Guess I'm a little paranoid, but I develop 1 roll of vacation film at a time. This assures that not more than one roll will be lost or damaged by the processing center. Also develop them in random order so I'm surprised when I open the envelope, never know exactly what's coming back. The process takes a while but it extends the vacation out by several weeks. Just curious if anyone else does something similar?

Here's my latest "method". I completed the process just this past weekend:<BR>Let films from 1999 and 2000 age gracefully on a dresser top for several years until the friend driving you to the airport for your latest trip spots them and offers to drop them off for processing. Reclaim them from friend and repay her. Be surprised that they actually turned out. Spend most of a weekend surrounded by old itineraries, travel books, archaeology books, etc. trying to identify which damn Pictish stone that was and wondering why you took that picture of a horse somewhere in France. Discard unidentifiable photos, unless they're really pretty. Vow never to wait so long again.

Hi<BR><BR>I (nearly always)get them developed as I travel.<BR><BR>No worries about losing them or Xrays.<BR><BR>But I have to be honest ........... I just found a 3 yr old film and had lots of difficulty in identifying people and places !<BR><BR>And I recently spend a weekend putting 100+ films worth of pics in albums.<BR><BR>Peter<BR>http://tlp.netfirms.com

It takes me a week to unpack from a trip (dirty clothes are all in one duffel so those go right into the laundry) so I find rolls of film in the oddest places (like in a package of candies that I forgot I opened and sampled; put the package in the fridge when I unpacked it, lovely discovery of a roll of film when I opened it a month later). After terrible experiences with KM/WAG/Osco developing (they didn't lose the film, but the developing was truly abominable) I took the reco from someone on this forum and started having Ritz Camera develop the film. The developing is done in house so no chance for the film to disappear. I like to put my pictures in photo albums as soon as possible - otherwise they never get done - so I usually drop off the film as soon as I unpack it. My memory isn't very good anymore, so I...what was I saying?

Elvira, a whole week? sometimes I've not fully unpacked before my next trip comes up!! ;-)<BR><BR>I race to develop the film. can't wait. it's usually dropped off the day I land or the next at the latest. don't take it to a 'processing center' which sends them out - take it to a pro shop and they individually look after your rolls. yeah, it'll cost ya 15-17 bucks a roll (or more) but it's sooo worth it. you pictures will look better too.

I'm a print-as-you-go believer, especially when I'm in one place for a couple of days and won't likely be back soon. You can go out and re-shoot the duds if they don't come out.<BR><BR>Processing is generally not much more than at home (depends, but usually around the same) and the worst risk is that the prints will be so-so; the negatives generally can't get ruined by the processor and you can always have them re-printed later. <BR><BR>We also always pack a couple of sets of prints of our house, town, kids, dogs, etc. - people love to look over your shoulder when you review your pix and having some of our own has been a good icebreaker on more than one occasion.<BR>

After a while, gardens and architectural features can look similar....I keep small stickers in my tiny travel journal. I note, in the journal, what is on each roll and then I place a numbered sticker on the roll of shot film. When I take the film to the processor, I put the number on each envelope. This is the only way I can manage 12-14 rolls of film.

The first step is to use a lab I trust. Never experiment with travel photos. My daughter was in the hospital once, and I had just returned from a trip with many rolls of slides. I dropped them at a new place down the street from the hospital, and the lab happened to have a machine malfunction that day. I can get decent scans from the slides, but they all have serious spotting. Luckily, I also shot quite a bit of print film, and it came out fine. That brings me to the second point - I get them developed and printed in two batches. More is not really necessary if you are using a reputable lab that you trust. I suppose I should make sure to have some of each major location in each batch, but I rarely label my film. I do so much planning before a trip and have such a knack for remembering specific places and things that I almost never forget what something is. If I do, I use a travel guide to figure it out. I also shoot lots of frames of each major subject, which means I rarely end up with more than a few hours of the trip on each roll (this makes it easier to remember the order of the photos and thus the subjects - plus it is simply a good way to get the standard shots and be creative). I, being a photography nut, almost always get all my rolls developed in the first week (two batches). My wife used to tell me to just take the leftover traveler's checks to pay for the photos, and it usually did take them all.