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Film advice please.
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Need some advice folks – I am considering branching out into film, my Dad has a nice Rolleiflex he wants me to try.
BUT, I don’t want to get into the chems, tanks and printing side of things, so what are my options for processing –
scanner, using lab for printing?ALL advice most welcome.
Cheers
Ken,
Your dad is trying to pull a fast one on you I’m afraid.
The Rolleiflex is a truly awful, awful camera.
You will not learn anything about photography using this out dated technology and really, faffing about with chemicals and printing paper etc is just so old fashioned. I wouldn’t even try a roll of film in it.
If I were you I would stick to digital and just pop that camera into a cardboard box and send it to me where I can dispose of it safely. :wink:
It’s terrible what some parents do on their kids. :cry:
S.
First off the Rolleiflex you will be using is a great camera, own one myself and the pictures are pure class from it….
To get the best pics from the Rolleiflex you will need to develop and print the pictures yourself in a darkroom…. but as you said your not into chems and all that so I will not go into that …..
You did not say what model of Rolleiflex it is. Some have light meters some don’t. If it does have a light meter check its accurate (compare with your digital camera to do a basic check). If it does not have a light meter built in, use the one on your digital camera or else buy a hand held (hand helds are best but your digital camera will work for a while)
For processing the film your best doing this yourself but again you don’t want to play with chems etc… Basically find a local lab that will do it for you and try to stick to the same lab to get consistent results (different labs will use different developers and will give a different and less consistent result). If your not happy with the quality of a local lab try another one locally. Failing that read the back of a photo mag and look for film processors and use them. If you use Ilford film, ilford can develop the film for you via mail order
After you have the negs developed you will need to scan these. Drum scanners produce the best results but are far to expensive for the average joe. Next option is dedicated 120 film scanners. Expensive still starting around 1500 euro. The cheaper option is to use a flat bed scanner, best of these is the Epson V700 or V750 starting around 500 euro. Below the two epsons mentioned go for the 500 or something similar from Epson….
Note: When scanning film, always scan in 16bit, multi pass scans preferably. http://www.hamrick.com is excellent and cheap scanning software if you cannot afford the silverfast software…
After scanning, edit in PS and print your self on a ink jet printer. You will get away with ok prints up to around 12×12 when scanning from 120 film on a flatbed…
All the best
MI agree with Martin on the mono suggestions, but you can also try something different and keep the costs down initially as you try film by putting a roll of slides through this wonderful camera, Fuji Velvia is an amazing film and I would recommend you try this. You can get beautiful prints made directly from the slides in the UK. Good luck with it.
Lucky you-
Second the suggestion of rolling your own-
really not difficult, and you can load them in a bag-
you don’t need a darkroom-Go on-
ask what you need to get started…Seoirse wrote:
Ken,
Your dad is trying to pull a fast one on you I’m afraid.
The Rolleiflex is a truly awful, awful camera.
You will not learn anything about photography using this out dated technology and really, faffing about with chemicals and printing paper etc is just so old fashioned. I wouldn’t even try a roll of film in it.
If I were you I would stick to digital and just pop that camera into a cardboard box and send it to me where I can dispose of it safely. :wink:
It’s terrible what some parents do on their kids. :cry:
S.
:P
Martin wrote:
You did not say what model of Rolleiflex it is.
It’s a Rolleiflex Automat 6×6 Model K4B of 1954 vintage. Pretty sure it does not have a lightmeter, but I think my Dad has
a handheld. I havn’t got my hands on it yet!Will digest yours Eddie’s and Joseph’s advice..I am sure I’ll have another few questions – CHEERS
BW film will be the first choice for this camera ,you can develop it at home and scan ,print in any lab.for better image quality what u need is a darkroom,its not as hard as u thought.if u just want to share your pic with your friends on internet ,a scanner u will need ,i think the canon 8800f (around 200euro)is a good vaule one at the moment.
here is the pic taken by my rolleiflex and scanned by epson v750.
water_sm wrote:
BW film will be the first choice for this camera ,you can develop it at home and scan ,print in any lab.for better image quality what u need is a darkroom,its not as hard as u thought.if u just want to share your pic with your friends on internet ,a scanner u will need ,i think the canon 8800f (around 200euro)is a good vaule one at the moment.
here is the pic taken by my rolleiflex and scanned by epson v750.
Tks for the Scanner tip, BTW am I correct in assuming that the scanner will upload negatives to a PC as positives?
Thanks
Tks Guys,
the plan is clear: get hands on camera (and learn how to use), find a local processor for negs. and buy a scanner for uploading.
Thanks again!
Ken, I have couple of rolls of Ilford XP2 super 400 bw film, which I don’t need. It’s C41 process, so it can be developed in any lab where colour is done I think. Might be handy to start on them, you won’t wait for results too long. If you’re interested, pm me your address and I’ll post them to you..
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