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I shot a roll of Ektar 100 and was really quite disappointed in the colors. Perhaps it was because I went to a cemetery to shoot the roll and the colors were not conducive, I don't know. It just looked bad. I will probably not buy Ektar again.
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Jun 15, 2011 04:56
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Superia X-TRA is cheap and fairly easy to find, and though it's not going to give you results like Ektar or Reala I've been happy with the results for the price. For medium format Portra 400 is definitely my favorite in 120.
snuffles fucked around with this message at 07:08 on Jun 15, 2011 |
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Jun 15, 2011 05:06
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Mightaswell posted:no kidding North Coast Photographic Services charges $5.50 for C41 or B&W development and $5.50 for a budget scan (3000x2000px ~ 2.5-3.0mb). They do a very nice drumscan and the development is top notch. You have to pay for shipping to and from, so that is a downside. Otherwise, it seems to be a pretty good deal.
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Jun 15, 2011 05:08
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I didn't realize there were reels out there without flanges that met in the middle when set up for 35mm... weird. I've got a pair of what I now suppose are the good kind of plastic reels, they look like the AP ones linked earlier. Anyways, I gambled on being able to figure it out in the dark and I didn't sacrifice a roll of film, either my first try with 135 or later with my first attempt at 120. So, yeah, get the good kind and don't worry. Having said that, I did get a couple of finger smudges (damaged the emulsion) on my first roll. I asked last week at my local camera shop about colour developing, and while the sales person did say he'd order in a couple of kits from their main store, he also told me they do C-41 and E-6 for $4, just develop (not sure if that price applies to 120 as well). It's $10 for develop + scan to CD, which I've done in the past - results were quite acceptable for most purposes. The scans are 72 dpi and 1544x1024 - when I scan negatives myself I like to set it to 300dpi and target size 4x6, or 3600x2400.
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Jun 15, 2011 05:21
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Suicide Watch posted:Recommend me a cheap color film (preferably negative). Ferris Bueller posted:Looking forward to it. I may just do it for my trip as well, drat the torpedoes, full speed ahead and all that.
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Jun 15, 2011 06:54
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guidoanselmi posted:I was just in lake tahoe and went to the only photo shop they had around and asked if they had any 120 film. The guy looked at me funny and asked if I was going to use it for a Holga. I said no. He then asked if I was a professional. I said no. I didn't really stock up on 120 before I left for my road trip and I have regretted it every day since I ran out of Ektar. The store I stopped at in San Antonio had literally 1 roll of color 120 film (Portra 800, basically the opposite of what I wanted), which they sold me for $8. I dropped $52 at Camera & Darkroom in Albuquerque and it got me their sole roll of Portra 160VC, 3 rolls of Velvia (only have one left), and 5 rolls of Delta 100 for B&W. On that, gently caress you if you want Acros in 120, Ilford seems to have that on lock at retailers, or you might get Tmax if you're lucky (I tried it a few years ago and didn't like it). Moral of the story, buy all your poo poo ahead of time if you're particular about film. Hopefully I can find something convenient in Vegas to restock yet again, this should be my best opportunity for the trip outside of LA. I owe you another email about LA, we just got in to Vegas and I'm crashing for the night while my friend goes out with a group from the hostel. I had a hell of a night in Flagstaff with basically no sleep, and spent the whole day driving, with a few hot hours carting the Hassie around at the Grand Canyon to break it up. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 07:22 on Jun 15, 2011 |
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Jun 15, 2011 07:16
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Ferris Bueller posted:If it helps I found feeding it through one ball bearing at a time (ie I stagger the loading flanges from each other,) really helps me and pulling the front of the film completely around the first spiral really helps me. Yeah, I practised. I still have far too much trouble. The one ball bearing at a time thing is something I hadn't though of, so I'll give that a crack. Part of the problem is that using a changing bag, if it takes too long moisture builds up and the film becomes sticky, which really doesn't help. Basically I'm going to buy 2 of these, but shipping is a minimum of $40 to Aus, so I need to think of something else I need to buy too, unless someone can find them with cheaper shipping (and earn my thanks and gratitude) ExecuDork posted:I didn't realize there were reels out there without flanges that met in the middle when set up for 35mm... weird. I've got a pair of what I now suppose are the good kind of plastic reels, they look like the AP ones linked earlier. Lucky man.
