Vintage: Film Labs
An assortment of 1928 advertisements for film laboratories....
There isn't much call for a lot of commentary this week. I might have more to say if I had any idea about how film labs are set up now. I have to imagine the studios own their own laboratories for the most part. I also have to think they're located in or around Hollywood. All but one of these labs were located in New York, the last being in New Jersey. Obviously there are still going to be film labs in NYC, but surely Hollywood backlot productions don't ship to New York.
The more interesting distinction of these ads, of course, are the antiquated technological claims. Such and such lab can do color tinting! Titles! The wording "ordinary or panchromatic negative developing" is amusing. "Panchromatic" just means what we normally think of as color film: the full range of color, not just monochrome tinting. In other words, quite ordinary, unless you're living back in 1928.
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