rattymouse wrote:
Those are impressive 35mm scans.
thanks, those are still just "scanned" using my a7 and a macro lens with a slide duplicator. the portra 160 + c/y 35/1.4 holds up pretty well to the 24mp and things look much better with these properly exposed negatives as oppose to what i got on some of my other rolls (my xd-11 has a minor light leak and a flaky meter that i always forget about). i still need to figure out the best light source, white balance, and tone curve settings for this.
thanks, those are still just "scanned" using my a7 and a macro lens with a slide duplicator. the portra 160 + c/y 35/1.4 holds up pretty well to the 24mp and things look much better with these properly exposed negatives as oppose to what i got on some of my other rolls (my xd-11 has a minor light leak and a flaky meter that i always forget about). i still need to figure out the best light source, white balance, and tone curve settings for this.
Well those results look excellent to me. What macro lens are you using? I was planning on buying a Plustek 120 when I get back to the states but your results look pretty amazing that it has me thinking about if that's a good idea or not.
I hate to ask if this question has already come up multiple times, but I did a quick search and didn't come across much. It looks like most of you do your own developing and scanning, but for those who don't, where are you sending your film for processing and scanning?
I recently purchased a Rolleiflex and have only shot a couple rolls of film. The only camera store left in Nashville will only process color, not B&W. I sent some B&W to another place and was completely dissatisfied with the results. It's hard to tell whether it was my poor technique, not understanding that particular film, or the processing. The color film looked pretty good on prints, but I didn't have it scanned.
I'd like to start playing with 120 film a lot more but need to find a good way to get it digitized. Thanks for suggestions.
rattymouse wrote:
Well those results look excellent to me. What macro lens are you using? I was planning on buying a Plustek 120 when I get back to the states but your results look pretty amazing that it has me thinking about if that's a good idea or not.
i'm just using my rokkor QF 50/3.5 macro, a lens i'm not terribly fond of, but it's my only 50mm macro. i really don't think resolving power of the lens makes much difference for this application, though contrast and CA might make a real difference?
i think it beats the scans i was getting from precision camera in terms of resolution (and turn around is much better) and it is definitely much better than the scans i was getting locally. the main drawbacks are that i need to line up each frame one at a time which is time consuming and the need for post processing tweaking (WB correction and inverting negatives in PS). i think once i have figured out optimal PP and lighting the process will be much faster though.
here's another shot with a 100% crop of the processed "scan" to give a better idea of what the results are like:
DougVaughn wrote:
I hate to ask if this question has already come up multiple times, but I did a quick search and didn't come across much. It looks like most of you do your own developing and scanning, but for those who don't, where are you sending your film for processing and scanning?
I recently purchased a Rolleiflex and have only shot a couple rolls of film. The only camera store left in Nashville will only process color, not B&W. I sent some B&W to another place and was completely dissatisfied with the results. It's hard to tell whether it was my poor technique, not understanding that particular film, or the processing. The color film looked pretty good on prints, but I didn't have it scanned.
I'd like to start playing with 120 film a lot more but need to find a good way to get it digitized. Thanks for suggestions....Show more →
99% of the fun shooting black and white film is processing it yourself. It is a massive understatement to say that it is easy to do. It is VERY easy. I love it. I come home from a trip to Japan or elsewhere with 20-30 rolls of film and then spend the next week working my way through the load. The satisfaction of producing images with your own hands is enormous. I dont print yet because of where I live but once I move back to the US, I will be printing as well as developing.
DougVaughn wrote:
I hate to ask if this question has already come up multiple times, but I did a quick search and didn't come across much. It looks like most of you do your own developing and scanning, but for those who don't, where are you sending your film for processing and scanning?
I recently purchased a Rolleiflex and have only shot a couple rolls of film. The only camera store left in Nashville will only process color, not B&W. I sent some B&W to another place and was completely dissatisfied with the results. It's hard to tell whether it was my poor technique, not understanding that particular film, or the processing. The color film looked pretty good on prints, but I didn't have it scanned.
I'd like to start playing with 120 film a lot more but need to find a good way to get it digitized. Thanks for suggestions....Show more →
I really want the control that processing your own B&W brings but I simply don't have the time and I don't shoot enough film to make use of the chemicals before the go bad so finding a good lab has been important for me. It's tough though. Most small labs seem to have closed leaving a few big labs and a few specialty places that seem to have survived. A few that I have tried or want to try:
-NCPS http://northcoastphoto.com/film_developing_scans.html One of the more popular labs (on the west coast at least). I've used they quite a bit. They do a fine job at processing, their scans are high res, and their prices are pretty good. Turn around time has been quick for me. They are in California.
