CLICK! Notes on photography

Bargains galore at the super store
By Robert de Gast

Among the digital and film-processing places in San Miguel, the best-known is Fuji Photo Super 30. Nobody knows why it’s called that. Maybe it was the number of minutes required to process the film. But the “Super” fits.

For more than a dozen years, the company was located in the middle of the Portales Allende. A few weeks ago they moved to San Francisco 50-B, at the corner of Calle Nuñez, a slightly smaller space and not quite as convenient, but still worth the one-block uphill trek.

Few film processing laboratories are left in the US. An informed estimate puts digital photography use at close to 95 percent. But in San Miguel, according to the Super 30 manager, the ratio between film and digital use remains at 50 percent. Digital cameras are three to four times more expensive than film cameras, and for many Mexicans the cost remains insurmountable.

Still, the cost of digital prints is reasonable. An 8x12-inch print costs 35 pesos, a 6x8-inch costs 6 pesos, while a 4x6-inch print is only 3 pesos. And of course taking the picture with a digital camera costs nothing, once you have paid for the camera! Eventually we’ll see that ratio change: it’s just a matter of time. 

It is wonderful to walk into a store and wait only a few minutes while the technician prints my digital images, thus allowing more time to get back on the street and take more pictures!