Kuzano

You will occasionally run into "pharmacy film processors" who still return negatives, having used wet process to develop.

The trend is to the process that does not return negatives. I will not use a processor who does not return negs. I want the flexibility to stay "wet" and process negatives to prints with an enlarger, projecting the image onto Photo Enlargement Paper and making prints.

Three options (not the total list) are:

1)Process one hour or pharmacy labs. Find out the latitude of what you get back... Negatives? What options on digital? High Res, or just one resolution at what Mp and file size. I suspect you may need to quiz Walgreen's.

Also, Walgreens is one of the last holdouts trying to return negatives to customers, as well as digital files. The change to no negs is coming about at the "pharmacy processors" as the older machine maintenance gets more expensive. Most are not fixing old wet equipment (by wet, we mean running film through chemicals to develop)

2) Use a dedicated film processor, which all communities do not have. You will get a full range of services and be able to order the resolutions you want, negs will be available, and prints as well. I am positive dedicated film labs will continue to be available. One such relatively close to Detroit area is Duane's labs... may be Dwayne's. Full service and a major film lab in the Midwest. Process for big companies.

In my area, I choose Walmart Send Out for medium format film. I get negs back and it's dirt cheap, because they pay the freight to FujiFilm labs, ten day turnaround. No digital. I have to scan my own. But quality is primo excellent.

For other more complete service I use ProPhoto Supply in Portland Oregon... 140 mile drive or mail in. Mega amount of services... not cheap, but worth it to me.

3) DIY.. all the equipment and chemistry is still available. Watch Craigslist in the bigger cities and you will find incredible deals.. whole darkroom equipment setups for next to nothing. Take a pickup. What fools.

DIY includes all wet process from the unprocessed but shot film roll to Negs or Transparencies and on to enlargement and print.

You do NOT need a darkroom. We have been processing film with daylight equipment (tanks and such) for years now. Long before digital. The only real need for dark is loading tanks or processor tubes in the dark, which can be done in a bathroom with the windows and door sealed for dark for a few minutes.

I am having great fun with a process called Caffenol, or processing with Folgers Instant Coffee. NO, it's not brown or sepia. You can process every effect, even color, just like the normal chemicals would produce. You can look up some very extensive blogs and forums on Caffenol if that interests you.

The plus there is that you can brew a coffee break drink, because all the stuff is handy.

No EXIF information... big deal. When I took the NYIP Photo course (mail correspondence), they provided logs for jotting down shot numbers and pertinent exposure information and extras.

You can still buy notebooks and sheets for logging image information... Be Your Own EXIF... in fact you will learn more about exposure, because you will be writing it down.

Film is here to stay. There are sites that cater to film people. one is FrugalPhotographer.com.

Prophoto supply in Portland just relocated and built a new processing facility 5 or 6 years ago (commitment). Here is a link to their site. Drop down to the Photo Lab link and examine a list of services. I use them primarily on one image needs.

A friend shoots professional 4X5, does not self process and does no Post Processing. He does what he does best, shoot images and pays to have processing, printing and framing done. I have seen him visit a subject numerous times over days in different light before setting up the camera and snapping the shutter. The payoff... look at what he gets for his prints. Also, he is an avid hiker and outdoorsman. He is in his element.

His last trip to the Four Corners area of the SouthWest, he drove his small camper, and was there for over a month, camping the desert. As I recall he came back with 45-50 images total... ALL keepers. Some listed here on his web site.

http://www.brucejackson.com/

I buy most of my film on eBay... I buy only from high volume sellers, who always refrigerate film. I shoot 35mm (The original Full Frame) 120 roll film (which smokes digital) and 4X5, which has a frame size 13 times greater than Full Frame.

My 4X5 inch film camera, uses film with light sensing emulsions in various ASA (ISO) that is THIRTEEN TIME GREATER THAN FULL FRAME.

My 4X5 camera is lighter than the average Full Frame digital (about 75% the weight, with the lens) Lenses are smaller and lighter than Digital lenses.

Image quality is the decisive victory over digital in the larger medium and large format.

While it's true that the cost factor and processing would not be reasonable in a professional environment, The FUN Factor of film can be so much more rewarding.

I've been selling film camera's and gear on eBay for fifteen years. Prices pretty must bottomed out about five years ago, and yet some of the more expensive and/or exotic film camera's are actually rising in price. Medium and Large Format camera's are producing quite a bit of income for me. Business in those formats is brisk for me, when I want it to be.

