help me learn?

schwarzundweiss · 08-22-2009, 08:51 PM

i'd been thinking about getting into film photography for about a year now and i finally have. i started out my journey into photography with my first camera, a digital, fujifilm finepix s5200...its a decent camera but no d60 for sure. but i really wanted to get more out of photography and i hoped that film would be more rewarding and challenging. so lucky for me, my aunt found out about my interest and decided to give me her old cameras. a pentax ME Super and a pentax Super Program!

but im a complete newb about this....i've gone through a few rolls of film but i've only gotten one processed....at walgreens....some of the photos turned out good while the others were less than decent. my art teacher (as i am still in high school) looked at them and told me that walgreens used the wrong process, which i also know nothing about

basically, im new to this art form and not only are my pentax cameras my first slrs, their my first film cameras too. so any tips for a beginner like me would be greatly appreciated, and im also curious about film, if i order film from the internet i have a huge array to choose from but the stores around my area have such a limited selection, so what are some good films?

ps. im into black and white

pps....i know very little about film photography

thanks

KungPOW · 08-22-2009, 11:58 PM

Black and white film comes in two flavors.

C-41 process

&

Silver Halide

If you plan to develope your own film, you should be buying Silver Halide type films (Kodak tri-x, Ilford Delta)

If you are going to drop off your film at a one hour photolab, you should use C-41 films (Ilford XP2 super, Kodak BW400CN)

The problem with dropping Silver Halide films at the one hour lab, is that most need to send it out to be developed. And, if the lab tech gets mixed up, they might run it through the C-41 process. This will screw up your film. Usually it results in no pictures at all on the negatives.

So, film I would recomend to start: Ilford XP2 Super.

Welcome to the forum, and two great cameras by the way!

lithos · 08-23-2009, 02:52 AM

Welcome! Ilford XP2's good, but since you're in the US, it'll probably be easier to find Kodak BW400CN.

It's very, very, very easy to develop your own silver halide BW film. If you need any help, just ask. I do it, like a lot of people here (it's much cheaper than sending it out to be done, and the results are, ninety-nine times out of hundred, gonna be more to your liking.)

And if you're a student, the Pentax system - both film and digital - is much better than Nikon's, as you've got about 55-odd years of old lenses to choose from.

schwarzundweiss · 08-23-2009, 03:39 PM

well i haven't started to develop my own yet because i dont have enough extra dough to buy the supplies so i think i'll stay with the processing services...but there is also a problem, i live in the atlanta area and the only places i know of besides a lab downtown are the walgreens/cvs/riteaid.

the roll that i had developed was kodak 400bw like you mentioned and i liked the results, but i also picked up the last few rolls of kodak tmax 100bw at a wolf camera but i havent used that yet. thats a decent film right?

and another question, know of any good books that might help me understand the basic of slr photography? i have a copy of a book called Understanding Exposure lying around somewhere but i havent checked it yet

thas for the tips

lithos · 08-23-2009, 11:44 PM

Tmax is a silver halide BW film - you'll have to learn to dev it yourself, or send it out to a proper black-and-white lab.

Whether or not it's a good film is a matter of opinion. I, for one, can't stand it

.

titrisol · 08-24-2009, 07:44 AM

Tmax100 is a great film if you expose it develop it correctly.
It is quite finicky regarding exposure, and may produce quite contrasty negatives.
Plus-X Pan is a much better choice for the beginning (read harder to screw up)

Many a photographer liked TMX as EI50 developed in Rodinal.

Ratmagiclady · 08-24-2009, 10:00 AM

Originally posted by titrisol

Many a photographer liked TMX as EI50 developed in Rodinal.

This, I hadn't heard of. I've got a stack of expired TMX (I bought a huge pile of it from a supermarket's photo counter lab for a pittance, years ago, where I'm sure it was never refrigerated) Worked OK at first, but it just seems to be showing its age lately.

Also have plenty of Rodinal.

schwarzundweiss · 08-24-2009, 04:33 PM

well, titrisol, i love high contrast in my black and whites so i guess its a good choice for me.....

but so far, and into the near future i wont be developing my own film, just cant afford any extra toys these days, but there is a professional lab downtown....now, im not exactly sure what the terms 'sleeved and cut' and 'judge and run balance' mean, but im guessing that the developing and whatnot is $9 and the prints are $3,4, and 5.50 on this pricing chart from the labs website E-Six Lab -professional black and white film processing

so it would be $12-15 for 24 prints correct? is this a decent price?

straightshooter · 08-24-2009, 09:45 PM

Originally posted by schwarzundweiss

well, titrisol, i love high contrast in my black and whites so i guess its a good choice for me....

so it would be $12-15 for 24 prints correct? is this a decent price?

