Originally posted by jerryleejr My film bodies have been neglected of late. As my children are starting to take an interest in photography I’m letting them shoot both film and digital. However I have found it quite problematic where I live getting the film developed. They no longer develop in house and send them off take 1-2weeks to get them back. And I was shocked at the price. I don’t necessarily want to set up a dark room at home but I don’t really want to spend 20 bucks a roll locally. Any suggestions? I’m still pouring through all the great information here as well...
If your wondering we are using an *Ist, SF1N and PZ70
JJ
Hope I didn't miss this, but are you doing colour or b&w? If b&w, film developing is quite easy and inexpensive to get a basic kit to get going. I do as the previous poster, fehknt, does: Paterson tank (b&w only for me) and "scan" 35mm negs with a dslr and macro lens. I shoot a lot of medium format b&w film, and for that I use a flatbed scanner (Canon 9950F) which gives adequate resolution for about a 16x20 to 20x24 print from a 6x6 cm neg. However, I have found that flatbed scans of 35mm film are really lacking in resolution and just don't make the grade, even for 8x10 prints. To get good resolution for a 35mm scan you need a drum scanner (crazy-expensive!) or use the dslr scan technique, which really is the way to go. It's remarkable how good this is, if the negs are well shot and processed...quality in, quality out. You can get some large prints that are sharp with great tonality from fine-grained 35mm film, a good lens, and good shooting technique. Check out the many tutorials on the web for dslr scanning....lots of info there.
If you're interested in developing your own, the Paterson tank is highly recommended. Easy to load and use, lasts forever. If you get a multi-reel model you can cut your processing time significantly by doing several rolls at once. Ask away if you have any questions on films, developers and techniques. Sorry, I can't advise on home-developing colour films, but apparently there are some good kits out now that make this easy.
Have fun with this! It's very satisfying.
Cheers,
Svend