Welding Teacher wrote:
I picked up a Mamiya 645 and 80mm lens today for $150.00 Don't really care what it cost today as back in the day I always wanted one.
I was wondering how people Hale their processing. Are the services that include scans of the film the way to go or its it best to get it processed and invest in a scanner. From what I've seen the recommended scanners that do quality scans are out if the question for me. I'm just looking for something above the APS-C image.
Thanks for any info. Of course if I am as shutter happy with this as I am with digital I would have been better off with a full frame camera.
Maybe it will make me think a little more about what I am shooting and quit spending so much time correcting".
I picked up a Mamiya 645 and 80mm lens today for $... (
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That's a great price on a very good Camera. I owned and shot a bunch of the Mamiya 645 camera's until I went to a bigger 6X9cm 120 roll film. (Don't spend money for a 220 back, as 220 film has largely disappeared. Lots of emulsions still available in 120 as pros still use MF a lot) The 645 format and Marijuana are much alike. 645 is a gateway format to larger and more refined film sizes. I now shoot 6X9 and 4X5... a lot.
Processing/scanning... probably going to have to use a mail process lab.
However, I discovered that my local Walmart super store and the lesser store in another nearby town, both SEND OUT (KEY WORDS HERE) 120 roll film to Fujifilms professional processing labs. They ship on their trucks at no cost. They never open the envelope or touch your film IN THE STORE. All handling and processing is done at the Fujifilm labs. Negatives and Prints have never cost me more than $10 per roll. I pick up Fuji Envelopes and write my instructions on them and Drop Them In The Fujifilm kiosk usually in the photo department or electronics.
This is not a well known service within Walmart. They often do not know what you are talking about. So, I don't talk to them or ask questions about the service. The store employees simpy do not know, nor are they trained in this. In fact, sometimes the Fujifilm kiosk is not out on the floor. I have actually informed some stores of a program they do not know they have in certain stores.
I seal the film in the envelopes, drop the envelope in the kiosk, it goes in a send out only bag on a Walmart truck, to a Fuji lab where it is professionally processed. Fujifilm puts the results in a sealed envelope..the one you used originally, Shipped back to the originating store free. Walmart calls you to tell you your film is back. They do not unseal the envelope.
My experience in three different Walmart Stores over 15 years has been.
Great results but they don't do scans. Superb processing.
Never a lost roll
Never a bad image that was their fault... only mine
Never more than ten business days out and back
Never over $10 in all that time. Often on just process and roll in a card board tube $2 - $4.
Never touched in the store.
In spite of the fact that Walmart (and most other stores that used to process film) has changed markedly the way they do 135 (35mm film), this Send Out Only program has never changed on me. Did my last roll this way a month ago.
I understand that some stores in the Walmart chain don't do this for geographical reasons like Fujifilm lab locations, but there are also many stores that profess that they don't do it, but a persistent method of follow up has proven that many stores do it, but employees are not aware of the program. Even the photo department managers. I persist. I even located the Kiosk in the back room of one store and got them to put it out in the store.
Refreshingly, I found a young lady who was the photo department manager, and she even knew what medium format film was. After I got off the floor we had a nice converstion. She's not at that particular store any more. Moved on.
Anyhoo, if you have questions on this, please feel free to PM me. I have pics of what a filled out envelope looks like, and I keep a dozen or so fresh envelopes handy at all times.
Again, otherwise, I buy most of my 120 roll film on eBay. I've been buying and selling film camera's on eBay for fifteen years. It's both thriving and growing and prices for quality film camera's have been going up. (You got a super deal... if it's nice, you could probably double your money on eBay with a well thought out listing and proper auction scheme)
I have no problem buying out of date film as much as ten years as long as it's been refrigerated. I do not often encounter color shift or degraded images because of expiration. I occasionally buy fresh, but save so much money on recent expire film. There are some very good sellers on eBay with lots of positive feedback. So much feedback in fact on some that you know they can't be selling cooked expired film.
Have fun with it. It's always nice to shoot a medium that will still create better images than the best digital camera's yet made... often.
And your last comment is a KEY consideration for one of the big advantages of film over digital. You will NOT be doing Spray and Pray, or Chimping that Mamiya. Also no pixel peeking until after the scan. The scanned files will be big. Lost of headroom on 645 and up.
As far as scanning is concerned I am wet chemistry. In fact my current film processing chemicals are Folgers Instant Coffee, Vitamin C (crushed) and Washing Soda. The process is called Caffenol... very popular niche market. You can process both film AND prints using Caffenol processing.