I will be investing soon in a film body so I can really exploit the bokeh of my 70-200 2.8. I am wondering now whether it will be cost effective to do so almost purely for experimental purposes.
What I'm asking is which processor is both the best and the cheapest to process film and do most do both print and slide film - I don't know the difference myself.

Also if I wanted to do a bit of darkroom experimentation is this a no go expensive area for a novice or would it be cheaper but more risky than processing with a mail order company.

O btw I live over here in the UK so please don't recommend US sites as I'm sure the postage would defeat the objective of getting it cheap,

Thanks to everyone on this forum your always a great help and hopefully this thread proves that point further

If you are thinking you need a film camera to achieve a shallow depth of field, you are mistaken. A full frame digital camera can achieve the same effect.

Getting into film at this point is counter productive. A darkroom set up is a costly investment, especially if you want to shoot color. There is the learning curve and the lack of availability of film & chemistry to develop and print. I sold all of my film cameras and color darkroom 10 years ago with NO regrets.

You would be better off investing in a used full frame digital camera such as the Canon EOS 1Ds (11.1mp). They are selling for under $2,000. US on e-bay.

O I forgot to mention I'll be spending like £30 on the camera and probably £25 on the film - maybe 3 rolls before selling it on,

I was just after a good processor so I could minimize costs if possible,

Thanks for your reply though

Bring it to a lab - if your only investing in <10 rolls, there is little point to learning to develope your own color film.. Especially slide!

Will Jessops have a good enough quality for me to be able to see some detail. Do they do slide film as some is cheaper and has higher image quality as I understand that most print films.

Jessops are expensive though at £8 a film for 7x5s

I may want to enlarge the prints upto A4 and if so will there be enough resolution in the 7x5s to scan them and get a digital file which I'll be able to photoshop and so on.

Thanks

Fred,

Think of using Spectrum imaging based in Hove near Brighton or Metro imaging based in London.

http://www.metroimaging.co.uk/

http://www.spectrumphoto.co.uk/

Chris

When it talks about E6 film processing on Metro, does that mean that they process the film, and then send you prints or just process and index card - http://www.metroimaging.co.uk/prices/E6_prices.asp#Mountingandcaptioning

The E6 processing that is £7 (120x36 rollfilm) is just the negs sleeved and send back to you.

To get mini lab prints like 6x4's then you need to go for the pro digital mini lab options, the prices for these are...
£13.50 for 6x4's
£17.00 for 7x5's

Chris

BTW,

I personally prefer Spectrum as they cater to students much better than Metro and i find that their processing is a bit more consistent but that is just me. Metro is still very good and definitely capable of processing E6 well.

Chris

Hi,

OK so lets say I go for spectrum will their standard of prints give me good spectrum(pun intended) to enlarge.

Is all print film C41? When they talk about B&W film is B&W print film processed differently to colour print.

Thanks

I've had a look at spectrum and even for student prices three rolls of film - including the cost of the film to start with will be around £50 at 7x5.

With jessops it would be £25.

Is there a huge drop in quality to warrant the extra cost,

Thanks

All color negative films are C-41 or the Fuji equivelant - this is what you want for getting prints made from the film.
E6 or Fuji equivelant is slide film processing, don't know of anyone who makes prints from slides cheap. Slides are their own thing, very nice and they scan better than negs, because you can see the the positive image to compare to the scan.
Film processing is very much a what the market will bare item, for some a loss leader, so when a place charges a regular profit it looks expensive. Every machine is now automated but it takes knowledge and expertise to keep the chemistry right to get good prints. A good operator is everything.

Tom

Fred Lindsey wrote:
I will be investing soon in a film body so I can really exploit the bokeh of my 70-200 2.8. I am wondering now whether it will be cost effective to do so almost purely for experimental purposes.

As a previous poster has already mentioned, "bokeh" remains the same whether you shoot digital or film. I suppose there may be a difference if you run the image under an electron microscope, but for all practical purposes, this is not a reason to use a film camera with your lens.

Also if I wanted to do a bit of darkroom experimentation is this a no go expensive area for a novice or would it be cheaper but more risky than processing with a mail order company.

Having had my own darkroom in the past, I can tell you this:

- Along with the associated cost of equipment (an enlarger being the most expensive), to become good enough to "experiment" in the darkroom requires lots of practice/study. Practice = burning lots of paper + chemicals + time. IOW, practice = money. If you're passionate and driven, you'll find a way. If you just want to play around without spending a lot of money, there are other options.

- You can not "experiment" using a commercial lab without paying huge money to have your images hand printed. If you choose mail order or a lab, they will process your film using machines and computers. What this means is your color will be "fixed". Your contrast will be "fixed". And your exposure will be "fixed". IOW, if you intentionally underexposed a sunset shot in order to capture the strong colors and dramatic lighting, your exposure will be averaged and your nice black shadows will become mud.

If you want the lab to print the image as you exposed it, shoot transparency (slides). However, even with transparency...without digitally scanning it into the computer or using an enlarger in the darkroom...your image is now "fixed". You can't adjust color/contrast, etc. To alter the image further requires a photo editing program or a darkroom.

Cheap options for experimenting in the darkroom:

Save on the cost of film/enlarger. Create a digital negative from your positive image. Then print on transparency and use as a contact print using one of many processes. The digital negative creation is described here:
http://www.kcbx.net/~mhd/2photo/outneg/outneg.htm

http://www.sewanee.edu/chem/Chem&Art/Detail_Pages/Projects_2001/StimpsonBessNegative/StimpsonBessNegative.html

Dan Burkholder's book, "Digital Negatives: Using Photoshop to Create Digital Negatives for Silver and Alternative Process Printing":
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Negatives-Photoshop-Alternative-Printing/dp/0240808541/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211226576&sr=8-2

Some of the processing options available for contact printing, including one of the simplest, cyanotype (aka, blueprints). For this process, you only need a sheet of paper coated with the chemicals and a UV light source such as the sun:

http://www.alternativephotography.com/articles/all_new_articles.html