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Camera guides

Eight guides to the things that cost money: developing, repair, used gear and the shops themselves. Real prices and honest trade-offs, written for people who want a number rather than an adjective. Everything here is generic industry pricing — for actual businesses, use the directory.

1,832listings in the directory

840develop film

300do repairs

166buy used gear

Film & developing

What processing costs, what to ask for, and why two labs hand you different-looking files from the same roll.

What film developing actually costs

Develop-only $5–12, develop plus scans $16–35, black-and-white and E-6 surcharges, push and rush fees — and how the $14.96–18.99 drugstore counter compares once you account for 1–4 MP scans and negatives you may not get back.

Getting your first roll developed

A complete beginner walkthrough: how to tell what film you shot, the two sentences to say at the counter, whether to buy scans, what "pushed" means, and why you must ask for the negatives.

Noritsu vs Frontier vs flatbed

The scanner is a real purchase decision. How the two minilab machines render differently, what a flatbed actually resolves, and when a Flextight or drum scan earns its price.

Buying & selling gear

Used equipment is the best value in photography and the easiest place to lose money.

Buying a used camera

Fungus, haze, element separation, shutter count, light seals, sticky aperture blades, de-centring and zoom creep — plus the fact that KEH, MPB, B&H and Adorama grades describe cosmetics only, never function.

Selling your camera gear

Trade-in around 60% of resale, cash around 50%, consignment where the shop takes 25–40%, and the roughly 10% bonus for taking store credit. How to prep gear so the offer does not drop at inspection.

How to choose a camera store

Staff who actually shoot, in-house versus sent-out lab and repair, authorized dealer status and gray-market stock, demo policy, and the 15% restocking fee nobody mentions until the register.

Repair & rental

When to fix a camera, when to walk away, and how to rent one without overpaying.

Camera repair: what it costs

Clean-and-check $25–58, tune-up around $128, CLA $125–325, full overhaul $278–378, and bench fees of $24–85 that some shops credit and some do not. Plus the point where a repair exceeds the body's value.

Renting a camera

Day rates and the weekend, week and month multipliers, deposits and full-value card holds, what a damage waiver does not cover, and rental-credit-toward-purchase programs.

Then find a shop

Put it into practice

840 placesFilm developing

Labs and camera stores that process film, by city.

300 placesCamera repair

Shops that service bodies and lenses.

166 placesSell your gear

Stores that buy and trade over the counter.

50 statesBrowse everything

Every listing by state and city.