I consider scanning to be the HUGEST PITA I have ever attempted, and I have purchased over time 3 new flatbed scanners.

Flatbeds are worthless if your goal is image quality. Using flatbeds means shooting film for high quality, and then compromising that quality with cheap scanning equipment. When I have an image I want to scan, I have it professionally done.

Every time I hear someone say "I get excellent scans with my this or that affordable flatbed", then I know exactly where their standards lie on flatbed scanning. Let the professionals have that business. It's vastly time consuming and disappointing. Particularly when done by someone who has shot high quality digital, or pixel peekers.

But welcome to film, the "REAL JOY OF PHOTOGRAPHY!"

OldBobD Loc: Ohio

Nightski, if you're worried about no EXIF, you should try one of these babies: not only no EXIF, but no auto exposure, no autofocus, no auto wind, and the cocking lever is strategically located to hit your finger during exposure, thus screwing up the shutter speed.

Most popular 35 mm camera

Nightski

I did inquire about whether the lenses would work or not. It is a used camera, but it's in excellent shape. I haven't tried my other lenses yet, but they are supposed to work.



I got this camera with the kit lens for $68.99. I like that because I don't feel pressured to produce something amazing with it. It's just about having fun. It has 7 focus points and it is set right now so that it picks the focus point for me. I need to read my manual and figure out how I can control that.



It's addictive. I take it with me everywhere as I do my 6D. I am excited to try that Ektar film. Perhaps I'll do a couple more rolls before i do that. It would be fun to work on some "William Egglestons" with the colour film.



Thanks for the tip.



I have a feeling that I don't have as much leeway to edit the pics I got from the CD. I do have the negatives and I will work on smoothing as you suggested when I figure out how to scan. I have that Darkroom place bookmarked. It looks like a good place to go. Someone else mentioned it as well.

http://www.thedarkroom.com



I am hoping it does the same for me. Doing new things and gaining an understanding of how things work helps me learn. I am excited about it. I have already used my digital and film side by side to compare. It's interesting and fun.



Thanks so much for your encouragement and enthusiastic response. This is great fun! :-)

Nightski

Thank you for the wonderful compliment, Nikonbug. It's great to hear that someone I don't know appreciates my work. The film thing is fun.

Nightski

Are these some of them, corryhully?

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-326655-1.html

Nightski

Yes, I agree. I will have to keep track.

Nightski

Thank you for the encouragement, farnsworth. It's great to see so much enthusiam for this!

Nightski

I think you are right. I see something in that sunflower pic that I do not see in my digital. I'm not sure what it is yet, but the journey is just beginning. It is so great to know that you shoot film. You are one of the people that I admire and trust here at UHH. I have a basement with no windows and the wheels are turning about that darkroom! :-)

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

There is also http://www.theonlinedarkroom.com/ and http://www.apug.org/forums/home.php as well as several others.

Not only is film here to stay, the surviving color films are still here because they are the best and most popular of all the color films that were available before digital. They are better than any color films that were available in the 20th century. Only Kodachrome is missing.

There are more and better B&W films and manufacturers now than ever. Kodak and Ilford are still the biggest but others are very popular and easy to find.

corryhully Loc: liverpool uk

that is pretty much the same on mine regarding the slower shutter speeds, but i can live with that. believe me though after two attempted repairs on previous contaflex i would not take their dismantling lightly. an extremely complicated bit of engineering. dont touch the self timer either :)

Kuzano

The moment of AWE will come when your $70 rebel, in the right hands, at the right place, in the right moment, and loaded with the right film, produces a picture better than you can get with your Canon 6D... at what price that?

Of course that picture will cost you a couple of buck's, but hey, who's counting money. We have already established what we are willing to spend. :thumbup:

Nightski

Thank you for taking the time to share all of this valuable information with me. I am going to print it out. There is a ton of valuable advice here. Thanks so much!

The caffenol thing intrigues me!

corryhully Loc: liverpool uk

hi nightski
most of my posts on the hog are film, but the contaflex ones are
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-320555-1.html

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

I'm coming into this thread late, so I haven't read all 5 or 6 pages. However, I just wanted to give you my thoughts:

Don't waste your time.

Can it hurt to learn film now? Not really, but it's the opportunity cost that would concern me. You are missing the opportunity to become better at digital.

Nightski

Very funny, Old Bob .. this is intriguing , but let's just take one step at a time. LOL