Realist developing & mounting

[P3D Ronald J Beck <rbeck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What a discovery I made!  After our vacation to DisneyWorld, I dropped off 
a number of rolls of film to be developed at our local Target store.  I 
chose Target because they can get the APS film developed and returned in 
24-48 hours.  And, they have a 24 hour guarantee or it's free!

Well, they lost one of the rolls :-(, which still hasn't been located.  
HOWEVER, as the film girl got her book out to look up when the roll went 
in, I noticed the word Qualex printed on the top of the book.  Well, 
naturally my curiosity got the best of me and I asked "is that the Kodak 
Qualex lab here in Dallas?".  She said "yes, I think it's somewhere in 
Addison (well, I know it's not, but I digress)"...

So... I tried an experiment with one of my Realist test rolls.  I dropped 
it off at Target on 6/24 and wrote "Realist Stereo Format" in the 'special 
handling instructions' section.  I went back yesterday (7/1) to find 24 
wonderfully mounted Realist stereo slides waiting for me.  And, to add 
icing to the cake (or is that frosting to the bulb?), the slides were 
returned to the store on 6/27.  Cost of this service? $4.95 or roughly 
half the price Qualex quoted me when I called them a month or so ago.

The slides are mounted in heat sealed cardboard mounts.  There are no 
markings on the slides, no numbers, no dates, no nothing.  Plenty of space 
to put some sort of label.  I reviewed all 24 slides and, IMHO, they're 
great!  Most of the mounting looks fine.  I did notice a couple of slides 
which seems to have the subject matter protruding out the "window", but 
since one is my son pointing his finger at me, the effect is pretty good.

Because of this wonderful experience, I've taken in the other three rolls 
I've had waiting for developing.  I believe that two of them should be our 
vacation at Walt Disney World.  I can't remember what the third is.  
Probably more stuff around the house, the kids and the Bluebonnet photo 
excursion we went on in April/May timeframe.

Now I'm really ready to go wild with 3D photography.  With all due respect 
to Dr T and his mounting abilities, I procrastinate very badly and without 
knowing about this service at the Target photo counter I probably would 
have waited another 3-4 months to get the film developed.  In fact, I 
still have my first roll, developed but uncut as I haven't ordered any 
mounts for them yet.  Yes, I eventually will order some mounts, probably 
slip-ins, and get that roll mounted.  But for now, I can easily resolve my 
procrastination problem by letting Kodak do the job :-) :-) :-).

So, for anyone in the Dallas area, you can get your Realist slides back 
PDQ simply by taking them to Target.  And all the rest of you out there, 
NANA NANA BOO BOO :-).  Seriously, you might want to check to see what lab 
your photo developer uses.  I was plesantly surprised.

Hope this helps someone,
Ron


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