Seeing Film Everywhere

[Huss]

Developing B/W film is dead easy and cheap. Google Diafine. Dirt cheap, lasts forever, almost idiot proof. A simple set up with a cheap light table and DSLR on a tripod to scan your negatives and you are all set. I shoot during the week and develop on the weekends.

This is a simple scan that I left a bit rough so you can see it is film. Took seconds to scan with my D7200 and invert in Lightroom. The full res version is great.

leica M3 DS, Leica Summicron 50MM DR, Kodak T-Max 400.

Im trying the DLSR scanning now - which is convenient if you already have a DSLR! My first attempts were ok until I compared them to the equivalent pro Noritsu scan. Then they were lacking. I think camera shake is to blame so I have ordered a remote release. Using the self timer didn't help as my D750 does not raise the mirror prior to release. And if you raise the mirror, you need the remote release..
I have noticed from my initial attempts that it will be really really difficult to match the colour of proper C41 scans, so I may have to limit this to B&W and slide films.
It also made me realize how good the scans are that I get from northcoastphoto and thefindlab!

 

[telenous]

cue: sustainability.

😀

Archivability and aesthetics drive the film renaissance in the movie industry. That's what they tell us anyway. Film, however, degrades over time. Many early/silent films are completely lost, the originals being either dumped or degraded beyond salvation.The numbers are staggering: 90% of silent films are lost. When the industry caught up to what was happening they started restoring and reduplicating the originals,the latter being a very important step (and echoes of this process are to be found in - yes - digital copying). For this reason film-based and digital-based archival methods should not be seen as antagonistic but as complementary.

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[jsrockit]

Which is another reason for film, photography is a lot more interesting if people are shooting on different mediums, printing on different mediums, and so on. I don't believe film photography to be "more photography" than digital. Just that film itself is a tangible, visual, artifact, in a way digital cannot be. This doesn't make a digital image any less real, just less tangible.

Bringing it round to my original point, a lot of people enjoy working with their hands. In this day and age when life is saturated with phones and games, and streaming content - when you don't even go to a store and buy a CD or a tape to listen to music, actually having and working with a tangible medium can be immensely satisfying.

I can understand this.

 

[HHPhoto]

Thanks everybody for interesting info
HH,
I wrote to ars-imago some time ago. They have an external lab here in Italy. They suggested to send a roll just to test the lab
Come on! One cannot shoot the same photo twice.

Quite a lot has changed and improved at ars-imago lateley. Certainly worth it to contact them again.
And
http://www.agenzialuce.it/
is a very good Italian lab in Trieste. They are doing mail order business as well.

I am considering Ag Lab in Birmingham. Expensive but they have Imacon scanners.
Anybody that can tell me how good it is?
Regards
Paul

I've heard good comments about them. But if you really want to send film abroad, the German labs probably offer the better price-performance ratio.

By the way: Most Germans speak English, too.
And you can contact a leading German lab like www.photostudio13.de
in English with no problems. Just send them an email in English. They are doing international business.

Cheers, Jan

 

[Arbitrarium]

My city is pretty hip and has it's own film camera shop that I visit occasionally, and I'm rarely the only customer. Seems to be doing well.

Out and about here in the last few months I've seen a VERY hip guy with a TLR of some sort, a girl at a protest with a nice Nikon FE and, the other day, a girl with a Pentax MX that I was jealous of.

I've also regularly seen people using the 1 hour photo at Boots, and another print shop has refreshed it's film stock and put up new posters for developing and printing.

So yeah, at least where I am, I'm noticing a trend in favour of film.

 

[HHPhoto]

My city is pretty hip and has it's own film camera shop that I visit occasionally, and I'm rarely the only customer. Seems to be doing well.

So yeah, at least where I am, I'm noticing a trend in favour of film.

Hi,

may I ask where you are living and what the name of the film camera shop is?

Thanks in advance, Jan

 

[Arbitrarium]

Hi,

may I ask where you are living and what the name of the film camera shop is?

Thanks in advance, Jan

Leeds in the North of England. Shop is called West Yorkshire Cameras. Would recommend if you're ever here!

 

[HHPhoto]

Leeds in the North of England. Shop is called West Yorkshire Cameras. Would recommend if you're ever here!

Thank you! Nice to see film is doing well in the North of England.
Generally the UK is the second biggest film market in Europe, behind Germany, which is at first position.

I've already heard of West Yorkshire Cameras in the past! Only good stories and recommendations.
http://wycameras.com/
I am convinced that such enthusiast shops (as "brick and mortar" shops, in combination with lab services) will get an increased importance in the future for film shooters.
We will probably see more of them in the future (like the increasing number of vinyl shops).

Cheers, Jan

 

[s_zemliakov]

The question "do you still find film" is quite common in Italy!

From Italy I am satisfied when I send my C-41 and B&W film to carmencita film lab in Spain: quality is good and in a few days I can download the scans.

for high quality works in Milan there is this lab: http://www.studiofahrenheit.it

In my town there is also a lab which develops C-41 at reasonable price.

robert

Another excellent lab in Milan is Puntofoto ( www.puntofoto.it ) which developes the negs internally and have a wide range of film materials. The cost for a C41 is about 6€.
And when I don't have time to go there I rely on a little store in my city which ship the negs to a bigger industrial lab for just 3.50€.
I don't think the situation in Italy is a 'film desert' as someone said above as there are still different labs and physical stores around.