Film Newbie - Oh, where to start...

[jabutle3]

Hey everyone,

I'm a senior Broadcast/Cinema major in college and looking to get into film photography. I know a lot about digital photog. through my education and just being in the field of media. However, still film photography is a whole different world. To me, anyone can snap a digital photo and do interesting effects and call it a piece of art. But to shoot an image on film, develop it, and manipulate the photo manually with your hands seems much more artful, skillful and all around more rewarding.

My idea is to buy vintage photography/developing equipment (mostly from eBay). So I just bought a Kalimar SR200 35mm camera on eBay and am waiting for it to come in the mail. I don't know if it works or not, they sold it to me 'as is' and haven't tested it but they claim it is in fair condition.

Assuming my camera actually works, where do I go from here? Unfortunately, my room has huge 8ftx8ft windows and the other areas have full walls of windows that are even bigger. So I guess I could use my bathroom as a darkroom or buy some huge drapes for my room and develop at night or something.

Like I said, I want to be able to shoot and develop my own photos from vintage/used equipment and get them framed and such. Where do I go from here? I'm sure I should buy a roll of film and just get it developed to see if it works before I do anything else. But what's the next step? An enlarger? They are fairly inexpensive on eBay. From what I've seen anyway.

Sorry for the long post. This just seems like a really cool and rewarding hobby.
-Alex

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[randerson07]

I would say you get some traditional black and white film(after you shoot a test roll of color film and have a 1 hour lab develop for you) and the chemicals and tools needed to develop and scan the negs before getting an enlarger.

You can then get the hand for developing. once youve got the hang of that go ahead and get an enlarger and make your own prints. But I would think developing the negs and scanning would be more than enough.

If your truly interested in making your own prints you should check out www.apug.org APUG is all about analogue photography and if you use the search feature well you will find everything and more than you ever wanted or needed to know.

[compur]

Here is a manual for your camera in PDF format.

[Jus7 A Phas3]

Get some T-max, very good B&W film and get a grain focuser, they really help you focus your stuff so its as sharp as possable. I wish I could have a dark room in my house but I only have one at school.

[jabutle3]

Thanks. Wow, you guys are extremely helpful. What about this printing and scanning thing? What do you mean by scanning my negatives. Like I said, I'm very new to the whole thing.

[Jus7 A Phas3]

Type in negative scanner to google, they can your negatives and turn them into positives.Then you can get the to a decent size like 5 by 7 or 8 by 10 depending on the quility of your scanner. I think its mesuraed in dots per square inch DPI but im not sure.

[christopher walrath]

But as far as prints, I would really learn to do it yourself. Silver prints, for me anyway, just have that, I dunno, wow! I've never gotten thatfrom an inkjet.

The neg scanner is a very good idea for quick electronic transfer and reference storage. Not a half bad idea at all.