-Richard Photo Lab http://www.richardphotolab.com/ I've wanted to try RPL but just haven't got around to it yet. I think of them as being more high end. They advertise many well know professional photographers as clients. They will apply post processing to your scans. They are in California too.
-Indie Film Lab http://indiefilmlab.com/pricing I just tried this place out and liked the results. The prices are about the best I've found as well. I'd say they are like Richard Photo Lab in that they will apply post processing to your scans to your specifications (if you want) but they are much less expensive. I'll be using them again. They are in Alabama.
-There may be a professional lab near you still, they are just hard to find. I used to use Blue Moon Camera in Portland, OR (before they raised their prices a bunch and I had to start the mail order process) and I found them simply by searching for 'film lab' or something like that on google maps.
-I haven't tried them or heard much but If you are just interested in B&W, Ilford has opened up a lab in the US http://www.ilfordlab-us.com/
You do not need to have a lot of chemicals on hand to do b & w processing. A bottle of Kodak HC-110 and a bottle of Ilford Rapid fixer. You can mix up a small batch of fixer that is good for 3-4 months. If you dont use it all, throw it away, it is dirt cheap. Kodak HC-110 is a concentrate that you mix up just before developing. The concentrate last over 5 years. Nothing is wasted.
That's it.
How much time don't you have? It takes me about 30 mins to do a run. I can go from film in camera to hanging in the shower to dry in 30 mins or less if I really rush. Since I'm not pressed for time I usually drag it out to 35 mins or so. It's just so easy. 5 mins to lead the film in the dark, 10 mins or so to develop, 1 min to stop, 5 mins to fix, 10 mins of washing.
DougVaughn wrote:
I hate to ask if this question has already come up multiple times, but I did a quick search and didn't come across much. It looks like most of you do your own developing and scanning, but for those who don't, where are you sending your film for processing and scanning?
I recently purchased a Rolleiflex and have only shot a couple rolls of film. The only camera store left in Nashville will only process color, not B&W. I sent some B&W to another place and was completely dissatisfied with the results. It's hard to tell whether it was my poor technique, not understanding that particular film, or the processing. The color film looked pretty good on prints, but I didn't have it scanned.
I'd like to start playing with 120 film a lot more but need to find a good way to get it digitized. Thanks for suggestions....Show more →
I don't develop my own film yet.There's a camera shop close from where I work that process film,and so far I'm liking the way they process it.But definitely Im going to learn to process my own negative soon
Id just started shooting film (almost a month ) and still learning some of the blk/wht film that suit for me.Prolly once
I figured that out,then maybe dive into self processing.
Good luck
robert829 wrote:
I don't develop my own film yet.There's a camera shop close from where I work that process film,and so far I'm liking the way they process it.But definitely Im going to learn to process my own negative soon
Id just started shooting film (almost a month ) and still learning some of the blk/wht film that suit for me.Prolly once
I figured that out,then maybe dive into self processing.
Good luck
It took me a year to start processing my own. Once I saw how easy it was, and how fun it is, I was kicking myself for that lost year!
Thank Mpking for your list of film processors and Rattymouse for the encouragement to do my own. I had always wanted to take a photography class 30 years ago in college and learn to develop B&W, but I couldn't fit it into the heavy class workload at the time. Now I don't know where to start, and I have some fears about how to dispose of the chemicals, etc. Plus, my wife may not like me using a bathroom for this purpose. I guess I need to learn what is involved and how messy it is or isn't. Does sound like fun.
We do have one local shop that will process (literally the only one in a metro area of 2 million), but they have now gone to requiring mail-in, even for locals, and the turnaround time is still 10 days. I was completely unimpressed with my first batch but am not going to blame it on them. It was the first roll shot in a camera I'm trying to figure out. The scans did look very grainy and unsharp. I checked out the IndieFilm website and will try them with film from a camera I know works well.
Thanks again, and I should note the photos I'm seeing here are inspiring me.
i'm sitting on an exposed roll of tmax 100 wondering if i should develop it myself or not (i have the equipment but never done it before). i'm also shooting a roll of delta 100. should i wait for both to be shot and develop them together or do it one at a time?
Here is some bw from my Japan trip. Its the first time for me shooting FP4+, I need to shoot more to get a better feel but I am liking what I am seeing so far.
