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  #11  
Old 24th January 2012, 03:37 PM
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dsallen dsallen is offline
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For mixing your own chemicals just Google 'The Darkroom Cookbook'. Everything you need is in there. Amazon usually have it for about 20 quid.

With a bit of research you can identify a couple of developers, fixers, etc that require minimum number of ingredients and standardize on them - i.e. A D76/IDII type of dev and an extra fine grain developer, a Rapid acid fixer and a rapid alkaline fixer, etc.

You could then supply them ready mixed in the shop and in powder form via the post for FADU members.
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  #12  
Old 24th January 2012, 03:43 PM
R Montgomer R Montgomer is offline
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Thanks David, will look that up now!
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  #13  
Old 24th January 2012, 04:08 PM
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what about some cheap second hand enlargers and trays and bits and pieces for d/p just to start some novices on the road as well as paper and chemicals ect for when you get return trade ,its all right buying of ebay but when you dont know what you need?, an expert to explain and have, just the things you need sir/madam would save a novice time and money. I think second hand darkroom gear has allways been hard to find in most photograpic shops.
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  #14  
Old 24th January 2012, 06:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Smith View Post
Something I would be interested in is pre-packed chemicals for mixing your own developers. I know they are available but you usually have to work out what you need then buy them separately. A kit of ingredients with the correct quantity of everything to make one litre of a variety of developers might be a saleable idea.


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Hope he has the right qualifications to get a license to sell chemicals in that way.
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  #15  
Old 24th January 2012, 08:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by R Montgomer View Post

I'm not sure about offering the printing as it's very big money to get into and must be manned all the time, I would consider a postal processing service 24/48 hour like chemists do (don't know where to start there) and I already offer a hand developing service (at a premium) for black and white and c41 but admittedly I only do maybe 5 a month.

But that's the thing. If you have a shop it has to be open and that means at least 5 days a week and the main shopping day is Saturday.

It needs to generate enough income to cover all running costs including staffing and retail business rates not just insurance. Just selling black and white kit in a small town won't generate enough income for that IMO. That is why I suggest offering the printing. Of course if there are already one or two other shops already doing it then you have to consider if there is enough business to go round.
Just because you are aiming at a niche market doesn't mean its viable in a small catchment area which again is why I suggest you have to make it serve everyone and not just a small minority. Sure you can do all the B+W stuff but do you want to be sitting in a shop 5 or 6 days a week waiting for a trickle of people to come in who won't cover your costs.
Look in any small town and you will find the most sucessful local shops are the likes of Ironmongery, electrical, home furnishings, butchers, grocers and a few others. Most of the rest come and go all the time.
How about art supplies/handicrafts with a photography section. They always seem to survive if there isn't any competition in the same town.
I rekon you need to be thinking that the shop should be self supporting and not being funded from your photography work.
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  #16  
Old 24th January 2012, 09:50 PM
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In friendly opposition to what Argentum has written, I have experience of running a shop as a side-line to my commercial photographic business - as suggested by the OP. Analogue is a niche market and, therefore, a shop selling analogue materials needs to fit the market.

My advice is DO NOT try and compete with the digital printers - you willonly be the loser as the 20,000€ machines are, after 6 months out of date and only work well when you have a technician who can consistently correct customers' failures. Also, like the commercial labs of old, machines are out of date as soon as you buy them so you have to maximise throughput to gain a financial advantage.

Simple ideas such as cheap chemicals (either pre-mixed or a powder kits) for people who need them is the way to go. With equipment I would focus only on the créme de la créme as this is the only market where seeing, and eventually buying, can work - everyone else will buy stuff blind from eBay.
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  #17  
Old 24th January 2012, 10:03 PM
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And in friendly oppostion to David, the gross error in his thinking is that he lives in a city with a catchment population of something like 3.5 million people whereas the OP lives in an area with a catchment population of something like 20K.
Also germany has a much stronger interest in B+W with traditional processing and Germans, with respect, are such equipment snobs they must have the best and most expensive status symbols. There are huge cultural differences and differences in disposable income. You can't compare Berlin to Portadown IMO.
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  #18  
Old 24th January 2012, 10:20 PM
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You might like to consider offering a print mounting and framing service without too much initial outlay. A decent mount cutter need not cost the earth. A photographer friend of mine used one recently for a couple of exhibitions he was staging, he just didn't have the time or indeed decent skills to do this himself

This service can of course go beyond just photography.

Print finishing, such as spotting is also a possibility but I fear with the advent of digital photography a lot of photographers can easily do this themselves. I did it for a photographer some years ago even as he was framing them for the exhibition wall. The pay was quite good back then
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  #19  
Old 24th January 2012, 10:57 PM
R Montgomer R Montgomer is offline
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Argentum, good point about the chemicals! I'll look into that.

There will be no rates, rent or extra insurance as it's part of the studio that simply isn't being utilized at present so the costs are covered by the studio photography end of the business. I'm there 6 days a week myself unless I'm out for a shoot and then my wife is usually there.

I'll not be splashing out on the printing end, but I'm looking at offering a 24/28 hour processing service.

Again thanks for the feedback guys, keep it coming!!
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  #20  
Old 24th January 2012, 11:28 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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I have never run a photo shop or any kind of business but it seems to me that until it is clear that a shop can pay for itself then a variation on what Peter Hogan does might be the way to go.

As Argentum has said it is unlikely that the catchment area around the town is enough to make a profit so that means online retailing and now it may be Matt's experience at AgPhotographic that is relevant. My impression is that his retail and online business takes up all of his time plus at least one full time helper.

As far as I know he doesn't do weddings and wouldn't have the time.

On the other hand we have a successful mini-lab in my town of about 23,000. The owner has one permanent full-time employee who operates the Fuji film and RA4 machine and can produce RA4 prints in B&W(of sorts) or colour from either B&W negs, colour negs or, and this I suspect is very important to the business, from digital cards.

The two common qualities to what the OP does is that she specialises in portraiture with a small studio and does weddings on film.

Clearly with her expensive Fuji machine she can deliver genuine RA4 prints in colour or B&W as quickly if not quicker than can the digis who do weddings.

She only sells frames and albums and a few films but no other darkroom materials such as chemicals or paper.

Mike
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