Sick of film

[EdwardKaraa]

I think I reached already my limit. I got back the films of my last vacation from the only "pro" lab left in this metropolis. The usual nightmare. Two B&W rolls over developed by around 2 stops and scratched beyond repair. I think the guy at the lab used a dirty squeegee. Luckily 13 Velvia and Provia rolls are correctly developed but the scratches and drying marks are so bad, I have to use very aggressive infra red filtering that it kills a lot of detail, and does not remove entirely the deepest of them. So the frustration continues.

It is even more annoying that the colors are so great and the ruined B&W rolls show such a beautiful tonality. Well, now I have to find a nice used M9 and say goodbye to film, this time for good.

 

[River Dog]

When I talk of film, I process it myself. Always have. It's not difficult nor too expensive but then I don't print anymore. Haven't got the space or a patient wife.

 

[sevo]

The usual nightmare. Two B&W rolls over developed by around 2 stops and scratched beyond repair. I think the guy at the lab used a dirty squeegee.

Maybe. But even twenty years ago I'd have expected exactly that. The lack of a common standard process for all films meant that the best black and white development always had been DIY. Even before the advent of colour every decent photo book recommended not to hand out black and white to external labs.

 

[jtm6]

When I have problems with lab processing, I just remember that film isn't the problem.

 

[splitimageview]

Sick of bad labs, yes.

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Absolutely! Sick of bad labs, not film itself, that I still love! But how can I separate these two? Film is not good without a good lab. The local "pro" lab doesn't care, developing film isn't its most lucrative business I imagine. I tried sending film to the USA for processing and scanning and while the results are ok, a new Leica M9-P would be considered cheap in comparison 🙁

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Maybe. But even twenty years ago I'd have expected exactly that. The lack of a common standard process for all films meant that the best black and white development always had been DIY. Even before the advent of colour every decent photo book recommended not to hand out black and white to external labs.

Of course what you say is the right wisdom, but in fact I'm not very concerned by the over developing. My scanner was easily able to cope with it. But the deep scratches are beyond repair. I can't use infra red with this film and spotting manually is an impossible task as the scratches run horizontally along the entire roll.

 

[Chris101]

Develop it yourself dude. I had plenty of labs do horrible things to my film back in the 80s. C41 is the easiest, followed by black and white, and finally E6. But they can all be learned and done with a minimum of fuss. All my film developing gear fits in a single box, takes an hour or two in the bathroom, then it's back into the box.

Of course you could always get one of those fancy digi-Ms. I hear folks like 'em.

 

[funkydog]

I feel your pain. Been down that road. Gave up film four years ago and went all digital. The lure of film is too ssssstrong. Back in film again. Found a hole in the wall lab that does decent enough C41 work on consumer Fuji Superia. Bowing to the lowest denominator.
Yeah, do the M9 thing if you've got the bux. More control over the entire process and there's no one else at fault if your photoshop skills don't match your photographic ability. At least the DNG files won't fade while waiting for your photoshop prowess to catch up someday.

 

[fivepointsix]

I lost about 60 shots from a bad card on my m9-p,think I'd rather deal with scratches personally that's why I keep it 50/50 now
Plus I could never sell or shelf the mp.

 

[jarski]

... At least the DNG files won't fade while waiting for your photoshop prowess to catch up someday.

am afraid DNG is riskier than TIFF or JPEG, its hardly an open standard. e.g from-camera DNG's differ from converted RAWs so that some editors can process one but not the other. still all my RAW files have been converted to DNG.

 

[mhanc]

process my own b+w... inexpensive and quick. sure beats the hassle of getting it to and retrieving it from a lab. AND the negs are beautiful - no scratches, stains, wrinkles, etc.

YMMV ;-)

 

[EdwardKaraa]

Developing at home is something I should consider too. I have done B&W darkroom work for many years and have good experience in it. Not sure about color though. As for bad memory cards, I have never lost a shot in 9 years of digital work, but I understand that Leica has a problem with cards.

 

[sevo]

Not sure about color though.

Developing colour is easy, in some ways easier than black and white, as it has less variables. All it takes is discipline and organisation, as the timing/temperature regime is more critical and you'll have one kit to make use of within three or four sessions, rather than a bottle that can be split into dozens of one-shot jobs.

 

[jparriott]

I admire you home developers. Too time consuming, at this point in my life. I'm not happy at all with my local labs' (and I've tried several) B&W. But a couple of them do nice c41 and I've found that T-Max converts to lovely B&W (IMHO) in LR.

 

[sanmich]

BW film developing is really easy.
I even managed to do it in a motel room for a few days in a row for a workshop a few years ago.
It's not that time consuming either, and if you wait for a large batch and process it it can be rather time efficient.
scanning...
Scanning for proofing is not too bad with a coolscan that can do a full roll or a V700 that eats 2/3 of a film in one batch.
I never tried color....

 

[rbsinto]

I'm not inclined to be doing my own E-6 processing at home, but then again except for the longer and longer wait times, the lab that the photo stores use has been doing an excellent job, so I can't complain.

 

[helvetica]

It's not that time consuming either, and if you wait for a large batch and process it it can be rather time efficient.
scanning...
Scanning for proofing is not too bad with a coolscan that can do a full roll or a V700 that eats 2/3 of a film in one batch.

I agree with you there. You can do the development in 15-20 minutes with another 5 min of cleanup and prep. I use a two-roll tank to boot! As far as scanning, it's batch scanning or forget it. V500's are even cheaper, and do 12 frames per scan.

 

[denizg7]

good film department called , they want you outta of our organization

 

[paradoxbox]

scratches are nothing anymore with photoshop or lightroom

if the photo is good enough it's worth spending time repairing it in photoshop or lightroom. the clone brush tool is your friend.

digital has problems too. out of batteries? camera get wet? dust on the sensor?

stuff happens. at least with film each new shot is a chance to fix the problem, with digital a problem usually happens on every single shot and gets progressively worse and then the sensor just dies..