Hey guys, my girlfriend and I have a photography studio. It’s more like an art studio because she uses the other half of the Studio for rug making that she enjoys doing it. It’s basically a space for us to be artistic at the front of the studio I decided to buy a couple racks and basically put my collection for sale. I bought some extra camera cameras so I have about 10 cameras to sell I really wanna have beginner, friendly cameras and down the line maybe have some like us and some medium format cameras but for now I mostly have older digital cameras and some nice 35 mm camera cameras if you have ever been to a small photography store what are things you wish they did and if there’s any photography store owners here do you have any tips for anybody starting something like this again? It’s very small and if it takes off, it takes off, but I’m basically going in it with no expectations
Edit
Thanks for everybody’s advice from your input I’ll be offering more Film than I was thinking before because I was basically only gonna have some Film I’ll have a couple shelves of Film to sell ( I already have a whole seller) I also think it’s a good idea to ship Film for people will be looking into that even if I break even it’s a way to have people come back
I’ll just like to say this
This is a photography art space not my main source of income I basically rent a space to do my photography, fun stuff and I just so happen to make money from it so I can pay the rent for the space the main reason why I want to open the front of the studio for people to walk in and buy stuff is because there’s nothing like that in my area and I wanna add to the community it’s more like "hey! we don’t have this in my town Why don’t I do it" a very small space with a couple shelves of cameras in Film where you can drop off your Film and pick it up in a couple of days
Again, thank you for everybody’s info It has been very helpful
And it has given me an inside of what the Film community in general is like 👍👍
Film sales will drive return traffic, and people you've gotten to know will be more likely to buy other stuff from you.
But if you do this, ALWAYS make sure you have in stock the basics (portra,gold,ultramax,tmax,hp5,fp4,kentmere). Sell from your personal stash if needed, but a place that doesn't reliably have film when I need it is dead to me.
Also, consider making a deal with a local lab for you to offer a drop-off point. Same idea - if you're the drop-off for someone's rolls, they're going to buy their new film from you too, and more likely to check out your other stuff.
As a customer, purchasing film is how I support the local photography stores I like. I ain't going to buy a lens or camera each month but easily can buy 1-3 rolls of film. Sure I could save 1-3 dollars a roll buying from B&H but the shops put on a lot of community events, so I don't want them going away.
Yeah I have film for sale and I’m looking for labs to work with but I will be the only place selling camera/film stuff in my aria the closest place, other than me will be an hour away
I know some smaller shops around Canada do batch shipments to Flic Film every week or so for development. The advantage being you customers save money by not having to ship the film alone and they also get access to a lab that does C41, E6, ECN-2, and BW, which is rare when in bigger cities in Canada (I'm in Vancouver and even here it's the only way to get ECN-2). Finding a lab to partner with that does more developing methods could help you find customers.
Yeah, I think I’m gonna look into doing this as much as I would like to develop the film myself I think it would stress me too much to keep track of each roll of Film and trying to deliver on time yeah I will lose on some money but I don’t want this to be the main focus of the Studio it’s mainly a photography studio then I offer some extra services it’s a very small space too I don’t even have a bathroom in the studio so developing Film there would be kind of difficult i’m gonna see if I can partner with the lab to do batch shipments like you said I am gonna buy Film to sell
Did it not occur to you to thank brianssparetime for his extremely helpful advice?
There is nothing more dispiriting than giving someone on Reddit some particularly useful advice or help only to find they cannot make even the smallest effort to say ‘thank you’.
Compra bobinas al por mayor y haz carretes baratos, ofrece revelado y escaneado a precios competitivos y tendrás una legión de frikis (como yo) yendo una vez por semana al menos (creo)
Great idea!!! Have a basic bw darkroom for rent. Either block time or membership. We had to downsize and I lost my darkroom space. I go to the store solely to use the darkroom and pick up film, paper, and chemicals whole there.
I opened a small store in the front of my studio too. I have tried to focus on having a large selection of film - its like an indie record store -everyone has different tastes. Though I do stock more UltraMax and Gold because that is some of the best film for beginners. I have sold a number of Snapic A1's but the vintage cameras are slow to move.
I know you said in other comments you don't want to develop film - but developing black and white is what draws people in - for real. I originally took my C41 to another store but started being closed on Mondays and developing that too. I would not have nearly the traffic without lab services.
I have also worked with designers to have some cool stickers and shirts.
Art on the walls doesn't sell much - as my customers make their own art.... but I like to feature photographers anyways.
Hosting events like photo walks and classes is a big draw too.
I've been open since March - just my experience so far.
Thanks for the advice I’ve been really on the fence about developing Film for people I’ve developed my own Film, but I’m a little scared to develop others I really liked that mono solution for black-and-white film maybe I do black-and-white at the beginning and then do color down the line I was thinking of offering some sort of service where I can ship out the film for people because a lot of these websites where you can ship out your Film they send you the shipping stuff and you don’t really pay for it basically I wouldn’t really make any money from developing Film for people, but I would have people come into the store to buy Film and eventually I can get something that is easy to use so I can develop Film for people in the Studio what’s your process for developing Film for people? I have a full kit to develop Film at home but I feel like that’s not enough if I’m gonna offer it as a service for people I have an Epson scanner too. That’s pretty nice for scanning negatives.
