Buying a film camera but only to use a lab?

[oftheherd]

When I use film nowadays, I either have my negatives processed by a good lab, or process my negatives at home. Once the negative are processed, I scan them with a film scanner, and then shred them when I'm sure I've got all I can get from them.
I'm only interested in the images, not in storing film, and with a good film scanner on freshly processed, clean film, I'm getting everything that I want out of the film. It's the digital image data that I want for rendering and printing.

This nets me the look and feel of film, of film cameras, at minimum additional cost over working with digital cameras. A couple of good film scanners (one for 35mm and one for 120 format) were not cheap, but worth it to get the most out of my negatives.

I have exactly zero interest in getting back into darkroom printing anymore. Saw a gorgeous Phillips 35mm to 6x7 format enlarger yesterday, going for almost nothing. I would have sold my mom's right arm for one of those a couple of decades back, nowadays it's just more kibble that I'd never use. Such it is.

G

😱 😱 😱

😡 :bang:

How could you sir?

OK, its your film and your negatives. I just couldn't do it myself.

 

[mdwsta4]

What, on average, does it cost to develop and scan a roll of film at a lab?

I have a number of film cameras that I basically keep on display; some work, some don't. I've contemplated a number of times just throwing in a roll and shooting with them. But I don't have the space to develop my own film, nor do I know how. Curious as to how much it costs to have this done.

 

[danielsterno]

for me (NJ 12 miles outside of NYC), at a local lab, a roll of 36 B&W, printed and negs scanned on CD =$20.

 

[clayne]

I don't have a lot of time to spend in processing film ... I consider it boring and tedious work ... and the local lab does a darn fine job with standard films shot at rated speed. So I use them. When I want to push or pull a film, I do it myself. I do want control of the scanning and rendering process, so I make the time to do that, even though scanning is also a tedious bit of drudgery.

G

A lot of us consider it to be somewhat meditative or a relaxing manually-focused task to do while either not concentrating on anything during the repetition or just listening to music, radio, etc. The fun part is in changing it up a bit with different developers, etc.

Personally, I don't process 40 rolls in one sitting, I do about 8-12 max, sometimes with more than one tank. It's time spent not staring at some kind of electronic device and a good bit of repetitive ritual can sometimes be healthy for people who are bombarded with the daily run of distractions.

It sounds like you can't get over the tedium side of it, but what are we talking here, an hour or so per day max?

 

[one90guy]

For color I am 99% digital but all B/W is done in house. For me, watching the photo developing in the tray is as enjoyable as the shooting. My closest real lab is a 2 hour drive one way, otherwise its Walmart.

 

[*chris]

i am curious, i have everything i need to develop my own b&w negs and waited to get a scanner. can i take my negs to costco, walmart or cvs and have them scan them to a cd ? i don't plan on printing yet or going with a pro lab