Just for fun - what's it like these days?

Ste Manns

Ste Manns

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Hi all,

I have, for a bit of fun, just purchased a circa 1963 Yashica rangefinder camera, it was only £4.20 winning bid so thought what the heck?

Now, it hasn't arrived yet but when it does, I'm going to run some film through it. Back in the day when I used to shoot film on my old Canon Eos I used to send my film in a little bag with a cheque, and a few days later my pictures arrived together with a replacement film for free, I think it used to cost around £3.00. I realise you guys are using more professional developing services (or indeed developing your own) but this is only for a bit of fun, so I wondered is this sort of service still available?

Also, I recall seeing that developers these days offer your pictures on a disk as well. Not having ever done this - what format are the pictures when you get the disk? Can you specify? I quite like the idea of getting a disk with RAW format images if it's possible to edit in Lightroom/Photoshop. I imagine this service only caters for the masses (ie Jpeg) but you never know.

If I enjoy film again (no reason why I wouldn't) and I get more serious with it, what about doing my own scanning? What's the consensus here - I have a decent flat bed scanner but I've heard of negative/film scanners. Are these good (read cheap) and a good way of doing things? I want to avoid developing my own film as I don't really have room and I want to concentrate on the taking pictures side of things.

Anyway, I'd really appreciate your views and thoughts on this please.

Cheers in advance.

Ste
 
The free film supplied with these services was worth every penny.

I would suggest only using good film from Fuji or Kodak (or Ilford for black and white) and trying either Peak Imaging or Transpacolor for processing.

I do sometimes use our local Tesco minilab for colour but the quality can be hit or miss depending on the operator.


Steve.
 
I started dabbling in film again a few months ago and I get them developed at the Fuji lab in Bradford,I just get the negs back and scan them in but I am sure they do a disc service as well.The quality is good and very reasonably priced as well
 
Steve Smith said:
The free film supplied with these services was worth every penny.

Steve.
Click to expand...

Not so sure about that, it was ok for free, but I doubt it was winning any quality awards back in the day! I think the service was actually Fujifilm.

There is a Fuji lab in Leeds I might investigate. I would probably continue my digital workflow in that I'd shoot colour and convert to black & white on the mac (subject to getting good digital files from the film), rather than shooting on Black and White film.

I'm really looking forward to using film again :D
 
Steve Smith said:
That's what I meant. It was worth what you paid for it - nothing!


Steve.
Click to expand...


I remember those films only too well, Truprint film, a colour spectrum all of its own :D
 
I think they were little green bags you sent off - at the time I thought they were great! But there again I also thought "auto" everything was great too...how things change. Hopefully this little Yashica will be useable, but if not I'm also bidding on a few other rangefinders, so this little exercise ought to work. I'm not really looking to replace my digital, like I said it's just for a bit of fun really.
 
RaglanSurf said:
I remember those films only too well, Truprint film, a colour spectrum all of its own :D
Click to expand...

Does anyone remember Trifcolour? (I think that was the name). Usual mail order process and print servive but the prints had one large image (about 6" x 4") and a couple of small images *(about 2" x 3") on the same piece of photo paper.

And the free films were terrible.


Steve.
 
This has sort of hit a note for me you know...'cos I have a wide selection of cameras here (OK yes, lots of them are half frame) and I doubt if I will ever use them in anger, at least not all of them. As far as I know they are all OK and I've pretty much sorted any issues they have. What I'd like to do is maybe loan a couple out for someone to run a film through just for the hell of it and to confirm that the cameras are good or not. Your risk - a film and a developing cost... my risk, loaning out a camera to a complete stranger!

Would anyone be interested? To start I could offer the little Rollei 35 LED or the Minox 35GT? Others would be some of the half frame cameras of course, maybe even the little Voigtlander rangefinders. No idea yet how I can verify "credentials" as this is just an idea I had after reading this thread...


Arthur
 
I'd love to have a go, always happy to try different cameras. I've never tried a half frame so that would be interesting. Happy to report back on the success or failure of the camera. I've dealt with a few people on here so you can always check my Trader info.


Nick
 
Hmm, I think I need another thread for this idea so I don't pinch this one... eyes peeled!

Arthur
 
Ste Manns said:
Hi all,

I have, for a bit of fun, just purchased a circa 1963 Yashica rangefinder camera, it was only £4.20 winning bid so thought what the heck?

Now, it hasn't arrived yet but when it does, I'm going to run some film through it. Back in the day when I used to shoot film on my old Canon Eos I used to send my film in a little bag with a cheque, and a few days later my pictures arrived together with a replacement film for free, I think it used to cost around £3.00. I realise you guys are using more professional developing services (or indeed developing your own) but this is only for a bit of fun, so I wondered is this sort of service still available?

