saving damaged film?

[BigToque]

I had some photos that I took with a disposable camera and the camera ended up falling into water.

I took the camera to a photo developing center (just a cheap place) and they said that it couldn't be developed. Their comments on the package were "wet film, cannot process".

Are there places that specialize in developing damaged film? Or would most places be pretty much the same and I'm just sh!t out of luck?

 

[Mark R]

You'll struggle - the film is gelatin coated plastic, and the gelatin will soften if wet. During developing, the film is handled so that the wet gelatin never touches any other surface.

If the film is wet in its cannister, then the chances are it will be irreprably stuck together - and if you attempt to unstick it, you'll just pull the gelatin (which is where the pictures are) off the plastic film.

A pro lab may be able to extract the film manually and develop it by hand - but this would be a very expensive service - and the film may already be irreprably damaged.