Compare several around the southeast. Fototechnika in Jacksonville charges 6.00 for processing and .50 per print for a total of 24.00 for processing and printing of 36 ex. Of course having an 8x12 index sheet made for 1.50 additional would avoid the cost of the prints or you could have them burn a CD of 5x7 pics for just .35 per exposure will cost only 12.60 + 6.00 for processing. Problem is when you go back, the prints are higher for 4x6 or 5x7 charges than when done with processing.

With E-6 in Atlanta, it's just a matter of finding a street in downtown that's either not torn up, blocked by a wreck from some Atlanta idiot that should still be on a bicycle with training wheels instead of in a car or a street that doesn't just have too many cars on it at one time causing gridlock and you can drop the film off yourself and tell them what you want.

CW

P>S> Are you northside, southside, midtown, I-20W, I-20E or what?

schwarzundweiss · 08-25-2009, 04:54 PM

for real man i hate driving downtown. and im from gwinnett county, but its only like 45 min to get downtown.

but is this saying that its $9.00 for process, and $.50 per print?

35mm process only (sleeved and cut)
$9.00

120mm process only (sleeved and cut)
$9.00

220mm process only (sleeved and cut)
$16.00

4x5 process only (sleeved)
$3.00

5x7 process only (sleeved)
$4.00

8x10 process only (sleeved)
$5.50

Sheet film, not boxed
$.50 each

Judge & Run balance
$2.00 per evaluation

Archival paging
$2.00 per page

geauxpez · 08-25-2009, 06:59 PM

Welcome to the forum -- those are nice cameras. They should serve you well.

I have no idea what judge and run balance is. But if you scan your stuff and just want it processed, you might check out "The Camera Doctor" in Decatur on the corner of Clairmont & North Decatur Rd. I think he charges around $5 a roll and will run it the same day...sometimes while you wait. The general rule it you cut it & provide your own sleeves or you can buy stuff from him. I don't remember what he charges for printing, but it is probably similar to E-Six. Last time he ran stuff for me I had a roll of HP5 pushed to 1600 and I don't think he charged extra for that.

PM me for other details.

Cheers,

Adam

titrisol · 08-25-2009, 11:48 PM

I have no idea if that is a decent price
but if you keep your eyes open in craiglist or similar you maybe able to get a full darkroom for ~100 dollars which would be the price of developing 6 rolls.
And a developing tank for a few bucks and sometimes free.

Originally posted by schwarzundweiss

well, titrisol, i love high contrast in my black and whites so i guess its a good choice for me.....

but so far, and into the near future i wont be developing my own film, just cant afford any extra toys these days, but there is a professional lab downtown....now, im not exactly sure what the terms 'sleeved and cut' and 'judge and run balance' mean, but im guessing that the developing and whatnot is $9 and the prints are $3,4, and 5.50 on this pricing chart from the labs website E-Six Lab -professional black and white film processing

so it would be $12-15 for 24 prints correct? is this a decent price?

geauxpez · 08-26-2009, 02:52 AM

The Craigslist here is pretty active. I sold my darkroom on there for the equivalent of dirt. I practically never see a decent price on tanks and reels and such, though. Too many people are trying to get full retail minus a dollar for their dusty old crap.

schwarzundweiss · 08-26-2009, 04:03 PM

well thanks for the welcome...i dont even know what "cut" and "sleeves" means.....or "pull"...thats how new to this i am i guess, im only 17 lol so i hadnt even seen film since i was a child.

a question about the shop in decatur, i've only driven through there, but i know how to get to L5P, is it close?

geauxpez · 08-26-2009, 05:54 PM

Nope. Not close. I will send a PM with full details.

