[redrockcoulee]

I've been taking mine to the local Target but that may not be an option come Fall actually. I'm running out of places to take it locally. I may have to resort to developing it myself one of these days or sending it out to online labs. I don't really want to go there. I have chemical issues, but I'm thinking I'd better learn to develop my own film or forget using it soon. I don't want to give it up. I like it and I don't mind scanning negatives.

Do not know what your chemical issues are but if you do develop wear gloves and develop in a well vented area. My wife, a printmaker, has developed sensitities to certain chemicals due to poor practices when she first started out and made shure her students did not do the same. Disposable gloves are cheap, health is not. Good luck.

[Simian Summit]

I take them to London Drugs where they send them to the wrong lab which sends them back and they then go to the correct lab, same as the roll I shoot in my Pentax A110, not sure if they knew where to send it but supposedly all the way to Calgary but it is taking a long time for being only a three hour trip away

That's why I stopped sending my film to Shopper's

[eddie1960]

That's why I stopped sending my film to Shopper's

I use a shoppers at King and Yonge that have always been very good. the people running the booth actually seem to know the machine and something about film in general. I only use them for c41 35mm though. there are better options for the rest, though no where near as cheap. Sadly there machine broke down last week and they don't have a date it will be back up and running. I hear the shoppers on the danforth is also this good though so I will try them if it isn't fixed by the time i have another film for processing

[Simian Summit]

I use a shoppers at King and Yonge that have always been very good. the people running the booth actually seem to know the machine and something about film in general. I only use them for c41 35mm though. there are better options for the rest, though no where near as cheap. Sadly there machine broke down last week and they don't have a date it will be back up and running. I hear the shoppers on the danforth is also this good though so I will try them if it isn't fixed by the time i have another film for processing

The Shopper's by me is too small to have a machine so they send the film to Montreal. It used to be really good, but know they've cut the courier service down to once a week so it can take up to 2-3 weeks to get my film back depending on when I drop it off. So now I use the camera shop down the street from work. They're nice guys, they deserve the business. Although I do agree, no one is cheaper than Shopper's for C-41.

[eddie1960]

The Shopper's by me is too small to have a machine so they send the film to Montreal. It used to be really good, but know they've cut the courier service down to once a week so it can take up to 2-3 weeks to get my film back depending on when I drop it off. So now I use the camera shop down the street from work. They're nice guys, they deserve the business. Although I do agree, no one is cheaper than Shopper's for C-41.

yep if the shoppers goes to shipping out i'll use downtown camera but the cost increase will cut down on how I shoot C41.

[Kaufeetime]

While shooting B&W I sometimes make my outing a challenge or learning experience. I setup a tripod and shoot the same scene/subject with different lenses, f-stop, filters, and shutter speeds, take a notepad and write detailed notes. Note: time of day, clouds, film, subject etc. After I process the film I compare my notes to the final prints or on computer screen. You will learn a sense of what your equipment & film will do, which lens & filter combination will work best for the subject.

Add a touch of color to your b&w prints its called ‘Hand-coloring’. Click Wikipedia - B&W&C - Freestyle . Mat your prints and hang on the wall. Don’t stop after processing the film.

Enjoy your hobby.

[eddie1960]

While shooting B&W I sometimes make my outing a challenge or learning experience. I setup a tripod and shoot the same scene/subject with different lenses, f-stop, filters, and shutter speeds, take a notepad and write detailed notes. Note: time of day, clouds, film, subject etc. After I process the film I compare my notes to the final prints or on computer screen. You will learn a sense of what your equipment & film will do, which lens & filter combination will work best for the subject.
.

Enjoy your hobby.

Good advice - and pretty much how you had to learn the craft in pre digital days

[GeneV]

I haven't shot film in about a year, but I was taking the 35mm color negs to Walgreens and the 120 to a camera store. B&W souped at home. I now have a cabinet full of out of date B&W chemicals, but I have a new space to use for developing. I'm not sure how much more color I will be doing once I empty my freezer.

[G and T]

I used to have a full dark-room with 2 enlargers,B&W and colour processing.Now I still develop the negs, B&W, C41 and E6 but I no longer wet print, the space saving is enormous!
I scan my negs, 35mm on a dedicated scanner and medium format on an Epson V700 flatbed and after post processing in Lightroom and or Photo-Shop I print from there.

PS I have done some wet printing in the last 6 months but it was to contact print 600+ 10"x8" glass negatives left by my late uncle, all of them taken between 1900 and 1920.
I'm now scanning them which is a little bit of a challenge due to the glass on some of the negs creating newton rings,but the job is smaller than wet printing them.
Glenn

[womble]

PS I have done some wet printing in the last 6 months but it was to contact print 600+ 10"x8" glass negatives left by my late uncle, all of them taken between 1900 and 1920.
I'm now scanning them which is a little bit of a challenge due to the glass on some of the negs creating newton rings,but the job is smaller than wet printing them.
Glenn

The photo lab at work had a large selection of glass plates to deal with and they found the best and quickest way was to put the plate on a lightbox on a copystand and photograph them. Much quicker than scanning and pretty high resolution images. They just used the invert function in photoshop to turn the negs into positives.

Best wishes, Kris.

[LesDMess]

Great advice so far.

BTW, depending on where you are, you might want to check out your local community college and see if they offer a photography class and generally it is for b&w shooting, developing and darkroom printing. They will require class participation but they are very minimal - generally exposure and composition, and I use it just for access to the darkroom for making optical prints.

[fish4570]

for c-41, i take my film to a specific walgreens drugstore where i know and trust two guys to develop my film. i get 'em to make a CD, too, and leave the negs uncut. i shoot far, far more BW film that i develop and scan myself. developing negs really is a simple process, as is scanning ...

[John Poirier]

I used to have a full dark-room with 2 enlargers,B&W and colour processing.Now I still develop the negs, B&W, C41 and E6 but I no longer wet print, the space saving is enormous!
I scan my negs, 35mm on a dedicated scanner and medium format on an Epson V700 flatbed and after post processing in Lightroom and or Photo-Shop I print from there.

PS I have done some wet printing in the last 6 months but it was to contact print 600+ 10"x8" glass negatives left by my late uncle, all of them taken between 1900 and 1920.
I'm now scanning them which is a little bit of a challenge due to the glass on some of the negs creating newton rings,but the job is smaller than wet printing them.
Glenn

You can probably eliminate the newton rings by raising the negatives slightly so they do not contact the scanner glass. I've found that thin strips of plastic work well for this. If the size of the glass plates is consistent, you can tape the plastic strips in place.

You could experiment with plastic of different thicknesses to see whether changing height improves sharpness. This can be effective on scanners like the V700. (I presume you're scanning emulsion side down, in which case raising the negatives about 3mm might be a good starting point.)

[etibo1]

Well, thanks for all your answers!

I finally decided to go to a lab and get my C41 films developed there, for under 3$. They do the scanning for another 7$, but I'm thinking about getting eventually a Canon or HP scanner that scans negatives. And within a year, I'll buy what it takes to develop B&W negatives at home. Until then, I'll use Ilford's XP2 or Kodak BW400CN.

Cheers!