Analogue Wonderland Wonderbox

srichards

srichards

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Has anyone ever signed up for one of these? I had a fit of madness and decided to. 6 films is probably a year's worth at least to me :rolleyes:

Film costs are becoming a bit off putting for general hobby use so I thought I'd force myself to pay more than the usual £4 a roll as I'm almost Brian level miser now.

Anyone else looking at film stock and thinking 'how ^&*(£& much :dummy: ?' and saying rude words?!
 
I can remenber when a box of 25 sheets of 5x4 FP4 cost about a third of the current price; but then again I can recall when a 36 exposure Kodachrome cost £36 in today's money. Film did become very inexpensive, but in real terms it's still cheaper than when I first started buying it.

As a student, a 36 exposure cassette of black and white cost 34p (converted from real money to decimal) at the same time as a year's accomodation with free cooked breakfast, free electricity, free cleaning (and beds made for us every weekday) cost £122. My first job as a graduate was relatively well paid, take home £69 per month.

Spoken as an old miser... Well, old and past it anyway.

So, yes, I would prefer lower prices, but it isn't yet out of my reach.
 
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srichards said:
Has anyone ever signed up for one of these? I had a fit of madness and decided to. 6 films is probably a year's worth at least to me :rolleyes:

Film costs are becoming a bit off putting for general hobby use so I thought I'd force myself to pay more than the usual £4 a roll as I'm almost Brian level miser now.

Anyone else looking at film stock and thinking 'how ^&*(£& much :dummy: ?' and saying rude words?!
Click to expand...

I had a look at it and filed it away for now. Currently I have a bunch of film in the fridge including SP2; 400H and Portra 400 in 120 and Kentmere and Portra 400 in 35mm. I also have some APS too :) So I have about 25 rolls to shoot which I think will last me a while especially given the current situation.

Do let us know your thoughts on what you get.
 
I did have a look, but I thought it was a bit rich for my blood. I don't shoot the colour shifted stuff at all (any more) and I thought I'd probably end up with a load (more!) film I don't shoot. It sounds very cool and experimental, and kudos to Paul for the energy he puts into all things analogue (Analogue TV in lockdown was well worth a giggle) but it's not for me. I'd rather buy the films I want to shoot than get stuff I don't.

I'm sure it works for some people - especially those who want to continuously try new films, but it's not for me :)

As Morris siad though, let us know how you get on!
 
I've never really bothered with experimental films. Nearest I got was shooting some old Jessops that had been in a loft for 20 years! I haven't tried new films much either.

Fortunately I have a fridge with film I can still use bought when prices were more sensible. When it looks like a 10 pack of colour plus is £40 then a mixed bag of 6 randoms for £50 doesn't seem all that outrageous. A lot of my usual films are £7-£10 a roll now anyway. XP2 and Superia are both £7 a pop. Superia was under £4 when I bought it last.

The way it's going I'm going to have to list my fridge as a valuable :D
 
I checked it out but decided no, not for me as I like to choose. I save money by developing my own. I remember the days when you got a free film with every set of prints from Prontaprint! Not that it was very good film but what's not to like!! However, I sold my soul to Kodachrome which felt very expensive at £8 a roll back in the 1990s, even if it did include processing. It's such a pity I didn't take better photos.... :-O
 
First box has Kosmo Foto Mono, Washi D, Street Candy, Lomo Purple, Kodak Pro Image and FPP Low iso.

Hmmmm. Think most are destined to live on the film shelf untouched. Might use the Kodak Pro image and Streety candy as that's a 400 ASA B & W that looks reasonable. FPP is particularly useless as it is iso 1.6! I wouldn't even know what I'd try and shoot that with or what for. Photo finish for snail racing?

Anyone used any of them?
 
I quite fancy Pro Image but the rest wouldn't interest me. Washi D has too specialised developing requirements for my liking, and Lomo Purple needs a lot of messing about to get the image looking decent. Lab scans I've had done were useless (tip - don't pay for lab scans. Filmdev ones don't look too bad but the ones I had from AG were unusable). Same thoughts as you on ultra-low ISO films. Great if you live in California or somewhere with bright sun all the time, but in the UK that 'aint happening. I had some ISO 12 film that I used for ICM experiments. It was good for that :)
 
Who is good for developing and scanning weird films as FilmDev aren't doing anything other than C41? Has to be download link not CD faff.

Ilford I tried and they weren't that good considering how much it cost.

I don't want to have to wait until FilmDev resume but I haven't found anyone else that is better over all.

Quick look around and some of the prices for low res basic scans are unbelievable.

Will have to be AG for black and white as they're £10 for medium process and scan including both ways normal postage.