Also, I recall seeing that developers these days offer your pictures on a disk as well. Not having ever done this - what format are the pictures when you get the disk? Can you specify? I quite like the idea of getting a disk with RAW format images if it's possible to edit in Lightroom/Photoshop. I imagine this service only caters for the masses (ie Jpeg) but you never know.

If I enjoy film again (no reason why I wouldn't) and I get more serious with it, what about doing my own scanning? What's the consensus here - I have a decent flat bed scanner but I've heard of negative/film scanners. Are these good (read cheap) and a good way of doing things? I want to avoid developing my own film as I don't really have room and I want to concentrate on the taking pictures side of things.

Anyway, I'd really appreciate your views and thoughts on this please.

Cheers in advance.

Ste
Click to expand...

Getting back to your original post, I don't know of anyone that gives away a free film with developing, I may be wrong though but even if they did I would steer clear unless they were quality films which is unlikely.

In my experience most High St processors scan at a fairly low res, fine for viewing purposes and printing small prints. Some of the better places like Peak Processing give you options.
If you're going to shoot B&W why not process at home, it's cheap, simple and all you really need is a tank, less than £10 on Ebay, and some chemicals, and a thermometer. So it doesn't take up a lot of room. I load my films into the tank in the cupboard under the stairs which is fine as long as your not claustrophobic and if you haven't got a light-proof space a changing bag can be bought for a few pounds or made at home if you have the sewing skills. I've just started processing my own B&W films at home again and send my colour stuff (I only shoot slides in colour) off to Peak for processing and mounting.

As for buying a scanner, lots of people on here swear by the Epson (sorry I can't remember the model). I use a Nikon Coolscan IV and 9000 and apart from the slightly clunky software think they're fantastic but pricey. Steer clear of the Aldi/Maplin bargain scanners from the results I've seen you'll only be disappointed.

Film is also pretty cheap from the likes of the 7dayshop. So get some film and get shooting :D
 
Yup - what he says. If you use the Ilford shop they will supply a film too - not free but nonetheless, a good deal and still under a tenner complete. Film is all over Ebay like a rash, developing is cheap and easy (I got sorted for BW for about £30 including the chemicals and tank) and whilst cheap scanners are not so good, they *are* cheap. You can justify the expense of the scanner by moving all your old film-based colour negs, slides and BW negs to the PC too!

No excuses, get out there and do it!


Arthur
 
For this exercise, I shan't be hunting down processors who supply a free replacement film! Just thought I'd mention it as this is how it was years ago when I used film last. I'm going to find out about just getting negatives back and see if I can find a decent scanner - there's no point going the cheap and nasty route but I'm not after top class quality either.

Regarding the home processing - I live in a bungalow so no understairs cupboard!! :D Also I have an 8 month old crawling around and a mad dog too, so I want to avoid having chemicals in the house. Later on I could possibly convert one of the sheds we have in the garden but for the time being I'm happy to pay for a decent service.

So, I eagerly await my new toy's arrival. When it comes I will buy some decent film and go from there. I'm really excited by all this - I have good digital kit but to be honest this film mallarky feels good - it's like an extra dimension has been added to my photography thought process and I'm really looking forward to it.
 
Ste Manns said:
Also, I recall seeing that developers these days offer your pictures on a disk as well. Not having ever done this - what format are the pictures when you get the disk? Can you specify? I quite like the idea of getting a disk with RAW format images if it's possible to edit in Lightroom/Photoshop. I imagine this service only caters for the masses (ie Jpeg) but you never know.
Click to expand...

Oops. The raw thing is a bit of a faux pas there. What you are calling RAW [sic] is a raw dump of the info from the sensor at the time of taking a photograph. It's not an image file and needs converting. As we know, it means you can change white balance blah blah blah.

The trouble of using raw instead of JPG for digital is you end up relying on fixing stuff in post, then when you come to film you can't do that, white balance and exposure have to be right before the shutter is pressed, using filters and skill.

All this is a roundabout way of saying - there's no such thing as raw from a scanner, and even if you could take a dump of the binary output from the scanner, it would be useless. The process of scanning is simply converting from an analogue image to a digital one.

I think you might be interested in a TIFF file, massive uncompressed files which will give you the warm feeling of being the closest thing to raw. Or just ask for a (shock, horror!) JPG at the highest resolution and least compression. But I suppose slumming it with "the masses" might not be your thing. :shrug:
 
Ste Manns said:
I'm going to find out about just getting negatives back and see if I can find a decent scanner - there's no point going the cheap and nasty route but I'm not after top class quality either.
Click to expand...


