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csziggy

(34,120 posts)
Fri Apr 19, 2019, 10:18 PM Apr 2019

Where is the best place to find 35mm film and to get it developed?

I just inherited two Canon A-1 bodies and a set of various lenses for them. They have been barely used - my Dad bought them but never got into using them much. They have been stored in a hard case that was well sealed and are like new.

I'm not sure if I will use them - I've gotten too spoiled with my Nikon D750 I just bought and love the immediacy of the digital cameras. But it would nice to try these old Canons out.

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csziggy

(34,120 posts)
7. Oh - I am a Nikon person
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 10:39 AM
Apr 2019

I just retired my Nikon N70 35mm camera and my Nikon D70 digital. My husband is using the lenses we bought for them on his Nikon D750 body. We generally buy two camera bodies so we each have one to use. I bought a Nikkor 28-300 zoom for my D750 so I wouldn't have to swap lenses around.

I just know that it is hard to find places locally to buy and develop 35mm film. When we were preparing to store the N70 we found a roll of film in it. The place my husband took it to must have sent it off since it took over two weeks to get it back. I don't like that place since their customer service is terrible. I was looking at some monopods on the way out and even with three employees standing around chatting, no one ever came over to answer my questions. This is why the local brick and mortar stores are going out of business!

dhol82

(9,351 posts)
2. Adorama Camera in NYC has lots of 35mm film
Fri Apr 19, 2019, 10:25 PM
Apr 2019

Cool store with whatever you want.
They are run by Orthodox Jews so will be closed for the next week +.

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
8. OK - I bought my Nikon D70 and more recently two D750s from them
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 10:41 AM
Apr 2019

We compared their deal to B&H. While the price was the same, Adorama had a slightly better package than B&H for our purposes.

MyOwnPeace

(16,888 posts)
3. I've got some
Fri Apr 19, 2019, 10:28 PM
Apr 2019

great "vintage" equipment (former wedding photographer) that is now being used as "interesting" door stops. I'm afraid classic, quality photography equipment has been a victim of technological advancement - and those on the wrong side of the business are left with a case full of "door stops" - sorta' like the guy that had the best horse-drawn buggy that money could buy if you didn't know Henry Ford.
Even the great glass (lenses) that came with the "good stuff" that cost thousands can be made to look like a crazy investment with the technology used in the damned top-line phones today.
Good luck - I'd love to see some ground-swell interest in "vintage" film equipment - I'd be happy to sell!!

alfredo

(60,065 posts)
4. I like vintage cameras and lenses. I slow down and enjoy
Fri Apr 19, 2019, 11:26 PM
Apr 2019

The tactile experience of manual cameras. I still go for my Olympus.

The manual camera is a Sears with that nice 50mm 2.0 lens. I think it is a rebadged Ricoh. it finds its way to my digital at times when I want a short telephoto.

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
9. My husband has collected old & vintage camera equipment for years
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 10:53 AM
Apr 2019

So when no one else in the family wanted this Canon set, we jumped on it. My older sister would have donated it to a thrift shop!

I prefer digital - the rewards are so immediate. I bought my first digital single lens reflex camera in 2005. Our first trip with it, I took over 1500 photos at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Every night I'd stop by Walmart and transfer all the pictures to CDR. What I saved in film and processing paid for that camera!

But I still prefer the feel of a "real"camera. This goes back to the first small consumer cameras introduced in the 1960s. I'd had a hand me down Brownie but saved up my money to get a Kodak Instamatic. The darned thing was so small I couldn't hold it steady and press the shutter button! For about half the price, Sears (where I had gone to buy my new camera) had their knockoff camera that used the Instamatic 126 film cartridge. Few bought the Sears camera since it was much larger - but that was an advantage for me with my big hands.

While I have a little Canon digital, I don't use it much - it is the same problem as the Instamatic. Too small. It reminds me of those original tiny cameras!

I also like having a viewfinder rather than using the screen to frame my shot - that is one of the reasons I have only taken a dozen or so shots with my cell phone.

CincyDem

(6,283 posts)
5. If you really want to have some fun with film...take a look at these guys (no affiliation)
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 01:13 AM
Apr 2019

http://dr5.us/index.html


they do alternative processing on BW film, mostly reverse processing so your negs develop as positives. Sharp as a knife's edge. Like the old Agfa Scala film that's long gone.

lots of recommendations on film choices and shooting speeds to get the various looks.

Enjoy. It's really different vs. shooting digital for obvious reasons.

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
11. My husband will be interested - I am a color person
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 11:08 AM
Apr 2019

His uncle was a fairly famous photographer in Taos, New Mexico and only shot B&W. He also developed film for other photographers in his studio. My husband went out on some shoots with him when we visited in 1990 and took some really nice shots.

While I appreciate the artistry of B&W I crave color so I seldom take (or process) my photos as B&W.