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Jun 15, 2011 07:44
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Captain Postal posted:Basically I'm going to buy 2 of these, but shipping is a minimum of $40 to Aus, so I need to think of something else I need to buy too, unless someone can find them with cheaper shipping (and earn my thanks and gratitude) If you want film, I can buy a bunch of it from Freestyle and fill a box with the reels + film + anything else (XTOL, HC-110?) to try and make it more worthwhile.
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Jun 15, 2011 13:19
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Captain Postal posted:Part of the problem is that using a changing bag, if it takes too long moisture builds up and the film becomes sticky, which really doesn't help. I have a darkroom space so yeah I could see how that would be a pain in the rear end. On top of working slightly encumbered in the bag notlodar posted:gonna bring all of this (ok maybe half- so half speed ahead) That is awesome.
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Jun 15, 2011 16:13
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Pompous Rhombus posted:On that, gently caress you if you want Acros in 120, Ilford seems to have that on lock at retailers I've posted that I think the tsunami really messed up acros availability for some reason - I had issues finding it this entire year. Even adorama was completely out for a long time. quote:I owe you another email about LA, we just got in to Vegas and I'm crashing for the night while my friend goes out with a group from the hostel. I had a hell of a night in Flagstaff with basically no sleep, and spent the whole day driving, with a few hot hours carting the Hassie around at the Grand Canyon to break it up. no worries. i'm lying on my bed most of the day anyway  this is going on this weekend fwiw: http://www.makemusicpasadena.org/program.html
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Jun 15, 2011 19:52
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notlodar posted:gonna bring all of this (ok maybe half- so half speed ahead) Oooh! Film porn! Provia, yaaay! I'm so jealous.
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Jun 15, 2011 22:55
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Pompous Rhombus posted:I didn't really stock up on 120 before I left for my road trip and I have regretted it every day since I ran out of Ektar. The store I stopped at in San Antonio had literally 1 roll of color 120 film (Portra 800, basically the opposite of what I wanted), which they sold me for $8. I dropped $52 at Camera & Darkroom in Albuquerque and it got me their sole roll of Portra 160VC, 3 rolls of Velvia (only have one left), and 5 rolls of Delta 100 for B&W. On that, gently caress you if you want Acros in 120, Ilford seems to have that on lock at retailers, or you might get Tmax if you're lucky (I tried it a few years ago and didn't like it). Moral of the story, buy all your poo poo ahead of time if you're particular about film. Hopefully I can find something convenient in Vegas to restock yet again, this should be my best opportunity for the trip outside of LA. To alleviate this from ever happening again to someone, we should set up am emergency film mailing list or something. That way someone that can buy local 120 on the cheap could drop some in the mail on short notice to a traveling Dorkroomer.
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Jun 16, 2011 03:25
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guidoanselmi posted:I've posted that I think the tsunami really messed up acros availability for some reason - I had issues finding it this entire year. Even adorama was completely out for a long time. edit 2: seems that they just met adorama's price with the USA stock? Mannequin posted:Oooh! Film porn! Provia, yaaay! I'm so jealous.  please imagine 18 rolls of across in the photo pleaseedit:oops notlodar fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Jun 16, 2011 |
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Jun 16, 2011 04:47
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8th-samurai posted:To alleviate this from ever happening again to someone, we should set up am emergency film mailing list or something. That way someone that can buy local 120 on the cheap could drop some in the mail on short notice to a traveling Dorkroomer.
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Jun 16, 2011 07:07
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8th-samurai posted:To alleviate this from ever happening again to someone, we should set up am emergency film mailing list or something. That way someone that can buy local 120 on the cheap could drop some in the mail on short notice to a traveling Dorkroomer. It's really my fault for not stroking up before I left Tampa with an order from B&H or Adorama, I just don't own a fully-working MF camera (so didn't have a properly sized stock of my own film) and wasn't 100% the Hassie I was borrowing would arrive in time so I held off ordering until it was too late. Story has a happy ending, I found an awesome camera store here in Vegas (Casey's) that had a ton of Acros and Ektar, should be set until I get to LA.