I would certainly check out Ebay for a Coolscan, I wouldn't recoomend anything older than the Coolscan IV, the III has compatibility issues with newer computers, it's a SCSI connection and the SCSI/USB adapters are not that successful. The IV is a good option, the 4000 even better if you want to add an auto slide feeder, it does 50 slides in one batch IIRC but it is more expensive. They hold their value really well so if you get bored of it you can always stick it back on Ebay, I doubt you'll lose money unless you really pay over the odds.
 
martsharm said:
Oops. The raw thing is a bit of a faux pas there. What you are calling RAW [sic] is a raw dump of the info from the sensor at the time of taking a photograph. It's not an image file and needs converting. As we know, it means you can change white balance blah blah blah.

The trouble of using raw instead of JPG for digital is you end up relying on fixing stuff in post, then when you come to film you can't do that, white balance and exposure have to be right before the shutter is pressed, using filters and skill.

All this is a roundabout way of saying - there's no such thing as raw from a scanner, and even if you could take a dump of the binary output from the scanner, it would be useless. The process of scanning is simply converting from an analogue image to a digital one.

I think you might be interested in a TIFF file, massive uncompressed files which will give you the warm feeling of being the closest thing to raw. Or just ask for a (shock, horror!) JPG at the highest resolution and least compression. But I suppose slumming it with "the masses" might not be your thing. :shrug:
Click to expand...

When I said RAW, I hadn't thought about it much, but yeah, having now thought about it I can see where you're coming from. What I meant by it, is a lossless file format. Of course I'm not worried about white balance or exposure fiddling (I don't use either with my digital) but I want a digital file I can convert to mono and maybe dodge/burn etc without losing quality. I was thinking maybe the "normal" format supplied for the mass consumer market wouldn't be up to the job? :shrug: A tiff file would be, I assume, just the ticket but my question was is this something you can specify/ask for and who would be able to do it?
 
the only way to get a scan to RAW format that I know of is to use something like a canoscan 8800F and Vuescan software which will scan to a Adobe .DNG file. There's a rather geeky exposition on this subject here
 
Reading the initial post reminded me of something I found yesterday whilst rummaging in the loft for something...



Complete with a Technicolor (yeah right!) 110-20exp film (exposed!) Technicolor Processing Mailer and the high-technology flash red-eye-reducer (the big black obelisk that plugged into the flash-cube socket and raised the flash by a magnificent 3 inches :lol:)
 
My sister had one of those when I was a nipper! She also fell for the short lived kodak disk camera, before settling on a 110 instant thing (can't remember the make, big brick sized gadget but the photo's were half decent)
 
TheBigYin said:
Complete with a Technicolor (yeah right!) 110-20exp film (exposed!) Technicolor Processing Mailer and the high-technology flash red-eye-reducer (the big black obelisk that plugged into the flash-cube socket and raised the flash by a magnificent 3 inches :lol:)
Click to expand...

When I was a kid my mother had a Kodak 126 camera which used those 'cube' flashes, although these were mounted directly onto the camera, and several times the flash didn't go off much to my mums' frustration. She bought me a 110 camera for Christmas which had a built-in flash, which was OK if you didn't mind waiting half an hour for the flash to recharge - even with new batteries.

Aahhh, the good old days - my first step into photography. :lol:
 
Like this?

inst1.jpg


Got one in the collection now... not surprising they sometimes missed firing, there are only two tiny little AAA batteries in there! Great cameras though - proper shape negatives too! I also have a clockwork Ricoh 126, that solved the problem of the flash not firing by using a 15v beastie in the film bay!

ricoh4.jpg




Indeed - the good old days :D



Arthur
 
I can't recall the model number, but it looks very similar to the Kodak Instamatic 233:

http://kodak.3106.net/index.php?p=207&cam=1177

I do remember the weather symbol settings being on the lens itself rather than on the camera body, and it was bought in the late 1960s which is when the above model was available. I'm not too sure about the battery, but I seem to recall a short round chunky sort of battery rather than the AAA's.

Thanks for posting the pictures by the way. ;)
 
Shoot c41 process b/w film if you don't want to process your own, don't shoot colour and convert to b/w, its not coolz...:lol:

You can take 35mm c41 to any highstreet, that one up little westgate did a decent job of a roll of Ilford XP2, the scans are only half a meg big so if you want anything better, I use CCimaging in Leeds, its opposite Costco, but it costs.

If you want to shoot colour and use highstreet labs, it'll have to be colour neg (C41), non of them do slide film (E6) but CCimaging does.

I did hear, or read, or something...:thinking:....that Snappysnaps on the Headrow might even do normal b/w developing.......but don't quote me...:D
 
I thought you were going to shoot some film ?

its cool by default...;)
 
... even hyper-cool sometimes!
 
Shoot some b/w and I'll develope and scan your first roll.....*introductory offer*

:D
 
I know at least 5 others, but you're the only one I've actually met, as brief as it was..
 
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