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Starting out with Film
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Hi PI Members,
Just want to rack your experienced brains for some information if you don’t mind. Had a problem with my Dslr so while I was waiting for it to get repaired decided to invest in a Canon AE-1 and 50mm f1.8. It’s my first venture into Film so went to Gunns who advised me to run a few cheap enough films through it to get the feel for film. They were as always very helpful..
My questions would be around whether it is cheaper in the long run to invest in Darkroom supplies and if so would you have any recommendations on starter stuff to get?
Ran the first ASA400 kentemere film through it and its being developed and printed for €13 as we speak.. Think that works out at 34cent a photo which I don’t think is that bad? I wouldn’t be getting film developed everyday as I wouldn’t be taking as many shots! So maybe it’s not beneficial to go down the Darkroom side?
Also, any tips on good Film (Starting off on B+W but may look to go colour at some point)?So far I must say I love the idea of actually thinking about a shot rather than clicking 20 times to see if one was good enough.. (not that I wouldn’t have thought about it before! :wink: )
Anyway, thanks in advance for taking the time to read and reply. Hope it could be a starter point for anyone else willing to try Film out. Can’t wait to see what comes out!!
Alan
Hi Alan. I’ve only just started doing film myself so my advice wouldn’t be so well informed. I think if you intend to do film on a regular basis investing in the darkroom equipment would probably work out cheaper. But for me, more important than the economics of it is that I want to have more control of the end result. I’m doing a black and white darkroom course here at the moment:
http://www.blockt.ie/BLOCK_T/HOME/Entries/2011/7/3_DARKROOM_COURSES_-_Starting_3rd_JULY.html” onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
and I’m learning there is a lot you can change during the developing and printing process, similarly as when you’re processing an image in photoshop. If you just give the film to a lab to develop they just use a standard process whereas if you’re doing it yourself you can decide from the choice of developer and other things how much contrast the photo will have, grain, etc., and also you can do all you can to avoid blemishes, dust spots, etc. and you’re not relying on a lab doing it perfectly (which often they don’t). So I think it really is worth learning the darkroom, and for just developing you don’t even need a darkroom, you can just use a bag, they have them in John Gunn’s I believe (I think you can get there pretty much all you need for developing). Hope this helps you, really I’m much of a novice myself!and I’d love to hear about tips on what film to use myself. At the moment I’m trying out all of them!
Thanks for the feedback, I like the idea of control in the contrast etc. so maybe I should be looking into something similar. I had been looking around some other posts in the Film section trying to piece together bits.
I know that someone on PI has a supply shop site for all things darkroom (http://www.thephotoshop.ie) so have had a look at that. I suppose a course would give me an idea as to what all to put together.On the film front the Kentemere400 developed a bit over exposed from what I can see.. (that’s possibly the camera too as it was the first roll i have put through it but we live and learn!) It was a cheap film aswell 3.15 or something like that just to start off.
Hope the course goes well and thanks again for your info and reply.Thanks,
AlEsther is right, developing your own film is so rewarding and works out cheaper than using labs if you shoot regularly. Once you get hooked on that you’ll want to set up a darkroom to make prints and it doesn’t cost much to get the necessary gear. If your a hands-on type of person you’ll love it.
I run full day introductory and advanced workshops so give me a shout if I can help.
Peter
Thanks for the info thefizz, I think I had seen the monochromemeath.com site before in relation to the courses. I’ll give you a shout indeed Thanks.
I am a hands-on so maybe that is the way forward!Al
i would definitely advise learning to process and print yourself rather than rely on a lab…. for one thing prints are often done on color paper which gives a different tone. having total control over what happens is very interesting and rewarding.
when i learned the first step was to learn to print, and leave the dev to the labs (is usually only 5euro for process only) until i had a bit more confidence and awareness of what the chemicals do.
as for film i use Ilford 100, i don’t like their 400 as i find it lacking in contrast, generally unimpressive (though I’m sure there are those who might disagree). if you like grain play about with really high ISO like 3200…
Hi Isabella,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. Very helpful. I like your idea of getting the Negs developed and then learning to print. Again, I like the idea of having the control!!Also, yea, I think I will have to get soem different films and see what way they look.
Thanks,
AlThanks Alan, Peter and Isabella for the info and links, added to my favourites! Those workshops look very interesting but difficult to me to get to as I don’t drive. I have a friend, I think he did the Burren landscape workshop and he loved it. I know Sergey Sergeev and I’m actually attending an introduction to the wet collodion process he’s giving in Dublin on the 10th of July:
http://www.dml.ie/eMerchantPro/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=42&adminPreview=1″ onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Last film I used was an Ilford 100 and I just got it developed in the course last Monday, next Monday we get to do the prints, can’t wait to see how it comes out! Alan, do you have a light meter? My camera has an in-built one which really helps to make sure I expose correctly.Hi Esther,
Also using the in-built light meter, some of the highlights looked a little blown out but not too bad. I’ll have to run a second roll through it and see if I am consistent!!
Hope the course goes well on the 10th.Think the other roll I got at the time was Fuji Neopan 100 so will see how that goes too. Busy times ahead!
Thanks
AlHi beans,having just recently started to develop and print myself I can’t recommend it highly enough. I did an afternoon course/primer in the camera exchange,not really a course but rather just showing the ropes,it got me hooked anyway, and I’ve since built a darkroom. I’d recommend a book I read about here, Les Mckeown,creative B+W photography, basically it blew my mind to realise just how much can be done to an image through developing and printing, obviously after much trial and error in my case, but how also getting to know the film you use,testing the film and your meter so you know exactly what you can get from it through development and techniques in printing,like pre and post flashing,good God I’ll be 70 by the time I try everything. I do intend to take a course with the fizz in the future,just to cut a few years off the process. Shooting film again has got me excited like a 12 year old with their first camera. :P
Hi Dubtom, some great tips below Thanks. Will definately try and have a read of that book too. I agree though, I’ll probably be 70 before trying even half of all that there is to try with film :wink:
I am already begining to feel the joy and I’m sure the pain also of self Dev/Printing but from what you say very rewarding.. I think that may swing the balance between sending them in to get Dev/Printed and going about doing it onesself!
Thanks again,
AlThanks Al. Hope it goes well with the Fuji Neopan 100. I tried the Neopan 400 once and the results were pretty good. That book sounds good, dubtom, thanks for the tip. Found it here in Amazon, I’ll be getting a copy!
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Black-White-Photography-McLean/dp/0715314483″ onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;The darkroom experience is great. It smells interesting, looks mysterious and printing in one can be very relaxing (assuming its a hobby).
Having started shooting and processing bw film again after a long time away from using it, I briefly considered setting up a darkroom (again) but decided to do a few tests first.
I made a few prints from 5×4 bw negatives using a De Vere Enlarger on Multigrade paper and compared them with a prints made on an Epson 3800 from a scan made from the same negs on the Epson V700 scanner, I found it very difficult to find any real difference in sharpness or tonality. I made a few more prints but came away from it convinced that I was better of shooting on negative and printing on the inkjet.
It’s amazing what you can pull from a bw negative in Photoshop.
Having said that, it was an easy decision, given that I already owned the scanner, Adobe Photoshop and the printer.
I actually stopped shooting for years because of the frustration I felt in using PS,I could never get my head around it and with the result,never managed to edit an image and make it look better than what came out of the camera. I would occasionally convert some to B+W and bring the card to Fuji, in short,digital never excited me like the darkroom does. In saying that,I scan all my negs for viewing in Picasa so I can decided which to practice printing on, my walls will eventually be crammed. 8)
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