Major Nikon

(36,814 posts)
6. Here's what I suggest
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 08:15 AM
Apr 2019

B&H and Adorama both are good places to buy 35mm film. I suggest you start with b&w and/or color slide film. For slides you’ll need a slide viewer and both the places mentioned sell cheap slide viewers which work well.

For developing, both places also sell film mailers. You buy the envelope which pays for the cost of having one roll developed along with the return postage. So you basically just drop the roll in, seal, attach the required number of stamps and drop it in the mail.

I have used Illford mailers for B&W. They will send you small resolution scans with options for higher resolution scans along with your prints. I have used Fuji mailers for slides.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/29170-USA/Kodak_8667073_TX_135_36_Tri_X_Pan.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/512063-USA/Fujifilm_15757464_RVP_135_36_Fujichrome_Velvia.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1015183-REG/ilford_101513_prepaid_film_developing_mailer.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/18646-REG/Fujifilm_Slide_Processing_Mailer_for.html

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
10. OK - I have done business with both companies and like them both
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 11:04 AM
Apr 2019

Bought my N70 with lenses from B&H in 1999 and my D70 with more lenses from Adorama in 2005. Plus, I just bought two D750 bodies and a new lens from Adorama.

I remember film mailers - that does make it handy. I used Seattle Film Company for 35mm back in the 1990s before I could afford a slide/negative scanner. They would develop your film and scan it for a very reasonable price. I still have the 3.5" floppies from them, though I transferred those pictures to CDR long ago.

These days I'll probably do my own scanning - I have an Epson V800 photo scanner that does an awesome job with slides and film. I bought it to scan my grand father's large format negatives he took from 1910 through his death in the 1950s.

I wish I knew what camera he used, but the pictures are amazing and in some cases historic. He was a civil engineer in New Orleans and took pictures of levee blowouts, then he signed up for the Army Corp of Engineers (or what became that) and rebuilt roads in France at the end of WWI. Then he was hired to run a phosphate mine in Agricola and took pictures of that mining town that no longer exists as well as the mining operations in the 1920s-1950s. Some of the scans are now in the Florida State Photo Archives.

Major Nikon

(36,814 posts)
12. I have my own film scanner
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 01:34 PM
Apr 2019

But sometimes it's good to have it professionally done if you want the highest quality. Commercial drum scanners have the potential to produce incredible detail, better than even the best digital cameras.

The developing done by the mailers is good quality and generally fine for color slides and B&W. If you want very high quality prints made, then there's some professional film developers still out there, but they are quite expensive.

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
13. I might consider having the antique film professionally scanned
Sat Apr 20, 2019, 01:50 PM
Apr 2019

So I have the highest quality archival scans possible.

For our own slides, negatives, and prints, our own scans are adequate. Mostly what I am doing is putting images online to share. And most of that these days is putting the antiques images online. Aside from the old negatives (including some glass ones from the 1890s) my husband and I have family photos dating to the 1850s or so. We have become the repository for both families's images and genealogy so I want to get it where it can be shared while I am still able!

Since the online images don't need to be as high resolution as archival scans, I haven't worried about it. But I will soon be able to afford the best and I think getting better scans of the antique negatives is a good idea.

jmowreader

(50,453 posts)
14. Where I go
Tue May 14, 2019, 06:21 PM
May 2019

I shoot a lot of film. And anymore, all I shoot is ISO 100 slide film. I'd been shooting Fuji Provia, but I'm going to try some of the newly-rereleased Ektachrome 100.

I have three vendors for film: B&H, Adorama and Freestyle. Usually I get my film at B&H, some "other supplies" at Adorama, and buy a little stuff from Freestyle basically to keep my account there active - back when you could still get 100-foot rolls of color film for bulk loading, it all came from Freestyle. But this year, Freestyle was the one who tipped me off to Fuji raising the shit out of their prices (probably because of the Orange Menace) so I bought my full year's worth of film from them.

I use two labs, both mail order: Dwayne's Photo in Kansas, and Color Resource Center (CRC) in New York City. I sent a few rolls to Dwayne's earlier this year and they came out fine; the rest of this year's film will go to CRC. If you're in New York and you're shooting slide film (if it's got "chrome" in the name, like Ektachrome or Fujichrome, it's slide film) CRC routinely turns it around in three hours.

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
15. Thanks - Right now I don't plan to use film
Tue May 14, 2019, 06:30 PM
May 2019

But my husband likes it so this is more for his benefit. Since we're in the boonies (sort of, outside Tallahassee, Florida) mail order film and developing is probably best for him.

The one local place that does film is terrible for service. My husband had the last roll in our old 35mm Nikon developed there. He left it for a month. They never called to let him know it was ready. When we went to pick it up it took three employees to locate it and over a half an hour to pick up the order that had been prepaid.

On the way out I stopped to look at carbon fiber monopods. Although the three employees were still behind the counter not one asked us if we needed any help or offered any information on their selections in the twenty minutes or so we were looking at their various options. If I buy a monopod it will be from B&H or Adorama. That local store apparently does not need my money.

And local businesses wonder why they can't keep customers...

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