Kodak Disc Camera~A Blast from the Past

What a blast from the past I had when I found this Disc negative. I had totally forgotten about this type of film and the camera that took these photographs.

Negative from a Disc camera.

The Disc camera was made by Kodak and released in the summer of 1982 with production of the camera ending in 1988. 

Disc camera from the 1980's.

Film used in the Disc camera.

I have a vague memory of my father using this camera, perhaps my cousin Mary who work for Kodak in Rochester, New York gifted him this camera, because I can't imagine my father purchasing this camera.

The round disc of fifteen negatives are extremely small, and I am unable to see what the occasion is for these photos. I cannot see faces but do recognise the shapes of some people.

Each negative is 1/4 inch wide and less than 1/2 inch long.

I also found some slides that are from my parents 50th wedding anniversary celebration taken in front of the church. My parents had their marriage blessed and exchanged vows again for their 50th anniversary celebration. Shortly after this celebration my mother passed away.

 

I trotted myself over to my local Walgreens with Disc negatives and slides in hand excited to see, hold and examine the prints that would be made. My excitement quickly ended when the young girl behind the photo counter looked at me in horror when I showed her the Disc negatives. "What are those from?" 

I left with my negatives in hand and headed towards our local camera shop. They are celebrating the stores 75th anniversary, surely they will be able to process this for me. I should have gone to them in the first place, was my thought. Wrong, they do not have the technology to process this type of negative. 

He explained that Kodak made a specific machine to process prints from these negatives, and they no longer have the machine. He did give me a web page of Rocky Mountain Film Lab that several of his clients have used. Discouraged that I wouldn't be able to have the prints made in an hour, boy am I naive, I returned home to check out Rocky Mountain Film Lab.

I did a quick google search on processing Disc film and found two companies in the United States that did process this type of film. I was stunned when I saw $34.99 from one site and $24.99 from the Rocky Mountain Film Lab.

The processing of the negatives rolled around in my head all night long, should I be frugal and responsible, there is a recession going on: or just go for it?

I am sitting on the fence on this one, I am leaning slightly in one direction on this, so I am asking you what would you do. Should I process the negatives or just forget about it?

The basement clean out continues today, our temperatures are expected to reach 100 degrees today, with a possibility of rain, yes, please. So today will be the perfect day to clean the basement, let's see what treasure I find today.