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Jun 16, 2011 07:18
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Paul MaudDib posted:If you want film, I can buy a bunch of it from Freestyle and fill a box with the reels + film + anything else (XTOL, HC-110?) to try and make it more worthwhile. Thanks for the offer, but it looks like $30-$40 is the minimum price to send a 1 lb package US-AUS by any means, so I may as well wait until I can think of something else I need to buy. It's kind of a chicken-and-egg thing as developing film really sucks at the moment, so I'm not shooting much, so I don't need to buy more, so I can't justify shipping the reels so developing really sucks at the moment, so... (I do need a meter and maybe a 45-prism though - my mobile phone only does 4ev-12ev - but there's a camera fare coming up in 2 1/2 weeks) fake edit: unless I totally misread you and you're in Aus getting a package that I can piggy-back off real edit: Someone talk me out of learning how to do E-6 in a tank. Captain Postal fucked around with this message at 13:01 on Jun 16, 2011 |
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Jun 16, 2011 12:44
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Captain Postal posted:real edit: Someone talk me out of learning how to do E-6 in a tank. No reason not to really. The only thing is cost of chemicals that probably don't keep very long, but I think they have kits with a few amounts for a few rolls. That probably didn't help.
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Jun 16, 2011 14:27
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RE: Developing: Most of my shots (35mm film) aren't anything spectacular yet, and in my area I only have two specific camera places that will develop film, the occasional drugstore notwithstanding, and I'm just wondering if I'm missing out by not mailing it or sending it to some of these labs you guys talk about. How does that work? I'm going on a few assumptions here so correct me where I'm wrong: 1: These labs can probably do a much better job with prints and digital copies. 2: I'm guessing the rolls need to be packed pretty well before shipping. 3: Is there much of a line to worry about in terms of cost/benefit? By that I mean I'm guessing it's kind of silly to pay for shipping if I'm just sending one roll, or a roll of mediocre/crap film, so is it better to hold off and shoot a few rolls then send 4-5 in at once? 4: Where should I be looking? Or is all of this just completely silly unless I'm really looking for crazy high-end prints and as a beginner I'm better off going through my local places?
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Jun 16, 2011 15:09
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When I sent my Kodachrome to Dwayne's, I dropped two rolls with no canisters in a USPS flat rate box with no packaging material and it got there intact in two days for $4.95. If you send it in a regular padded or cardboard lined envelope, you're looking at more like $2 for shipping but I'd put it in a canister and put a strip of gaffer's tape over the lid, which doesn't add to the cost because as brad industry said in the gaffer's tape appreciation thread a few months ago, nobody in history has ever paid for a roll of gaffer's tape for personal use.
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Jun 16, 2011 22:24
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Ferris Bueller posted:No reason not to really. The only thing is cost of chemicals that probably don't keep very long, but I think they have kits with a few amounts for a few rolls. No, it didn't. Developing alone costs a minimum of $9/roll here, so the economics still work out in favour of doing it at home with smaller quantities of film and wasting more chemistry. Might do a dozen or two more B&W rolls first to make sure I've got my technique down.
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Jun 16, 2011 23:42
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I put my film in a 4x7 bubble envelope in canisters and throw 4 stamps on them and send them to NCPS. They've been fine so far!
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Jun 17, 2011 00:45
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DJExile posted:RE: Developing: I send my film to North Coast Photographic Services. They do b&w, c41, and e-6 developing for $5.50. (E6 is actually $6.50 for 120 film which is what I am shooting these days). I also happen to get my rolls scanned from them. They do an excellent drumscan of the entire roll for $5.50. So one roll = $11 or $12 for both developing and budget scanning. This is almost the best deal to be had on the internet. Dwayne's in Kansas City is a little bit cheaper but the scan quality is not as good. Other than Dwayne's, the better deals are at universities. If you are a student you may be able to get your film developed for free at a university lab. Some people use Walmart for developing... I have not, and cannot speak to their quality. I believe I have read that negatives are often scratched so I don't know if I would go through them. They are, however, cheaper. Like $2. In terms of scanning, I would do it myself if it were not so unreliable. Scanning certain film types can be challenging, and getting the colors right can be troublesome. For my purposes, having it done correctly and done well is a huge convenience. Most people in this forum would never do it this way. If you are looking to develop and scan on a budget, going through a company like NCPS is not a viable option. I have weighed all of the different scanning options and I am just not satisfied with the consumer scanners and software available. If I were doing large format b&w or c41, it would be a different story. For shipping, I put the film in a box with bubble wrap and send it 2nd Day Air. I can send it through my own company so I don't have to pay for shipping. I don't like sending film via ground because it tends to sit in warehouses which are 100+ degrees for sometimes days at a time, especially if you ship over the weekends. I do not like what this can potentially do to the film. I try to time it so that it leaves in the beginning of the week and arrives mid-week. NCPS starts work on it right away once they receive it. Edit: Local places tend to be much more expensive than Dwaynes, NCPS, or Manhattan Color Labs. I drew up a chart a couple of months ago comparing pricing from the different labs, and Dwayne's was the cheapest followed by NCPS. My own local lab was astronomically higher, so I would imagine yours might be, too. Mannequin fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Jun 17, 2011 |
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Jun 17, 2011 03:22
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Awesome. Thanks all! 
