outdated b&w film for beginners

[ann]

Your on the right track, however, I would suggest you remove the squeeze , it is a disaster waiting to happen. They collect dirt which even a tiny bit will damage your film. Wet fingers do a good job.

The first roll of film is always the hardest and most nerve racking, after that is basically clock watching and temperature control with consistence workflow.

A dealer like Freestyle is going to be sure the film is stored properly so it might be worth a try. However, since your just starting out and don't have a background in what a proper exposed and developed negative should look like there may be some problems if something goes wrong.

Go to Ilford's website , they have a series of pdf on want equipment is needed, and basic tutorials on how to's from film to printing.

Learning to become a good printer is the toughest learning curve in the process especially when you learning on your own. Scanning is an option, but scanning is a skill set as well, but might be faster as a learning device.

As a very old film user I think the background gained here will be well worth the effort.

Have fun

 

[gsgary]

Have you decided on which film camera(s) you'll be getting/using?

Medium format gives a lot more bang for the buck these days, now that the great medium format cameras of yesteryear can be had so inexpensively. Ordering MF film online is as easy as ordering 35mm film online, and developing is just as easy also.

For printing, a lot of folks scan the negs themselves and print at home with inkjet. You may find that not only do the locals not sell B&W film anymore, they don't process or print it either. So for prints, there's a good chance you'll send the negs through the mail and wait for prints or do it yourself at home, just like the developing.

Or, if the inkjet isn't really the quality photos you want to produce, enlargers and the rest of the darkroom stuff you'd need can be had on eBay or Craigslist seriously cheap these days as well, though you'd need to actually put together a real darkroom for that.

Just some more stuff to think about.

I'm looking to pick up a nice Mamiya C330

 

[Buckster]

Have you decided on which film camera(s) you'll be getting/using?

Medium format gives a lot more bang for the buck these days, now that the great medium format cameras of yesteryear can be had so inexpensively. Ordering MF film online is as easy as ordering 35mm film online, and developing is just as easy also.

For printing, a lot of folks scan the negs themselves and print at home with inkjet. You may find that not only do the locals not sell B&W film anymore, they don't process or print it either. So for prints, there's a good chance you'll send the negs through the mail and wait for prints or do it yourself at home, just like the developing.

Or, if the inkjet isn't really the quality photos you want to produce, enlargers and the rest of the darkroom stuff you'd need can be had on eBay or Craigslist seriously cheap these days as well, though you'd need to actually put together a real darkroom for that.

Just some more stuff to think about.

I'm looking to pick up a nice Mamiya C330

Great camera. I love mine:

 

[naptime]

we are using canon eos rebel 2000's

guess I'll skip the squeegee then. Thanks.

I'm actually more concerned with learning photography than I am with developing.

I'm a screenprinter. My shop is my garage. Everything about creating screens and printing film positives is all about emulsion, light, and timing as well.

we have a great inkjet that we use for our positives, its wide format. I never even thought about just buying photo paper and printing ourselves.

we have a scanner as well..... Is scanning b&w best as simple as just scanning them and creating a negative of the negative in Photoshop?

 

[Josh66]

Is scanning b&w best as simple as just scanning them and creating a negative of the negative in Photoshop?

Not sure about your scanner, but typically (on a dedicated film scanner) the software will automatically invert the colors before scanning. If your scanner can scan film, it probably came with a film holder... You don't want to lay the film directly on the glass. You will get Newton rings if you do.

Newton's rings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is basically how film scanning works: You do a quick, low resolution preview scan. You use this to adjust things like contrast and curves, and where you want the edges of the frame to be. Once you have everything how you want it, you do the high resolution scan, which can take a while depending on which scanner you're using and what resolution you're scanning at. For 35mm, I would say around 1 minute per frame, plus or minus... A regular flatbed scanner will not have the resolution that a film scanner will.


If you want to make your own prints on an enlarger, you will obviously need an enlarger. You will also need a darkroom...

You don't need a darkroom for just developing film. Everything you need to do in the dark can be done in a changing bag.

 

[naptime]

Is scanning b&w best as simple as just scanning them and creating a negative of the negative in Photoshop?

Not sure about your scanner, but typically (on a dedicated film scanner) the software will automatically invert the colors before scanning. If your scanner can scan film, it probably came with a film holder... You don't want to lay the film directly on the glass. You will get Newton rings if you do.

Newton's rings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is basically how film scanning works: You do a quick, low resolution preview scan. You use this to adjust things like contrast and curves, and where you want the edges of the frame to be. Once you have everything how you want it, you do the high resolution scan, which can take a while depending on which scanner you're using and what resolution you're scanning at. For 35mm, I would say around 1 minute per frame, plus or minus... A regular flatbed scanner will not have the resolution that a film scanner will.


If you want to make your own prints on an enlarger, you will obviously need an enlarger. You will also need a darkroom...

You don't need a darkroom for just developing film. Everything you need to do in the dark can be done in a changing bag.

cool. Yeah our scanner is just a typical flatbed scanner. Scans great. And scans 1200dpi but its still just a standard flatbed HP.

 

[naptime]

Newton rings......

never heard of that before...... But I see them everyday !

when I expose my screens, before exposing to light, I have a vacuum seal. This vacuum pulls the film positive and the emulsion coated screen, against a piece of glass. And then we expose to uv light.

but, we don't turn on the light until there is good vacuum.

we know there is good vacuum when we view from underneath and see the "rainbow colored oilish looking circles all over the positive."

that's the technical term I have always used...... Turns out they are Newton ring !

 

[ann]

are you wanting to make digital negatives and use with your other business? Then find one of two books, one by Mark Nelson and the other by Dan Burkholder. they have specific systems for making a digital negative from a file and then being able to use that negative with various traditional process. Precision Negative is Mark's and off the top of my head I don't remember Dan's, but google should provide more than enough information for research.

Darkrooms are a wonderful magical place, however, learning how to print has a serious learning curve, and you might be better served with scanning and inkjet printing.

 

[naptime]

no, i have no intentions of using my photos for screen printing.

my daughter wants to be a graphic designer and a photographer. and i've always wanted to, so we are getting started. nothing more than a hobby for me.. at least for now...

we simply want to develop at home because its so cheap. much nicer alternative for my wallet than developing for 7 bucks a roll at a lab.

then we figured we would also only get prints from whatever shots we felt deserved to be printed.

now, its looking like it might be just as well to print at home with the inkjet.

i was just doing some ebay/amazon/youtube trolling.... and it looks like film scanners are relatively cheap. i'm seeing many as low as 30 bucks with free shipping. some that scan right into the pc, and some that scan onto sd card. i thought they would be slow too, but most look like they are less than a second per negative.

looks like we are gonna go that route!!

thanks everyone!

 

[Proteus617]

i was just doing some ebay/amazon/youtube trolling.... and it looks like film scanners are relatively cheap. i'm seeing many as low as 30 bucks with free shipping. some that scan right into the pc, and some that scan onto sd card. i thought they would be slow too, but most look like they are less than a second per negative.

Do the cheap scanners you are looking at look like this? That class of scanners sucks horribly. Not good for a beginner, not good for anyone. Start hunting for an Epson Perfection Photo flatbed. The basics you are looking for is an illumination unit in the lid and separate negative holders that sit on the flatbed. New units are reasonable, used can be dirt cheap, especially if they are a generation old.