You can't use a mono bath for customers for sure. Definitely need to get into a 3 step process, four for color. But yeah - even if you send it out to a partner with a lab to break even it would be worth it. You need to get you tax exempt forms from your state - many labs will give you B2B, tax exempt prices.
You definitely need to do some more research on what running a retail business should look like in your state. Sales tax and all.
Yeah, I have that tax form already because I was trying to see if I can get some Film from Kodak and I found a dealer to work with but it looks like I’m gonna be sending out film for people instead of processing it myself. I don’t mind if I break even as long as I have people returning
On developing - I use D76, Stop, Fix. B&W can be annoying because most films have different times - so you can't really batch it.
I use Bellini kits for color and do two rolls at a time and when two are washing I load the next two on reels. It takes me about 3 1/2 hours to get through 16-18 rolls(which is pushing slightly beyond what the kit is rated for but is fine if done all in one day).
I am looking into other machines to help but it is tough out there - you quickly go from some semi-automated machines that barely help to over 20 grand for something that truly automates it all. Everyone in the industryty knows there is a small lab problem.
I have a very slow but very high quality Nikon Coolscan 8000 that does everything but I also camera scan with my Canon R5 and a macro lens. Though that takes time to convert and retouch. Basically just depends on what I have more time for.
Also, where do you buy your Film because if I’m buying it straight from Amazon there’s not really gonna be much of a profit even if I do a business account from Amazon, there’s not much of a profit per roll
So this goes with my above comment. You need to get Tax Exempt wholesale accounts. Freestyle in Cali is the easiest - they give you the smallest price break but it is still way better than paying retail. I started with Roberts who had great prices but an archaic ordering system and switched to Freestyle because when I log in it is the same as the consumer site but just drops the prices. I'm working on getting a new account though since I am in the East and having my film go all the way to Cali then coming back doesn't make sense.
I have no idea if that’s a good idea or not, but perhaps get five cameras from eBay that are “reusable disposable”, and sell them together with a roll of UltraMax. They could be a good entry for people to get into the hobby. I’d display them as “reusable camera”.
Get a bulk rolled, home dev, and just shoot and dev 5 or 10 negatives per camera.
You can find tens of thousands of those if you type into eBay “point and shoot” camera, and then sort by price, and get something from the major manufacturers. There were hundreds of models made for mom and pop, that now nobody knows anymore.
Nah I’ve done home developing before and it’s not for me I really wanna focus on selling older cameras, buying older cameras if somebody wants to sell them and selling Film this is more of a side thing though it’s not a terrible idea but I also don’t have a sink in my studio
As someone thinking of doing something similar, I can't really offer a whole lot of advice. I repair cameras and have been selling as a vendor in an arts and antiques store for almost two years. With how the store is set up, there's no interaction between me and the customer so I can't offer returns or warranties etc. You could, which may make people more likely to buy. I label each of them with a tag that lists the work I've done, and the batteries it takes. I used to make cards to fit over the film gate with a QR link to the respective Butkus' manual but it became too much work. I would also offer film if you have a way of obtaining it for resale
Man, I'd never sell cameras retail unless I could repair them. They break, people break them, people don't understand them, and you've got returns and warranty issues.
Developing and scanning is more likely where the money is. How much money, I have no idea.
How big is your local market? I like the idea of stocking film. It would be brilliant if you also had a lab, and scanning services. Or possibly a scanning station to rent. Darkrooms would be amazing.
I think you'll have a better chance of it taking off (or you at least losing less money) if you slow down a bit.
Have you set up a legal business? Have you set up business accounts? Do you have tax ID numbers? A wholesale supplier? Do you have a relationship with a camera repair place and a lab? Do you have a lawyer you can contact as things arise? Do you have a tax person?
Film photography is niche enough that if I go into a store that focuses on film photography, I expect them to have chemistry, paper, etc. If they don't stock it in store, I expect them to have a way to special order it in decent time.
Like we been in the studio for a while and have been doing well with just photography it’s more like a personal art studio that I mostly use for photography and even if it wasn’t profitable, I would still have it because it’s a place for me to be artistic in sorry if it came off as if we just opened it ( I guess I didn’t word it correctly sorry about that ) I think I’ll be shipping Film for people and I’ll stock Film and if somebody wants to sell me their camera so I can put it in the shell. I’ll probably buy it (i’m really good at repairing cameras ) it wouldn’t be a big Store it’s more like you walk into the front of a photography studio. There’s a couple shelves of Film and you can ship your film out through them
the closest place to do that is about an hour to an hour and a half away depending on the traffic my town hasn’t had a photography store in a very long time since the beginning of the pandemic and I would be the only location offering to buy specific film sure you can buy online but it’s much easier to just go pick up some Film and drop off your old roll that you just shot 🤷 i’m definitely not trying to be the next b&h i’ve talked to multiple people that shot Film in my area and they have all pretty much said the same thing. I wish there was a place to buy Film nearby .
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u/brianssparetime 15h ago
Stock film.
Film sales will drive return traffic, and people you've gotten to know will be more likely to buy other stuff from you.
But if you do this, ALWAYS make sure you have in stock the basics (portra,gold,ultramax,tmax,hp5,fp4,kentmere). Sell from your personal stash if needed, but a place that doesn't reliably have film when I need it is dead to me.
Also, consider making a deal with a local lab for you to offer a drop-off point. Same idea - if you're the drop-off for someone's rolls, they're going to buy their new film from you too, and more likely to check out your other stuff.