looking for advice!

mysimplelife · Mar 19, 2008

I was recently given my grandfathers Nikkormat Ftn camera. For a while i was buying kodak 400tx bw 35mm film for the camera and the standard 3x5 prints looked great, only problem was the film takes 2 to 3 weeks to develop it and it was very expensive. I became impatient on waiting that long and spending that much and decided to try Kodaks BW 400cn film that can be processed at one hour photo labs like walmart:thumbdown:. I decided that just getting the negatives and the digital cd would be my best bet cost wise. Also i like to be able to preview the pictures on my laptop before deciding on what to print.
OK so i'm obviously new at this stuff but i really enjoy the new old camera and have been taking some nice pictures that i would like to enlarge to 8x10. I brought my Cd to walmart:thumbdown: and Tried one of their little kodak machines that u just pick the pictures from the CD and it instantly prints them for u, which i thought was pretty cool. Well the 8x10 turned out horrible they were not very detailed and the color was way off. I would really like to achieve high quality 8x10 and would like to know how to achieve this.
1) Is this kodak BW400cn film decent to use? Other suggestions?
2) Whats the best way for me to get 8x10 excellent quality prints?
3) Should i just get the enlargements from the negatives or is using the CD ok quality wise.
hmmm i think i have more questions, but for now if anyone wants to take some time and help me it would be much appreciated. Thanks
p.s hope to be posting some pictures soon for some critique!

mysimplelife · Mar 19, 2008

oops i did not mean to post this here can some one please move it to beginners :blushing:

Big Mike · Mar 19, 2008

The problem with getting enlargements from the CD...is that those files only have resolution for 4x6 prints. That was typical when I used to get my photos put on CD anyway.

You are probably better off taking the negative in, and having a print made from that...or having it scanned at high resolution. Or you could get a scanner and do that yourself.

I used to shoot BW400cn film...I liked it...but I was never a 'true B&W film' guy. Real B&W film can be fantastic.

The problem with typical lab prints from BW400cn film is that the printers and the paper they use, is optimized for color photos...so you usually end up with a color cast.

If you use a good quality lab and tell them what you want, you can often get better results....which pretty much goes for anything.