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Jun 17, 2011 14:26
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Mannequin posted:Some people use Walmart for developing... I have not, and cannot speak to their quality. I believe I have read that negatives are often scratched so I don't know if I would go through them. They are, however, cheaper. Like $2. I'd assume that their in-store processing (if the store still offers it) is dubious just like any other minilab.
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Jun 17, 2011 15:08
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Mannequin posted:I shot a roll of Ektar 100 and was really quite disappointed in the colors. Perhaps it was because I went to a cemetery to shoot the roll and the colors were not conducive, I don't know. It just looked bad. I will probably not buy Ektar again. I've noticed a lot of icky colors with Ektar. I used it to print RA-4 from though and it came out pretty nice. It needs a little tweaking to get the colors just right. The best thing about it is the lack of grain. It is the sharpest negative film I've ever seen. I think it was designed to replace slide film.
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Jun 17, 2011 20:13
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gib posted:The best thing about it is the lack of grain. It is the sharpest negative film I've ever seen. I think it was designed to replace slide film. I'd believe that - my best results with Ektar have been in situations where slide film would also have worked well. I think Ektar is somewhat more limiting, though, in that I only get good results in scenes with strong/direct light. Anything from overcast days looks like crap.
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Jun 17, 2011 20:59
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dukeku posted:Does anyone know of a good reference book on making RA-4 prints? Figured I'd ask here instead of the print thread as it's a bit more faster-moving. I've done a decent amount of RA-4 printing (at room temperature). When starting out I found these helpful: http://www.earthscenics.com/manuals/colorman_8_11_05.pdf http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j39/j39.pdf
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Jun 18, 2011 08:00
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I was casually looking thought his thread and looking at how people usually send away to get their film developed and printed. It got me thinking about what equivalent services are available for people in my country (Aus). For those Aussie dorkroomers who are looking or these sort of services, I stumbled upon the following: https://www.facebook.com/lofico At a glance, it looks like an ordinary facebook page, but within the groups discussion threads, there is a discussion about these services and where to find them. Not a great find by any stretch of the imagination, but one that I thought would be worth sharing here. 
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Jun 19, 2011 11:47
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Man_alive posted:For those Aussie dorkroomers who are looking or these sort of services, I stumbled upon the following: https://www.facebook.com/lofico Looks like that's http://www.lofico.com.au/. The owner of that site is on apug, and I want to support it to keep film imports alive here, but it's still too drat expensive. edit: I had a look, but couldn't find it. What's the consensus on cheapest developing in Aus? Captain Postal fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Jun 19, 2011 |
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Jun 19, 2011 12:09
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If you're in Perth there's a lab in Wembley that does dev only for $2.50.
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Jun 19, 2011 12:24
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Sydney. It seems like it's $9 and up.
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Jun 19, 2011 12:25
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Captain Postal posted:Looks like that's http://www.lofico.com.au/. The owner of that site is on apug, and I want to support it to keep film imports alive here, but it's still too drat expensive. I understand your point about price. When I was looking for my first shipment of film, I ended up getting 13 rolls of film for a total of $6.10 each, including postage from Thailand. Same amount of film from Australia and I would have been paying 2~2.5 times as much. Plus the Thai shop offered 3 and 5 packs of film, whereas the Aussie stores only offered single rolls. My local camera shop (Camera House) does developing and prints for $14.95. While I want to support the local shop, I'm going to start to look around for other options for getting my films developed.
