Hello

[Hektor]

I stumbled upon this forum looking for 35 mm slide processing. I am hardly new to photography (I am in my 60s and I began this hobby in 1964 or so)
I switched over to digital about 3 years ago and now I am going back slightly to film. I just found a nice Minolta XD 11 - for the second time in my life, but for many years I was a true Leica user until arthritis made it very hard to load an M2, not to mention an M4-2. I like the Lumix GF1 and the LX3 is a true gem, but after doing a photo book and going through several of my slide books covering 40 plus years, I am going to shoot some more film to make some comparisons. Film is no longer a practical thing but I need another challenge in my life other than my target shooting obsession. My wife and I are making another Hawaii trip in November that that is THE place to shoot Velvia, in my opinion, as well as a good digital.

After my long winded introduction I will be quiet and wait to see if someone can give me direction to get the most economical 35 mm slide processing, or better still, a recommended print film alternative to Velvia.
Thanks in advance, John

 

[apples]

Welcome!

I just started film shooting not too long ago so I'm pretty sure I won't be much help answering your questions. Good luck!

 

[gsgary]

If you lived in the Uk i could give lots of places to get your Velvia processed, Fuji Reala is a nice color film, Kodak Ektar is also nice, Kodak Portra

 

[ulrichsd]

Welcome John! I always used to use film up until about 10 years ago, but that was before I had an SLR and was using consumer grade film like Kodak gold.

I'm also heading out to Hawaii (Maui and Oahu) for the first time next month. I'm thinking about bringing my medium format and shooting some Ektar 100 instead of Velvia (blasphemy!) I'm still trying to decide whether to bring my 35mm N75 where I can share lenses with my D90 or bring the medium format Yashica Mat (fixed 80mm). I'm not going to bring both as 3 cameras is just ridiculous (but two is perfectly reasonable!).

I just got some Velvia and Ektar developed at Dwayne's Photo; I wasn't thrilled with the scanning, but its pretty cheap ($9 per roll for processing + $5 scanning + $5 shipping first roll and $0.50 each additional roll), here's there slide film order form. I'm hoping to find a good place in Cincinnati to start getting stuff processed though.

Good luck!!
Scott

 

[cepwin]

Just a thought...if you're going to be doing a lot of film shooting have you considered a film scanner? They're pretty readily available and you can get one as cheap as $30 upwards to a few hundred $$.

 

[usayit]

Just a thought...if you're going to be doing a lot of film shooting have you considered a film scanner? They're pretty readily available and you can get one as cheap as $30 upwards to a few hundred $$.

For Gods sake, dont go cheap with a film scanner..... better off printing from negative.

 

[Hektor]

I have an Epson flat bed scanner that can do slides and negatives - I was just wonder what format most of you use to make digital transfers.
John

 

[morganza]

Just a thought...if you're going to be doing a lot of film shooting have you considered a film scanner? They're pretty readily available and you can get one as cheap as $30 upwards to a few hundred $$.

For Gods sake, dont go cheap with a film scanner..... better off printing from negative.

I have to agree with that.

 

[Josh66]

I have an Epson flat bed scanner that can do slides and negatives - I was just wonder what format most of you use to make digital transfers.
John

As in file format of the scan? Lately I have been scanning in TIFF. Out of all the formats my scanner offers, it seems to be the best one (though it also makes the largest files).