Got some scans back from the developer...

[pufy]

1. If you don't like grain, film ain't for you. Go digital, the workflow is a lot easier anmyway.
2.The scand aren't that bad actually. You quickly loose any sort of detail in the shadows if you underexpose slide film , and when the scanner tries to get some detail back, this is what you get.My scanned underexposed slides look exactly like your examples. And the first picture is also badly underexposed, or even underdeveloped (are the negatives ok, or are they transparent?).

 

[bmasonoh]

The second looks fine as many others have commented. The first looks quite underexposed and the third has a tremendous dynamic range which could cause the shadows to block and the highlights to burn out. Having said that, I am not a big fan of scan services with film development. Generally, you get what you pay for and since I'm a bit cheap I was frequently disappointed with the results. I ended up buying a scanner and am in the process of learning how to do it myself.

 

[Freakscene]

In the third photo is an installation by Cie Carabosse. I love the Carabosses!
http://www.ciecarabosse.fr/

Marty

 

[thegman]

1. If you don't like grain, film ain't for you. Go digital, the workflow is a lot easier anmyway.
2.The scand aren't that bad actually. You quickly loose any sort of detail in the shadows if you underexpose slide film , and when the scanner tries to get some detail back, this is what you get.My scanned underexposed slides look exactly like your examples. And the first picture is also badly underexposed, or even underdeveloped (are the negatives ok, or are they transparent?).

Hi pufy,
I do like grain, at least, I like it more than noise. I appreciate that grain will not look as nice on a computer screen as it does printed. Having said that, the pics posted by mfogiel show very nice grain, not like my scans at all.

I'm actually happier with the Velvia than any of the BW films, I think the Delta 3200 is awful, but having read some posts here, maybe I should be shooting it at 1600 anyway.

The negatives are pretty transparent, they actually look a little odd, not like negatives I've seen before.

Cheers

Garry

 

[Acliff]

http://www.photo-express.co.uk/digital.html

They do a 18mb opened, 2048 x 3072 digital ice scan.
£4 process and scan including return delivery.

Last time I used them, I thought the quality was excellent for the price. (which was 3.50 a couple of months ago, but oh well.)

I tried to use my local photo printing shop, and although its convenient having everything processed and scanned within the hour, 3398x 2546, for 3 pounds, the quality does suffer.
However, its the dust I can't stand.

 

[thegman]

I was going to try these guys, but they don't do E6 or BW, but I've got a roll of Ektar in the ZI at the moment, so I may send it off to them. I read only good things about Ektar, and I like XP2, so if that works out, then I may be able to use a C41 lab for everything, which will make everything much cheaper and easier.

 

[thegman]

http://www.photo-express.co.uk/digital.html

They do a 18mb opened, 2048 x 3072 digital ice scan.
£4 process and scan including return delivery.

Last time I used them, I thought the quality was excellent for the price. (which was 3.50 a couple of months ago, but oh well.)

I tried to use my local photo printing shop, and although its convenient having everything processed and scanned within the hour, 3398x 2546, for 3 pounds, the quality does suffer.
However, its the dust I can't stand.

I don't suppose you could post a link to an example scan you got back from Photo Express?

Also, I just wanted to express my thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread, especially mofogiel for the practical advice on exposure technique. I was pretty disheartened after getting those scans back, but now I feel I want to try again to get the photos I want.

 

[not_in_good_order]

If you are serious about scanning film to work with it on your computer, you may want to invest in a scanner. I always got decent results using Costco, but once I started scanning my own film on a Nikon Coolscan 5000, I was blown away by the quality and how bad the Costco scans looked in comparison.

 

[thegman]

I'm not sure if I want to invest in a scanner just yet, depends how my next few films go. It may be difficult to justify the hassle and expense of film as time goes on, but I'm going to keep going for now.

I've sent two BW films off to Ilford, and one E6 off to Genie, will see what the results are like...

 

[thegman]

Just got my scans back from Genie, some Velvia 100. I must say these scans are a different class to my other lot, delighted with the results. If I don't get my own scanner, I would *certainly* continue to use Genie.

I also got back my scans from Ilford, was not quite so impressed with these, however I know scanning B&W films is tricky, and also my photos were not particularly striking anyway.

I was delighted with the Velvia though, and will certainly keep shooting that.