Was this the camera or the lab?

[FrankS]

A very good compromise solution would be to develop your own B+W film and then scan it to digital. Makes it easy to share on the internet, you can make inkjet prints for hard copy, and if you have something exceptional, you can take the neg to a lab/darkroom to have a traditional wet silver print made. Best of both worlds!

 

[Theo-Prof]

Once, when I worked in a lab, someone poured bleach-fix replenisher into the developer replenishment tank by mistake. (No, it was not me. I was still working there the next week.) As the bleach-fix was killing the developer, this is what the images looked like. Perhaps Cricket or someone else made a similar mistake.

On a similar note, the people who owned the lab I worked for told stories about how another local lab used to "spike" the chemistry of competing labs. They would send someone to another lab with a few rolls of film that had been bathed in bleach-fix, dried, and then rolled back into the film canister. When the rolls were processed the bleach-fix would kill the developer and ruin all the film that was processed in it, thus making some pretty angry customers. Very Mean!

Kevin

 

[FrankS]

Wow, photofinishing lab espionage/subversion/subterfuge!

 

[Fred]

"This incident supports my argument that photographers, especially those starting out and learning how they can influence the final results, should either develop and print their own B+W, or use colour slide film."

I agree completly, well said 😉

Frank, my (film) scanner is pretty bad at doing B&W negs and it's supposed to be a good one (a couple of years ago). At least I have custody of the darkroom (kitchen) from time to time so I can scan my prints on an old flatbed.

Interesting point from Kevin though, I guess we need to sniff the leader of the film to check for nastiness. No good for 120 roll film though (doh!)

 

[FrankS]

I'd love to get a film scanner. Presently, I have to make prints in the darkroom and then scan them using a flatbed scanner. (Microtek 3000 I think)

 

[titrisol]

I'm using an old Polaroid SprintScan.. only 2700 dpi I think but good enough for webbbing

Those sell pretty cheap, I saw one the other day for less than $50 in the camera store