08-22-2009, 08:51 PM	#1
schwarzundweiss Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: atlanta, georgia Photos: Gallery Posts: 10	help me learn? i'd been thinking about getting into film photography for about a year now and i finally have. i started out my journey into photography with my first camera, a digital, fujifilm finepix s5200...its a decent camera but no d60 for sure. but i really wanted to get more out of photography and i hoped that film would be more rewarding and challenging. so lucky for me, my aunt found out about my interest and decided to give me her old cameras. a pentax ME Super and a pentax Super Program! but im a complete newb about this....i've gone through a few rolls of film but i've only gotten one processed....at walgreens....some of the photos turned out good while the others were less than decent. my art teacher (as i am still in high school) looked at them and told me that walgreens used the wrong process, which i also know nothing about basically, im new to this art form and not only are my pentax cameras my first slrs, their my first film cameras too. so any tips for a beginner like me would be greatly appreciated, and im also curious about film, if i order film from the internet i have a huge array to choose from but the stores around my area have such a limited selection, so what are some good films? ps. im into black and white pps....i know very little about film photography thanks

08-24-2009, 09:45 PM	#9
straightshooter Inactive Account Join Date: May 2008 Location: Forest Park, Georgia/Jacksonville, Florida Photos: Gallery Posts: 633	Originally posted by schwarzundweiss well, titrisol, i love high contrast in my black and whites so i guess its a good choice for me.... so it would be $12-15 for 24 prints correct? is this a decent price? Compare several around the southeast. Fototechnika in Jacksonville charges 6.00 for processing and .50 per print for a total of 24.00 for processing and printing of 36 ex. Of course having an 8x12 index sheet made for 1.50 additional would avoid the cost of the prints or you could have them burn a CD of 5x7 pics for just .35 per exposure will cost only 12.60 + 6.00 for processing. Problem is when you go back, the prints are higher for 4x6 or 5x7 charges than when done with processing. With E-6 in Atlanta, it's just a matter of finding a street in downtown that's either not torn up, blocked by a wreck from some Atlanta idiot that should still be on a bicycle with training wheels instead of in a car or a street that doesn't just have too many cars on it at one time causing gridlock and you can drop the film off yourself and tell them what you want. CW P>S> Are you northside, southside, midtown, I-20W, I-20E or what? Last edited by straightshooter; 08-24-2009 at 10:08 PM.

08-26-2009, 05:54 PM	#15
geauxpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Atlanta Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,196	Nope. Not close. I will send a PM with full details. Last edited by geauxpez; 08-26-2009 at 06:41 PM.

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08-22-2009, 11:58 PM	#2
KungPOW Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,699	Black and white film comes in two flavors. C-41 process & Silver Halide If you plan to develope your own film, you should be buying Silver Halide type films (Kodak tri-x, Ilford Delta) If you are going to drop off your film at a one hour photolab, you should use C-41 films (Ilford XP2 super, Kodak BW400CN) The problem with dropping Silver Halide films at the one hour lab, is that most need to send it out to be developed. And, if the lab tech gets mixed up, they might run it through the C-41 process. This will screw up your film. Usually it results in no pictures at all on the negatives. So, film I would recomend to start: Ilford XP2 Super. Welcome to the forum, and two great cameras by the way!

08-23-2009, 02:52 AM	#3
lithos Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Brisbane, QLD, AUS Posts: 3,261	Welcome! Ilford XP2's good, but since you're in the US, it'll probably be easier to find Kodak BW400CN. It's very, very, very easy to develop your own silver halide BW film. If you need any help, just ask. I do it, like a lot of people here (it's much cheaper than sending it out to be done, and the results are, ninety-nine times out of hundred, gonna be more to your liking.) And if you're a student, the Pentax system - both film and digital - is much better than Nikon's, as you've got about 55-odd years of old lenses to choose from.

08-23-2009, 03:39 PM	#4
schwarzundweiss Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: atlanta, georgia Photos: Gallery Posts: 10 Original Poster	well i haven't started to develop my own yet because i dont have enough extra dough to buy the supplies so i think i'll stay with the processing services...but there is also a problem, i live in the atlanta area and the only places i know of besides a lab downtown are the walgreens/cvs/riteaid. the roll that i had developed was kodak 400bw like you mentioned and i liked the results, but i also picked up the last few rolls of kodak tmax 100bw at a wolf camera but i havent used that yet. thats a decent film right? and another question, know of any good books that might help me understand the basic of slr photography? i have a copy of a book called Understanding Exposure lying around somewhere but i havent checked it yet thas for the tips

08-23-2009, 11:44 PM	#5
lithos Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Brisbane, QLD, AUS Posts: 3,261	Tmax is a silver halide BW film - you'll have to learn to dev it yourself, or send it out to a proper black-and-white lab. Whether or not it's a good film is a matter of opinion. I, for one, can't stand it .