I think I'm going to be waiting for filmdev to resume for the weird stuff :)
 
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Film prices do seem very high but some places take the mick. I went to two local mini labs (local being a relative term as they were in different towns that I happen to visit quite often) and D&P was something like £15-20 which OK, maybe for a one hour service in this day and age, perhaps is OK. A new roll of regular Kodak Gold however they asked £16 for!
When I worked in a camera shop you got a free roll of film with your D&P order at £6.99. A basic roll branded as the lab but was actually Fuji was 99p, I think it went up to £1.99. Even when I left retail in the late 90's a three pack of 36exp kodak or Fuji was £9.97.
The current situation with film prices has come as a bit of a shock but Analogue Wonderland and others are still offering films at under £5 a roll which seems OK to me but some of them costing £13+ seem a bit OTT.
 
New lot arrived: Delta 100, Lady Grey, Kentmere, Rollei Infrared (needs filter so that's a bit useless). Cinestill and Portra 160. At least they're all normal ish type films.

Although is cinestill the remjet backed stuff which is a pig to get developed?
 
srichards said:
Will have to be AG for black and white as they're £10 for medium process and scan including both ways normal postage.
Click to expand...

Outbound postage is free to AG, just look for the freepost details on their website. They send a freepost padded envelope back with your negatives ready for next time after that. (y)
 
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Stegosaurus said:
I checked it out but decided no, not for me as I like to choose. I save money by developing my own. I remember the days when you got a free film with every set of prints from Prontaprint! Not that it was very good film but what's not to like!! However, I sold my soul to Kodachrome which felt very expensive at £8 a roll back in the 1990s, even if it did include processing. It's such a pity I didn't take better photos.... :-O
Click to expand...
The only way I'm going back to film is if Kodachrome is resurrected.
What was it about that stuff that looked so great?
 
soupdragon said:
The only way I'm going back to film is if Kodachrome is resurrected.
What was it about that stuff that looked so great?
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If you shoot it on a sunny day and get the exposure right (it can be a bit fussy) then Kodak Ektar 100 can give a Kodachrome look. Might be worth trying a roll this summer at a classic car show or the seaside (Covid permitting) if you have a decent film camera sitting at the back of a draw, etc. :)
 
Good news is that Filmdev are probably going to be doing black and white again from April :banana:
 
srichards said:
Good news is that Filmdev are probably going to be doing black and white again from April :banana:
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Knowing you, by the time the weather is 'just right' enough to tempt you out, and you can be bothered to take some photos, they'll be doing Kodachrome again! ;) :exit:
 
I've got some Kodachrome, although I think it's out of date now.
 
srichards said:
New lot arrived: Delta 100, Lady Grey, Kentmere, Rollei Infrared (needs filter so that's a bit useless). Cinestill and Portra 160. At least they're all normal ish type films.

Although is cinestill the remjet backed stuff which is a pig to get developed?
Click to expand...

Cinestill has the ramjet already removed. Kodak Vision is the version with it still intact I believe.
 
soupdragon said:
The only way I'm going back to film is if Kodachrome is resurrected.
What was it about that stuff that looked so great?
Click to expand...

Well ignoring projecting slides on a screen....before colour neg improved over the years there wasn't anything to beat Kodachrome and if Kodachrome was bought back it would still have some serious comp with modern colour neg films although some great films have been discontinued.
 
srichards said:
Rollei Infrared (needs filter so that's a bit useless).
Click to expand...

If I remember rightly, Rollei IR is ordinary 400 speed b/w without a filter and iso 6 with an R72.
I'm a bit fuzzy about it but it sounds correct, if I'm not thinking of some other obscure ir film..:)
 
joxby said:
If I remember rightly, Rollei IR is ordinary 400 speed b/w without a filter and iso 6 with an R72.
I'm a bit fuzzy about it but it sounds correct, if I'm not thinking of some other obscure ir film..:)
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Correct. I shoot with it a fair bit. Works as a standard 400 speed film, and you can get a pseudo IR look with a red filter and a sunny day (lol England). This from the sunny day we had last week with just a standard red filter. Problem is once it's in the camera the sun goes away for weeks on end so I end up shooting the rest of the roll in grey gloomy ordinary light. If you do that it's a decidedly average film with no real outstanding qualities. (In my humble opinion of course)

2021-02-27-rollei400ir-m6red-27.jpg
 
That's good then. I might just use it without and see what happens. Is Rollei IR bothered by AF systems?
 
srichards said:
Is Rollei IR bothered by AF systems?
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No. The only time you'd need to worry about focus is with an actual IR filter on the front. And they're generally so dark, the AF won't work through it anyway.
 
srichards said:
Who is good for developing and scanning weird films as FilmDev aren't doing anything other than C41? Has to be download link not CD faff.

Ilford I tried and they weren't that good considering how much it cost.

I don't want to have to wait until FilmDev resume but I haven't found anyone else that is better over all.

Quick look around and some of the prices for low res basic scans are unbelievable.

Will have to be AG for black and white as they're £10 for medium process and scan including both ways normal postage.

I think I'm going to be waiting for filmdev to resume for the weird stuff :)
Click to expand...

www.digitalab.co.uk do processing and deliver via WeTransfer
 
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