Film: Where do I even begin?!

[digitalshutterbug]

I've been a digital photographer for years and have never ventured into film photography because of all the costs of processing. I mean, all I needed to buy for digital was a camera and lenses. Done; my laptop does the work from there on in. With film there's cameras, lenses, the film itself, developing, a scanner... I want to try it out but there's so much equipment involved. Where do I even begin when I'm on a budget?

 

[Designer]

Back in the olden days we didn't use scanners. The cameras are fairly affordable these days.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Start with some B&W film and D-76. Many are selling off their darkroom stuff cheap.
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[timor]

Start with some B&W film and D-76. Many are selling off their darkroom stuff cheap.​

Maybe rather with some books ? It will be less disappointments down the road if the OP knows, what he is doing instead of shooting in the dark.


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[Mike_E]

Small steps.

Identify which camera you'd like to own and your first lens from what you'd like to start shooting first.

Get a couple of rolls of inexpensive film and send it out for development to make sure that the camera works as expected.

So, what kind of camera would you like to own? Small format- 135, medium format -120 or large format -4x5 and up?

Once you've identified what size film then we can work on brands and styles.

 

[webestang64]

Start with some B&W film and D-76. Many are selling off their darkroom stuff cheap.​

Maybe rather with some books ? It will be less disappointments down the road if the OP knows, what he is doing instead of shooting in the dark.


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The Basic Darkroom Book by Tom Grimm #0-452-25184-2 795. A good beginner book.

 

[DSRay]

Scanner, we don't need no stinking scanner...

But seriously, start with black and white film. You can buy a one reel developing tank and lots of rolls worth of chemistry (Developer, fixer and stop bath) for cheap. You don't need a darkroom but but you will need a dark room to load the developing tank. Start with the instructions on the developer bag.

If you're not going to invest in a darkroom and print on old fashion paper, I don't see the reason to shoot film, but that's up to you. You can pick up a cheap scanner to begin (experiment) with or, many places will scan for a modest cost.

If you're bound and determined to do color, good luck and I'd recommend investing in a water bath setup with a couple aquarium heaters for a cheap solution which will still afford a decent chance for respectable results. Buy as much film from the same emulsion lot as you can and store it in the refrigerator as it will save you LOTS of time and effort in the long run.

There's a reason why us old film people love digital and while I still shoot 120/220 and 4x5 film, I certainly don't develop it.

You might check your local camera club, community college, adult education or art society as often times they will have a lab set up that members can access.

 

[gsgary]

Well you have got to begin with a camera, look for one that will take the same lenses as your digital or buy one with and lens (50mm or 35mm probably best) personally i dont think film photography is expensive when you can develope your own films, i shoot mostly film

 

[ktan7]

I would suggest to invest in a good film camera and films. Developing and scanning, you should find a good lab for that. Don't waste your time developing and scanning. Focus on creating good images and becoming a better photographer.

 

[Josh66]

I would suggest to invest in a good film camera and films. Developing and scanning, you should find a good lab for that. Don't waste your time developing and scanning. Focus on creating good images and becoming a better photographer.

Gotta disagree here. Even with color film, where all films go in the same developer for the same length of time - it's cheaper to do it yourself.

With B&W, there are so many different film/developer combinations you could use (that actually do affect how the negatives look) that it becomes personal. If you send it out, you will most likely never even know what developer they used.

Personally, I don't know how you could ever really 'know what you were doing' if you passed half of the process off to someone else.

If your film is too grainy or had too little contrast or something like that, you would not even know why, or how to fix it.

 

[Light Guru]

I would suggest to invest in a good film camera and films. Developing and scanning, you should find a good lab for that. Don't waste your time developing and scanning. Focus on creating good images and becoming a better photographer.

Gotta disagree here. Even with color film, where all films go in the same developer for the same length of time - it's cheaper to do it yourself.

With B&W, there are so many different film/developer combinations you could use (that actually do affect how the negatives look) that it becomes personal. If you send it out, you will most likely never even know what developer they used.

Personally, I don't know how you could ever really 'know what you were doing' if you passed half of the process off to someone else.

If your film is too grainy or had too little contrast or something like that, you would not even know why, or how to fix it.

Agreed. Half the enjoyment of shooting film is developing it yourself.

 

[gsgary]

I would suggest to invest in a good film camera and films. Developing and scanning, you should find a good lab for that. Don't waste your time developing and scanning. Focus on creating good images and becoming a better photographer.

How can you take good images when you give control to a lab they don't know what your vision was for a shot

 

[Josh66]

With film there's cameras, lenses, the film itself, developing, a scanner...

The scanner IS going to be the most expensive thing starting out. You can send the film out to have high-res scans done, but this is expensive (sometimes worth the expense though) and slow. Plus, you have to actually send it out in the mail - I'm always paranoid about mailing my film. You never know what is going to happen to it once you drop it in the box...

I had a couple rolls get lost in the mail once, and that's when I started developing my own film.

And don't believe that "color is too hard to do at home" crap - color is easy. Easier than B&W even (and MUCH faster). If you have running hot water, you can do color at home.

The equipment you need for developing at home could all be had for less than $100. The tank & reels will be the most expensive single item of that purchase - and that will only be like $30-40 (new - less if you can find used equipment locally).


As far as the cost of sending the film out to be developed vs. doing it yourself - I'd say after 15-20 rolls sending it out becomes more expensive. That is, for what it would cost to send out 15-20 rolls to be developed, you could have bought everything you need to do it yourself.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Where to start? There are plenty of options available. Depending on what you want to have done - getting film developed, scanned, and/or printed - it can be done within a few days and the cost varies accordingly.

Starting out you could get some basic film, usually 100 ISO outdoors and 400 indoors is what I use. If there aren't any camera stores/labs in your area there are places where you can send in your film like The Darkroom in Franisco (San Clemente), Blue Moon in Oregon, Dwayne's in Kansas and others. Once you try it you might better be able to decide if you want to learn how to develop your own film or do your own prints and/or scanning.

I wouldn't have time to ever get all my own film developed myself LOL - it's going to take me long enough just to scan in negatives from film I've already shot. Typically color film processing wasn't done in a home darkroom but it seems like some people are developing their own and from what I understand it isn't too difficult. I enjoy doing B&W but usually would get the film developed at a lab and did my own prints at a local university's darkroom - I only had so much time to spend on it so did what worked for me. Now I'm getting equipment to be able to set up a home darkroom.

I don't know if you have a camera yet but there seem to be plenty of inexpensive film cameras to be found online thru sellers like KEH, Pittsburgh Camera Exchange, etc. There are resources on the FPP site that might help you get started.
http://www.fiomphotographyproject.com

 

[Josh66]

Typically color film processing wasn't done in a home darkroom but it seems like some people are developing their own and from what I understand it isn't too difficult.

The only "hurdle" is getting the chemicals to the right temperature (104°F, in the kits I use) - a hot water bath and a thermometer is all you really need for that. Once everything is at the right temperature, everything else is just like developing B&W - just that all of the times are shorter. Going from memory here, but something like 3.5 minutes in developer, 6 minutes in blix, 3.5 minute rinse, 1 minute in stabilizer. Then hang it up to dry. Start to finish, you're talking like 15 minutes (not counting the time it takes for the chemicals to get up to temp or drying time). I just developed a B&W roll, and the developer step alone was 15 minutes...

And, of course, you can develop different films at the same time - since the process is the same for all C-41 films.