Originally posted by dkevin I am re-entering the world of 35mm and I need some recommendations for 35mm film (brand and speed). I have K1000 cameras and am taking most (if not all) of my photos outside in the less-than-sunny beautiful Northwest US. I am trying to learn how to scan and edit my own pictures. So, I guess my question is, what brand of film do you prefer for shooting? I probably will not enlarge the pictures beyond 8x10. I don't know if I have provided enough information in order to allow suggestions to be made...if not, let me know what I have left out and I will fill in the blanks...Thanks for your help!
A man after my own heart. I started with digital in 2000. About five years ago I realized how much I missed film. Developing it, the craft. And making images has become so diluted in value because of the ubiquitous of digital. Now, everyone with a spare $500 is a photographer. Not that they could tell you what an F stop is. I don't mean to denigrate those who are masters with digital, just speaking of the hoi paloi.
And you should see the looks and comments I get with the film rigs. The noisy shutter, the noisy film winder, the size. Ha ha.
And then there's putting my 1960's Honeywell Strobonar "potato masher" flash on my little Minolta digicams. Back to the future.
Best film? As much as I love making my own developers, and developing traditional B&W, I've found the best all around films are in the color negative class. The hardest part might well be finding a place to develop them! Of course, I develop C-41, too, but sometimes not convenient.
Why C-41 color? First, despite the long history as low quality consumer films, you'd be surprised what they actually do with the technologies of the last 20 years. ISO 400 films are finer grained that ISO 100 conventional B&W. Second, they scan much easier than silver based films, although I've never had much issue with a small range of scanners I have. Third, you can get B&W or color, obviously. No more carrying two camera bodies like my father had to.
I used to teach a class, "Preserving Your Family's Photographic Heritage." I'm editing and putting the handouts together into an online book..........any day now...............
I'd be happy to send you the chapter "How to Become a Scanmeister in One Hour" if you want. Or, anyone else. Warning: The style and font was selected to be used as a paper handout. I'm redoing my pages into a more e-friendly format, but this chapter hasn't been done yet. Just send me an email directly, please: paulv You Know What paulv.net .
The chapter is all about scanner settings and pre-scan corrections that are needed so often with highly variable quality images, such as many family ones, or time altered.
---------- Post added 01-12-16 at 10:21 AM ----------
Originally posted by dkevin Great suggestions all! I used to use Fuji 200 color (C-41?) and was happy with the results. I understand the sentiment of loading up and just shooting...but I wondered if there were better options available. I am planning on sending the film out for developing at a quality lab (open to suggestions here too!) and having the negatives returned without lab scans/CD etc. I guess I got used to the cheap Costco developing/printing and when it went away, I parked my 35mm stuff. However, there seems to be more options than I first thought (self-scanning and fine-tuning) and I am re-entering the pool...one toe at a time. I bought an Epson V500 scanner for a real good price and am gonna start with the negatives I currently have. Eventually I will scan my own developed negatives ( if I like my own work) and have them printed by a decent lab.
If you are only developing to negatives, any place will work just fine. Think of all those one hour joints of yore, designed to be operated by people who knew nothing about photography. Even if the film were to not be developed perfectly, you could probably compensate in the scan or subsequent image work.