Stand alone photofinishing apparatus

A stand alone customer operated photofinishing apparatus comprising:

• a film receiving station for receiving and holding a film cartridge containing an undeveloped filmstrip provided by a customer, said filmstrip having at least one image;
• a customer order data entry station for entering an order selection;
• payment means for accepting payment from the customer;
• a developing section for developing said filmstrip, said developing section for developing comprising at least one processing tank containing a processing solution for processing of said filmstrip, said means for developing comprising a replenishment system which includes means for supplying replenishment processing solution to said at least one processing tank and means for receiving the overflow of processing solution from said at least one processing tank, distillation means for recovering distilled water from said overflow processing solution and means for using the distilled water in the replenishment system;
• a scanner for scanning the developed filmstrip so as to obtain a digital record of the at least one image developed on said filmstrip;
• a print section for dry printing the at least one image on said developed filmstrip using the digital record so as to produce at least one print;
• and
• a storage and/or delivery section for returning the at least one print and said developed filmstrip to the customer.

A stand alone customer operated photofinishing system comprising:

• a customer order data entry system for obtaining customer order information regarding the printing of images from a digital record supplied by a customer, said filmstrip having at least one image;
• a payment mechanism for accepting payment from the customer in response to the customer order entry information provided by the customer;
• an input port for receiving a digital record from the customer which is representative of images to be printed by the apparatus;
• a printing section for dry printing the image using the digital record supplied by the customer so as to obtain a hard copy of at least one print of the at least one image;
• and
• a delivery section for delivering of the at least one print to the customer.

A stand alone customer operated photofinishing apparatus comprising:

• a film receiving section for receiving and holding a film cartridge containing an undeveloped filmstrip therein from a customer, said filmstrip having at least one image;
• a customer order data entry station for entering an order selection;
• a developing section for developing said filmstrip, said developing section for developing comprising at least one processing tank containing a processing solution for processing of said filmstrip;
• a scanner for scanning the developed filmstrip so as to obtain a digital record of the at least one image developed on said filmstrip;
• a printing section for dry printing the at least one image on said developed filmstrip using the digital record so as to produce at least one print;
• and
• a delivery section for returning the at least one print and said developed filmstrip to the customer.