Knowing nothing about film, I have this question

[stsinner]

edit
About your user name- I always assumed that it was a play on words: Saint/Sinner. Is this the case?
I've always pronounced it "Stinner" though...

Yeah, that's right.. I like the impossibility of the conflicting titles..

 

[stsinner]

How does film go from light sensitive to the point that if you open your camera back you ruin it to a negative that you can hold up to the light and look at? Off to google I go...

 

[Josh66]

How does film go from light sensitive to the point that if you open your camera back you ruin it to a negative that you can hold up to the light and look at? Off to google I go...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu0Ul_wsYO8]YouTube - How to Develop Film[/ame]
(The film is already in the tank, you have to do that in the dark. ...They don't show that part on the video.)

http://science.howstuffworks.com/film.htm

 

[ann]

film is light sensitive.

when the aperture opens it exposes the film, in a similar way as it does on you digital sensor.

if you open the back of the camera without rewinding the film, the light exposes any of the film it "sees". If this happens the film becomes basically unuseable, equals no images.

Selective light on the film creates a negative which then is used to create a print.

a simple version of what happens.

i am sure someone will give you a more specific run down

 

[Flash Harry]

You can buy those machines, but they are commercial machiens and they are seriously expencive and their processing quality is shit to put it bluntly.


This is wrong, usually these machines are run by shop assistants who know zilch about processing so color and quality would be way off, pro labs use the same machines but are operated by photographers/lab techs etc, these would be calibrated weekly/monthly, they dev the film and not all produce digital scanned prints, the photo paper, on rolls, is exposed to light internally, projected through the neg then the prints pass through the three bath chemical soup and fall out the other end as finished. Print quality varies with operator and outlet, hence garbage prints from snappy snaps unless the machine just got its monthly overhaul.

I would use any of these 1 hour shops for proofs when I used film, all selections by clients would then be hand printed, its far too expensive to proof your own if your a one man show and also far too time consuming, especially 2-300 wedding shots that you wanted to show the punters on the night. H

 

[fwellers]

This is an interesting thread for me. I hope Stsinner doesn't mind of I tag along. I've been entertaining the idea of getting a rangefinder, which means film ( for the most part ).
I hope one of you experts can help clear it up for me as well.

1) As Stsinner asked, if it's true that there is a warmer or smoother quality to film than digital, does the act of scanning the developed negatives remove that film quality totally ? I would think it would because it is making it digital.

2) Is there the possibility of huge quality differences between developer shops if they are used to just develop the negatives ? I mean, would a pro or someone who really cares about image quality need to vet out a good shop or do the developing themselves, or does pretty much everyplace give the same quality ( walmart excluded )
I'm trying to figure out if going to film would require me to learn to develop.

Thanks,
floyd

 

[Josh66]

or does pretty much everyplace give the same quality ( walmart excluded )
I'm trying to figure out if going to film would require me to learn to develop.

I've actually been getting pretty good results from Walmart. It could vary from store to store, so that doesn't mean all of them are good.
I don't get their prints though - the prints were unimpressive (they were OK..., but not as good as I can get at home). I get develop only ($1.78 - can't beat that) and scan them at home.

Eventually I would like to develop my own though.

I haven't really tried any pro labs, so maybe Walmart really does suck and I just don't know it. For less than two bucks I think they're pretty damn good though.

 

[Battou]

You can buy those machines, but they are commercial machiens and they are seriously expencive and their processing quality is shit to put it bluntly.

This is wrong, usually these machines are run by shop assistants who know zilch about processing so color and quality would be way off, pro labs use the same machines but are operated by photographers/lab techs etc, these would be calibrated weekly/monthly, they dev the film and not all produce digital scanned prints, the photo paper, on rolls, is exposed to light internally, projected through the neg then the prints pass through the three bath chemical soup and fall out the other end as finished. Print quality varies with operator and outlet, hence garbage prints from snappy snaps unless the machine just got its monthly overhaul.

I would use any of these 1 hour shops for proofs when I used film, all selections by clients would then be hand printed, its far too expensive to proof your own if your a one man show and also far too time consuming, especially 2-300 wedding shots that you wanted to show the punters on the night. H

OK, I still do not see how that would be incorrect, The OP stated that he knows little about film and processing. In the even that he would go out and spend the two fortunes and first born son to buy one of these machines for his own personal use how would he be any different than shop assistants who know zilch about processing and machine maintanence

I was merely saying that at this juncture he would be better served to just take it down and send it out for processing at a lab and then go from there as opposed for looking for a quick do it all in house machine.

 

[Flash Harry]

"processing quality is shit"

Is what I referred to, its a machine which is programmed by the operator/owner, as long as the chems are correctly mixed, temp is correct and time in the soup correct too then the processing of the neg is right, now if you mean quality of prints this is down to who calibrated the machine for color etc and if the operator is color/density/saturation aware, mostly they are not and usually just shop assistants = **** prints. H

 

[tsaraleksi]

I've actually been getting pretty good results from Walmart. It could vary from store to store, so that doesn't mean all of them are good.
I don't get their prints though - the prints were unimpressive (they were OK..., but not as good as I can get at home). I get develop only ($1.78 - can't beat that) and scan them at home.

Eventually I would like to develop my own though.

I haven't really tried any pro labs, so maybe Walmart really does suck and I just don't know it. For less than two bucks I think they're pretty damn good though.

As long as the machines are well taken care of, basic film processing should be roughly the same at Wal-mart as anywhere else. However, if you want to something special (say, push or pull your negs, or whatever else) then you'll be SOL at Wal-mart. At the same time, a lot of the advantage of a pro shop is knowing that they will take care of your negs moreso than the kid who got put on photo dept. rotation last week. Reliability and consistency are (as always) going to cost you. However, for nothing but developing pro labs aren't really that pricey, the place I've used is probably not much more than Walmart for negs-only.

 

[Josh66]

a lot of the advantage of a pro shop is knowing that they will take care of your negs moreso than the kid who got put on photo dept. rotation last week.

The two people who usually work the photo department at my Walmart are pretty careful. Every now and then there is someone else behind the counter though...I've had one of those 'other' people scratch up my negs before - so I know what you mean.

Reliability and consistency are (as always) going to cost you. However, for nothing but developing pro labs aren't really that pricey, the place I've used is probably not much more than Walmart for negs-only.

I may have to look around a little and see what my options are. I had expected prices at a pro lab to be much higher.