So I bought a film camera...

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chris-red

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Chris
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On a bit of a whim really, saw it on ebay ending soon round the corner from me and slapped a bid.

£30 later and I'm the proud owner of an EOS1000FN with a 35-80 USM lens it will fit my other EF lenses too.

I didn't really do any research and bought 5 rolls of B&W film and figured it'd be cheap to get developed as it was simpler than colour. I appear to have been wrong! can't find anywhere that will do it for less than £10 a roll! I have developed film myself years ago in college and figured if it is going to cost me £50 to get the 5 rolls developed how much will it cost to set up my own dark room in the loft?

From What I remember from college The process was something like this.

Completely black room,

uncap the film canister.
put it in this box thing.
Turn on light?
Poor chemical (developer?) into box and spin it for a certain amount of time.
Drain it wash it and dry it.

In a room with a red light. Put film in a projector type thing.
Focus image onto back of projector.
Put paper in projector, turn on for a short amount of time.
Put paper into a chemical (developer?) and agitate, wait for it to develop.
take paper out of that when it looks right and wash in water.
put paper into another chemical.(fixer?)
Wash.
Put paper in another Chemical (stopper?)
Wash.
Dry - Done.


Details aside is that roughly right?

I'll need.

Box to develop film in
Projector
Dark Room bulb.
3-4 different chemicals.
trays
Photo paper.

am I missing anything?

How much will it cost to get this stuff, the Projector I guess will be second hand but I guess they are still making the chemicals and paper.

Cheers,

Chris
 
Chris, see the sticky on your first B&W film effort at the top of this forum: http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=276912. I haven't tried it myself. I've more or less settled on the C41 black and white films like XP2 or Kodak BW400CN, as they can be processed in colour labs. That said, I'm not sure I'm in love with the results. There's also a processing sticky which includes a little price calculator; I think AG Photographic are currently cheapest for BW with a medium res scan.

You go on to talk about enlarging and printing, which I know even less about (lots of folk I think get their negatives scanned and then print from there, but some really like the benefits of doing their own printing).
 
Alternatively get a scanner. There is a sticky about developing your own film and its not that complex. After you've got your cut and dried negatives just scan them.

Colour is much cheaper mainly due to the process being standardised by big machines so is much easier for the labs.
 
If you are only thinking about developing the film rather than printing as well then you don't need a darkroom. You can load the film into the reel in a lightproof changing bag.

You will need the bag, a tank and reel, developer and fixer. Stop bath is not really necessary for film as a water rinse is o.k.

However, if you have the space and are interested in printing as well, then do it. There is no way you can match the quality of a well made black and white print with scanning and digital printing.


Steve.
 
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Not sure where you've been looking to get £10 a roll.

£7.96 a roll for process and scan at Peak Imaging (not much less I admit but still...). If you intend to shoot more film then a scanner is definitely the way forward. I got mine (Epson V500) for £120 new, doesn't take too many films to pay that back.

Andy
 
Maybe a lightproof bag is the best option, any suggestions on a decent negative scanner? I'd rather have something small and dedicated as I already have a scanner in my printer.

Cheers,
Chris
 
chris-red said:
Maybe a lightproof bag is the best option, any suggestions on a decent negative scanner? I'd rather have something small and dedicated as I already have a scanner in my printer.

Cheers,
Chris
Click to expand...

I've recently bought a Plustek 4300 on the bay. £90 ish. Dedicated 35mm film scanner. Does a good job. I use Vuescan with it. Can't seem to get on with my Epson V500. My scans seem to be just out of focus on it.
 
Costco charge £1.20 for developing the negs, but there scanning is horrible.
 
Aldi are doing a Negative scanner on Sunday for £30. It ain't gonna be brilliant but I figure I might as well get that, then upgrade at a later date. I could always get the film developed at costco then scan it myself, while I get the kit to do it myself.
 
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chris-red said:
Aldi are doing a Negative scanner on Sunday for £30. It ain't gonna be brilliant but I figure I might as well get that, then upgrade at a later date. I could always get the film developed at costco then scan it myself, while I get the kit to do it myself.
Click to expand...

Save yourself some expense and get a cheap £10 webcam and an LED torch, thats essentially what those cheap scanners are, just mounted in a box. Rather bluntly, the quality you get is ****.
 
chris-red said:
Aldi are doing a Negative scanner on Sunday for £30. It ain't gonna be brilliant but I figure I might as well get that, then upgrade at a later date. I could always get the film developed at costco then scan it myself, while I get the kit to do it myself.
Click to expand...

s162216 said:
Save yourself some expense and get a cheap £10 webcam and an LED torch, thats essentially what those cheap scanners are, just mounted in a box. Rather bluntly, the quality you get is ****.
Click to expand...

^^^WHS^^^

Honestly they're worse than useless, get yourself a cheap lightbox and use your digital camera then convert negs to positive in Photoshop or something similar.
 
RaglanSurf said:
^^^WHS^^^

Honestly they're worse than useless, get yourself a cheap lightbox and use your digital camera then convert negs to positive in Photoshop or something similar.
Click to expand...

^^^WHS^^^
 
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