08-24-2009, 07:44 AM	#6
titrisol Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: In the most populated state... state of denial Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,852	Tmax100 is a great film if you expose it develop it correctly. It is quite finicky regarding exposure, and may produce quite contrasty negatives. Plus-X Pan is a much better choice for the beginning (read harder to screw up) Many a photographer liked TMX as EI50 developed in Rodinal.

08-24-2009, 10:00 AM	#7
Ratmagiclady Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: GA Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 13,563	Originally posted by titrisol Many a photographer liked TMX as EI50 developed in Rodinal. This, I hadn't heard of. I've got a stack of expired TMX (I bought a huge pile of it from a supermarket's photo counter lab for a pittance, years ago, where I'm sure it was never refrigerated) Worked OK at first, but it just seems to be showing its age lately. Also have plenty of Rodinal.

08-24-2009, 04:33 PM	#8
schwarzundweiss Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: atlanta, georgia Photos: Gallery Posts: 10 Original Poster	well, titrisol, i love high contrast in my black and whites so i guess its a good choice for me..... but so far, and into the near future i wont be developing my own film, just cant afford any extra toys these days, but there is a professional lab downtown....now, im not exactly sure what the terms 'sleeved and cut' and 'judge and run balance' mean, but im guessing that the developing and whatnot is $9 and the prints are $3,4, and 5.50 on this pricing chart from the labs website E-Six Lab -professional black and white film processing so it would be $12-15 for 24 prints correct? is this a decent price?

08-25-2009, 04:54 PM	#10
schwarzundweiss Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: atlanta, georgia Photos: Gallery Posts: 10 Original Poster	for real man i hate driving downtown. and im from gwinnett county, but its only like 45 min to get downtown. but is this saying that its $9.00 for process, and $.50 per print? 35mm process only (sleeved and cut) $9.00 120mm process only (sleeved and cut) $9.00 220mm process only (sleeved and cut) $16.00 4x5 process only (sleeved) $3.00 5x7 process only (sleeved) $4.00 8x10 process only (sleeved) $5.50 Sheet film, not boxed $.50 each Judge & Run balance $2.00 per evaluation Archival paging $2.00 per page

08-25-2009, 06:59 PM	#11
geauxpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Atlanta Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,196	Welcome to the forum -- those are nice cameras. They should serve you well. I have no idea what judge and run balance is. But if you scan your stuff and just want it processed, you might check out "The Camera Doctor" in Decatur on the corner of Clairmont & North Decatur Rd. I think he charges around $5 a roll and will run it the same day...sometimes while you wait. The general rule it you cut it & provide your own sleeves or you can buy stuff from him. I don't remember what he charges for printing, but it is probably similar to E-Six. Last time he ran stuff for me I had a roll of HP5 pushed to 1600 and I don't think he charged extra for that. PM me for other details. Cheers, Adam

08-25-2009, 11:48 PM	#12
titrisol Pentaxian Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: In the most populated state... state of denial Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,852	I have no idea if that is a decent price but if you keep your eyes open in craiglist or similar you maybe able to get a full darkroom for ~100 dollars which would be the price of developing 6 rolls. And a developing tank for a few bucks and sometimes free. Originally posted by schwarzundweiss well, titrisol, i love high contrast in my black and whites so i guess its a good choice for me..... but so far, and into the near future i wont be developing my own film, just cant afford any extra toys these days, but there is a professional lab downtown....now, im not exactly sure what the terms 'sleeved and cut' and 'judge and run balance' mean, but im guessing that the developing and whatnot is $9 and the prints are $3,4, and 5.50 on this pricing chart from the labs website E-Six Lab -professional black and white film processing so it would be $12-15 for 24 prints correct? is this a decent price?

08-26-2009, 02:52 AM	#13
geauxpez Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Atlanta Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,196	The Craigslist here is pretty active. I sold my darkroom on there for the equivalent of dirt. I practically never see a decent price on tanks and reels and such, though. Too many people are trying to get full retail minus a dollar for their dusty old crap.

08-26-2009, 04:03 PM	#14
schwarzundweiss Inactive Account Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: atlanta, georgia Photos: Gallery Posts: 10 Original Poster	well thanks for the welcome...i dont even know what "cut" and "sleeves" means.....or "pull"...thats how new to this i am i guess, im only 17 lol so i hadnt even seen film since i was a child. a question about the shop in decatur, i've only driven through there, but i know how to get to L5P, is it close?