Processing

Well I have now had my first roll of film processed.
I must admit to being a bit dissapointed,there are some good ones though.My questions are, was the film out of date-was it a mediocre film, did I have the settings miles out or could it be bad processing.
How will I know? would appreciate comments
Oh I had them done at jessops. Interestingly, it is cheaper to have film prints developed compared to digital. Example; 36exp-7x5 gloss in one hour is £10 inc free film and the digital cost is £12.60 and no free film
Regards
Chris
MZ30,FA50,F1.4.

The film always has use by the date printed on the box but what make of film was it. You will get better, much better results using a pro lab than from a '1 hour photo' place.

I use OneVision in Coventry or Loxley in Glasgow

link
link

Gartmore, it was Kodak film. I was given it ages ago when I considered taking up film- hmm, it has been kept in fridge though.no box no date.
Can you suggest a film to use,I take your point about using a photo lab, cheers

Regards

Chris

I like Fuji films, they seem to give partuclarly good skin tones and neutral greys, white and blacks, good practise to keep the film in the fridge. Amateur films like Kodacolor are designed to take quite a bit of abuse in storage and are particlarly tolerant of over-exposure, unlike digital but pro films should always be refrigerated or even frozen but do let them come to room temperature before using.

As for film choice its horses for courses really. Take a look here: link and here: link

I suspect that the type of kit that Jessops and others have for on the spot processing and printing is set up to interpolate the image it sees and make the best of it - ie if you put a B & W colour process film through where you have used no filter/yellow/orange/red/green for the same shot, you'd expect a variety of degrees of contrast in the prints.

Well I got back a bland set of very samey prints - so I think that a degree of smoothing/optimisation is normal and if you want a true set of images, don't use a high street processor. Or, pay for develop only and scan the images yourself.

Like Ken, I'm in the Fuji camp. I particularly like the Pro 160s but have had issue with CN400 - as above.


Steve

If I was to just go down the "develop only" route, would it really matter where I got that done, in other words, is this a process that you cant really make a dogs dinner out of?

Regards

Chris

Yes it would matter, pro labs process high volume of films and the chemicals will be constantly replenishes. I used my local 1 hour photo place the other day to process a film in order to test a piece of kit. They couldn't do it in an hour because the machine was switched off and would have to warm up. I bet the chemicals were stale too. The quality of scanning varies enormously from one place to another.

I used to use BonusPrint ( BonusPhoto,TriplePrint, DoublePrint-all same firm)then they put up the postage costs to a ridiculous amount and found that The New Pharmacy in Brentwood High Street have a colour film service,not advertised well,and tried them and got back 38 shots perfectly processed,AND a replacement IN DATE Kodak film ( I always give them my outdated films first!) all for £3-99 !! The lab they use is 'Sigfoto'owned by Sigma Pharamaceuticals and they know their stuff .... the outdated films I have given them are Truprint(3M),Jessops(Agfa) and Konica and I give them one stop more exposure and they come out PERFECT, then I do my own RA4 16x12" Exhibition prints.

Crikey! _ I used to use Bonusprint in the 1980s - Are they still going? - Google's - My god they are too! Amazing!!


I found an undeveloped film from the 1980s in my lft recently. I bet it's completely ruined by now - I've no idea what's on it. It's gotta be worth a fiver to get developed

I have a bag full of my Mum's old 110, 120 and so on films all covered in dust and undeveloped. I guess they are all completely duff but I am tempted to see if they are any good.

K.

110 is a pain in the backside to get developed now at any price, if you find anywhere that will do it reasonably let me know! I've got a few films left for my A110 but with no way to get them processed I see no point in shooting them

Womble : I can develop your Mum's 120 and 35mm films but NOT the 110 -- I do not charge £5 a roll either ! £1-50 for B&W and £3-00 for C41 colour neg -- please PM me if you are interested - I have over 50 years experience in processing -- started in 1951 in my Mum's bathroom and put a notice in the window saying 'Film Developed and Printed' and a young Policeman came to the door and scared my Mum ( as I was away Youth Hostelling in Belgium ) but he was asking about the film processing -- I have been friends with him ever since and he is 76 now !

I thought 110 was that silly cartridge system but the film was 35mm wide. I have a hazy recollection of breaking the cartridge and removing the film.

Mike

That was the 120, the 110 is the tiny little cartridge system, about 1/4 of the size of 35mm.

K.

I think there are a couple of faulty memories there!

120 is a roll film size that you would use in the Pentax 645 and 67 cameras.

126 is the 35mm-wide cartridge film that gave square exposures. Used in a lot of Kodak Instamatic cameras and two SLR systems from Zeiss Ikon and Rollei.

110 is the tiny cartridge film using 16mm wide film and is used in the Pentax 110 system.