The Walgreens drug store down the street from me will process C41 and doesn't embed too much crud into the negs. When I want better quality, I drive about 14 miles to Palo Alto where they'll run the film in a clean processor. Either place will have it done in about half an hour for negs only.
If you don't have a lab nearby, it's easy to process standard B&W films on your own. All you need some basic equipment (changing bag, daylight tank, thermometer, measuring cups and storage bottles) and developer/fixer. I scan all negatives, whether I do them at home or have them processed, as all of my rendering and printing is done via Lightroom and my Epson printer—I get better results that way. You can get a flatbed scanner with transparency cover that'll do a respectable job at a pretty low price these days. I have a Nikon Coolscan V ED film scanner that's a bit higher end than I need, but I got it cheap enough. Film work is pretty labor intensive and time consuming to do right, and I get much better color results working with digital capture, but there is a feel to B&W film images which I like. And of course, I just like shooting with the Rollei 35S, Leica M4-2 and Nikon F too much to see them sit unused. Godfrey On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 8:46 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Luckily there are a few pro labs left here in Toronto that still develop > black and white film. Sadly, no commercial lab that I know of still does wet > process printing; all scan negs and print digitally. Still some pretty good > results, though. > > Cheers, > frank > > "What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." -- > Christopher Hitchens > > --- Original Message --- > > From: Jeffery Smith <[email protected]> > Sent: May 6, 2012 5/6/12 > To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: OT - Took the Leica CL for a Stroll > > I would love to use my film cameras, but there are too few labs down here. > The last time I used Walgreens down her, the negatives were covered with > crud. The next time I went there, I took a look at their Fuji Frontier > processor. The negs came out and seemed to be falling into a square metal > wastebasket. An indication that digital ICE cures everything. > > Sent from my iPad > > On May 6, 2012, at 21:33, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Got lazy. Just went to the local camera shop and picked up 10 rolls, >> 24 exp, Ilford XP2 Super. That'll do fine. Next up for shooting with: >> Nikon F fitted with Nikkor 50mm f/1.2 AI. :-) >> >> G >> >> On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 9:16 AM, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[email protected]> wrote: >>> Pick the right film and digital cameras and it's almost exactly the >>> same experience. This is why I have both an M4-2 and an M-9, a Nikon F >>> and an Olympus E-1. Use them all 100% manual settings, even replaced >>> the Photomic FTn head on the F with the plain prism finder. Either >>> guess or use my hand-held exposure meter. I love that experience. >>> >>> Reminds me: I should order some XP2 today. I'm down to my last roll. >>> It will be the first time I've bought film since 2002. >>> >>> G >>> >>> >>> On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 5:31 AM, Steven Desjardins <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> Film shooting is more relaxing. There's only so much you can do, >>>> after all. Digital is like an F1 car with all those adjustments for >>>> every turn on the wheel. Film is like NASCAR: pick line, hit the >>>> gas, try not to crash. >>>> >>>> On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 12:28 AM, [email protected] >>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> First time in almost a year. It was cool but weird. >>>>> >>>>> Took very few photos as I was always conscious that my film supply was >>>>> finite (had about 32 shots left on the roll with no fresh roll in my >>>>> pocket). >>>>> >>>>> Also, no chimping, no processing and posting the same day. >>>>> >>>>> Still, it handles so beautifully and feels so reassuringly solid that >>>>> it's just a joy to use, even though completely manual. >>>>> >>>>> Who knows when the photos I took today will be.posted? >>>>> >>>>> ;-) >>>>> >>>>> cheers, >>>>> frank >>>>> >>>>> "What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof." -- >>>>> Christopher Hitchens >>>>> -- >>>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>>>> follow the directions. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Steve Desjardins >>>> >>>> -- >>>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>>> follow the directions. >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Godfrey >>> godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com >> >> >> >> -- >> Godfrey >> godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- Godfrey godfreydigiorgi.posterous.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
