How many rolls & what labs?

[Brad Bireley]

I haven't used b&w for many, many years & forgot how many rolls of 36 can you get out of a 100' roll?

Also, what lab recommendations do you have for b&w? I need a lab until I can get my darkroom set up.

Thanks

 

[bmattock]

I don't load bulk anymore (thinking about it), but I shoot a lot of B&W. I process all of my own stuff. I don't have a darkroom, don't need one! Just a closet to load the reels (or a changing bag) and a tank with a couple of reels and a scanner.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[rover]

I am with Bill, I have a changing bag that I use to load my reels. I process the film and then scan it. I have thought about setting up a darkroom to do wet printing, but I think I will stick with scanning.

 

[Brad Bireley]

How good of a scanner do you need? I guess I mean what's the cost of a decent scanner?

 

[rover]

I have an Epson flat bed. Depending on what you want that will be fine. I do not make prints from my scans, mine is an older version, 3200. I know the newer Epsons are made more film scanning friendly and offer higher resolution. I think they are closing out a model right now, the 4480 or something like that for $200. You can get a 35mm film scanner for about that price too and you will have no problem printing a file from a dedicated film scanner. Cheaper than setting up a darkroom really. My scanned images are for digital viewing, so the quality of the scan does not have to be as high as that for printing.

 

[bmattock]

How good of a scanner do you need? I guess I mean what's the cost of a decent scanner?

Depends on what you want to do with the final results. If we assume that prints of up to something like 16x20 might be a possibility, then the generally-accepted lowest point of entry for a dedicated 35mm film scanner is the Konica-Minolta Scan Dual IV, at around $225 USD. However, K-M just withdrew from the photography business, those are getting scarce on the ground. You can go used, or move up to the Nikons, which have digital ICE (scratch removal, does not work on genuine B&W film but works a treat on color print film), then you're talking about $500. There are also Epson flat-bed scanners that have the advantage of doing medium format (some do 4x5 large format as well) and go for $200 to $500. Some will say that the Epson flat bed scanners, as good as they are, are not ideal for 35mm scanning - matter of opinion, I'd say.

You might consider that if the cost seems high, balance that against how many scans you think you'll be doing. The overall cost is quickly recouped if you add up all the processing/scanning charges you avoid. The tradeoffs - your own scans will look much better than any you can have done (except for the most expensive 'pro' scans, and no, not the 'pro' scans that they do at the high street shops) and on the downside, it takes up your time, which might be otherwise occupied.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[peter_n]

What all the guys said above. I also have the K-M scanner that Bill talks about above and I think they are available in the UK still. Probably better to get a Nikon. WRT labs check out this recent thread where there are a number of suggestions (the search engine is pretty good here BTW 😉 - lots of discussions around both scanners and labs).

BTW Brad - welcome to the forum! 🙂