secondhand minilabs?

kumate_champ07

was wondering what they would cost now that alot of chemists are phasing out film or have done already, where does this old equipment go? I'd love some kind of fuji frontier minlab but I wouldnt need the printing module, just the developing machine, not sure if the scanner is built into that.

an E6 minilab would be even more awesome, Id prob quit digital altogether if I could shoot film and have the images developed and scanned within an hour of getting home!

ValueInIreland

You won't have any problem getting one, but:
Scanners are in the Printing Modules
You need a Minimum of about 10 films a day to keep the chemistry fresh.

DaireQuinlan

Haha yeah I've pondered the same thing myself on occasion. The problem is, as valueinireland points out, that you need the volumes to make the chemistry pay its keep. I think they operate what's called a 'replenished line' which means that you use starter packs of the chemicals and then replenish them as you run films through it. Without the replenishment the chems start going bad.
You also have to keep the thing meticulously clean, something which, in fairness, most minilabs in operation certainly aren't. Plus they're kinda big and still surprisingly expensive to buy, i'd say a lot of places still have them around for the print and the paper wet development bit (if the fuji ones still do that, afaik the kodak ones are all digital now but the fuji ones used to expose digitally onto crystal archive and wet develop).

But yeah, a man can dream ! I can just imagine the look on my wifes face if I arrived home with one though. Lets see ... Washing machine ... Fridge ... Fuji frontier minilab ... Oven ...