What film?

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mid_gen

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Chris
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I fancy a play with film so I'm going to rummage around in the boxes still in my parent's loft and root out the Nikon 35mm SLR that I know is lying in their somewhere. It's a pretty old 80s boxy looking one, manual drive although I'm pretty sure there's a motor drive unit around somewhere as well.

I'll probably take it out in London for some street photography...so something fairly fast, I don't think the lens is anything special.

I've not used film since I was about 10! No idea how/where/how much film can be obtained or the faintest clue about processing. Would I be better buying a scanner and scanning myself or getting a lab to do it?

Thanks!
 
what I did to check out a new (old) camera recently was to buy a roll of Ilford XP2 (black and white film processed c41 as colour neg film) from 7dayshop and get it processed at the local Asda's minilab. They did a 36 exposure film for 7 quid in a hour, whilst I was trawling around the supermarket. Came out and picked up the film envelop to ease the depression of doing the weekly shop :LOL: I think that they did a scan to CD service as well, but the scan resolution was pretty low - only good for maybe 7"x5" reprints, so I didn't bother.

Edit:
Another option would be something like HP5+ as donutagain says - maye get the ilford prepaid processing mailer envelope from 7dayshop at the same time, probably comes out about the same price as XP2, but there is the send it off in the post and wait factor... something that some regular digital photographers have problems coming to terms with :LOL: Good thing about the ilford route is that you can push the film up to 2 stops if you need to, and ilford will still process it for a nominal extra fee. Prints are lovely from there too - proper black and white paper, either silk or glossy finish - real classy in comparison to yer local minilab.
 
I'd just get some Kodak Gold 400 or Fuji Superia colour print film to play about with. It can be processed virtually anywhere that doeas c41 and won't cost an arm and a leg to get printed. Both films have a fairly good exposure latidtude so if you do make the odd metering error you should still have an acceptable image (within reason).

Once you've mastered the art I'd then go for B&W film as mentioned above or Ilford FP4 or Delta100 in brighter conditions and perhaps invest in a couple of filters - polarizer and yellow to improve cloud/sky detail
 
Scan it yourself. Any lab that'll do a decent job of it will charge you an arm and a leg.

I'd shoot HP5+ or Tri-X and develop it yourself. Costs about £50 (+£scanner) to get off the ground and then pennies per film after that.

£scanner is anywhere from £150-£350. If you think you'll stick with it I'd buy the expensive scanner now. If you're unsure, get something second hand so you can sell it for the same money and get something more expensive later if you need to. If you get a new cheaper scanner you'll only end up overpaying for a passing phase, frustrated or selling it at a loss to buy a nicer one.
 
Another vote for 7dayshop, i just ordered a bucket load of Fuji Superia 200 for my hols, £1.85 a roll.

Bargin!

If you want black and white try kodak BW400 CN, £2.45 - £2.15 depending how much you order. Nice stuff and the 'normal' C41 process that your local Boots/ASDA can do.
 
Went and dug out the camera today....turns out it's a Nikon EM that's about as old as me :)

P7250336.jpg


Needed a good clean, and a few rubber parts a bit perished, but it's all in good working order, the battery is even still good (although I'm replacing it anyway). Has the 50mm f1.8 lens on which'll suit for my purposes

Ordered a couple of rolls of HP5+ and their prepaid envelopes.....but I'll probably go and get a roll from jessops tomorrow and get started as I've a free day. Will look into developing myself but don't really know where to start, and how much space you need (1 bed flat)?
 
what rubber parts are/were perished?

http://www.mir.SPAM/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/emfgfg20/em/
 
The rubber part that the mirror rests on when it flips up....the lightseal I presume? It's gone a bit gooey and broken up, depositing a few bits of gunge on the mirror and focusing screen which are proving a bit of an arse to clean off. Any tips for replacing the lightseal?
 
its a mirror damper ,,but it marks the focusing screen ,as you've found out ,you may find the light seals around the door need replacing as well ,,,look up jon goodman aka interslice on e bay for the bits needed costs about $9 .heres the one i did

 
Shot a roll of HP5+ today on one of my street wanderings :) there's something about a nice mechanical camera with a manual wind that's satisfying to use.

Impatient so i'll get it processed while i'm at work tomorrow, see if the camera actually works and exposed properly.
 
Didn't realise Jessops was 10days to get a B&W film processed. Ordered an Ilford prepaid envelope, if I'm going to wait then I might as well go for their service.

Am I right in thinking though, that I don't actually need very much in the way of initial outlay to process B&W film, at least as far as negatives? How much do you reckon I'd need to spend to get all the kit required to turn a 35mm B&W film into a negative ready for scanning?

Sorry for all the questions :)
 
mid_gen said:
Didn't realise Jessops was 10days to get a B&W film processed. Ordered an Ilford prepaid envelope, if I'm going to wait then I might as well go for their service.

Am I right in thinking though, that I don't actually need very much in the way of initial outlay to process B&W film, at least as far as negatives? How much do you reckon I'd need to spend to get all the kit required to turn a 35mm B&W film into a negative ready for scanning?

Sorry for all the questions :)
Click to expand...

I reckon you could get there for about £50-60. Perhaps less.

Try Snappy-Snaps, most will do same day B&W.
 
No joy at snappy snaps...they wanted two weeks. Looks like I'm waiting for the Ilford envelope to arrive.....and looking at my own development bits in the meantime :)
 
Looks like a trip to silverprint could be in order...

Dev. - Ilfosol 3 - £7.16, Rapid Fix £9.58, Patterson universal Tank £21.52 Thermometer £6.22, Measuring Cylinders 600ml £7.82 150ml £4.89 - total £57.19 - should be enough to get you on your way - use water rinse instead of stop, and a couple of drops of ecover in final rinse instead of buying wetting agent.

pretty much what i've got, and it worked for me, though I'm sure that there's always somthing i've missed as i'm typing this off the top of my head before going out fora ride on the bike!
 
Sounds good, I'll take a look when I get home :)

In the meantime I deciphered a tip from the unintelligible guy in Jessops Maidenhead, who put me in touch with Nigel at Lightstop just outside town, he's got my roll of HP5+ developing ready for me to pick up on the way home.

Much more exciting this waiting for development lark :)
 
Well, I got my negatives...and good news is they all look correctly exposed and sharp, so my camera's working fine :)

Now....how much is it going to cost to get prints done? Can Jessops/Snappy Snaps do this part without having the film for 3 weeks?
 
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