, please.”

I made a halfhearted protest, but he assured me with a Gallic shrug and a 7.65-millimeter barrel wave that it wouldn’t hurt the film.

When I arrived home I immediately had the film processed and discovered that he was right. But all during the long flight home I was angry with myself for not trying to find other quick film-processing centers in Europe.