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Jun 19, 2011 13:05
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Man_alive posted:I understand your point about price. When I was looking for my first shipment of film, I ended up getting 13 rolls of film for a total of $6.10 each, including postage from Thailand. Same amount of film from Australia and I would have been paying 2~2.5 times as much. Plus the Thai shop offered 3 and 5 packs of film, whereas the Aussie stores only offered single rolls. lofico does do some film stock for <$5 now (I won't pay any more, regardless of the quality), so I'll take another look for my next shipment. Films like shanghai and fomapan are about as cheap as B&H but with better shipping, but anything like kodak or illford is still a lot better to import. I'm going to email those guys in Wembley tomorrow and see if they do mail-in. $2.50/roll is too darn cheap not to ask.
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Jun 19, 2011 14:02
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Captain Postal posted:lofico does do some film stock for <$5 now (I won't pay any more, regardless of the quality), so I'll take another look for my next shipment. Films like shanghai and fomapan are about as cheap as B&H but with better shipping, but anything like kodak or illford is still a lot better to import. Yeah. I think the next time I get some film to mess around with, I might have another look at lofico. Otherwise, I will probably continue to get my Kodak and Fujipro imported I guess.
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Jun 19, 2011 14:12
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Lookit dem grains
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Jun 20, 2011 04:30
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Mannequin posted:Some people use Walmart for developing... I have not, and cannot speak to their quality. I believe I have read that negatives are often scratched so I don't know if I would go through them. They are, however, cheaper. Like $2. I use Walgreens a lot for things that are not mission critical and I think in like 6 years of doing this I've had one roll of film come back with a couple of frames slightly scratched. Pretty good for $2/roll and done in an hour. I take things I care about to Photoworks in SF which is like $6 I think.
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Jun 20, 2011 05:05
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Man_alive posted:Yeah. I think the next time I get some film to mess around with, I might have another look at lofico. Otherwise, I will probably continue to get my Kodak and Fujipro imported I guess. Also, just thought I'd throw this up for Melbourne and Australian goons (bolded for skim readers). This guy does $5 C-41, $3 B&W, $6.50 E-6 developing in Melbourne. He is on APUG, although I've never used him and can make no comment on his work. I found his post searching for cheap processing in Sydney, and I'm just throwing it out there for any Aus-goons looking for someone to process at a reasonable price.
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Jun 20, 2011 13:19
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Captain Postal posted:Also, just thought I'd throw this up for Melbourne and Australian goons (bolded for skim readers). Thanks for this. I did find that site after doing a bit more digging around, too. In other news, I am a little devastated. I received the Pentax PZ-70 I ordered from eBay and promptly put in a roll of 12-shot film - just to see what I can and can't do with the camera. I had the film developed today, only to find that there is nothing on the film. At all. I checked it out at the camera shop, and, it seems that the spring for the mirror doesn't rectract anymore (?), thus, not allowing the shutter curtains to open. The guys in the shop reckon that it might be prohibitively costly to fix. I have essentially run the film through what appears to be a glorified film advancer. I emailed the seller about it, to make them aware of the issue, and got a reply back from them within a couple of hours basically saying that it worked before they shipped it, and have had a couple of similar issues with other cameras. They also processed a refund for me. Luckily, my Grandfather has the same model camera, and also an Asahi body lying around that he no longer uses, and would be willing to give me, as he said he would find it rather difficult to get film for either camera anymore - all does not seem lost yet. *phew*!
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Jun 20, 2011 14:56
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Man_alive posted:I had the film developed today, only to find that there is nothing on the film. At all.
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Jun 20, 2011 15:16
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Went for a walk today, came across an old camera store. I got to chatting with the owner, and he thinks that c-41 processing, and film altogether is going to disappear. His argument was that the average minilab doesn't get enough work to keep the film processing machine around. Secondly, there isn't enough demand for chemicals and film to keep the factories busy. Thirdly, the environmental impact of film development, manufacturing and processing will be the final nail in the coffin. I think he's overly pessimistic, but it raises an interesting question. If you take a longer view, 5-7 years down the road. What is the world of film going to look like? Are you going to have to mail everything in? Will anyone even be processing this anymore? What will the options be for your average amateur who picks up an old camera and thinks they'll give film a shot? Is the writing truly on the wall, or will there always be holdouts, c-41 or otherwise.
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Jun 20, 2011 20:42
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