Slide film, regular film

[corazondedios]

I have over 2,500 slides dating from 1950 forward that have held up phenomenally well in clarity, precise detail and color. My dad was a PhD and chemical engineer by profession, but a photographer at heart. He gave me my first digital SLR -- a Konica -- in the 60s. I read somewhere that Konica was the first SLR produced.

I just found on Craig's list Houston a mint condition Canon AE-1 program with both the regular lens and a telephoto lens. Both work flawlessly and are spotless, appearing brand new, even the optics are clear and gorgeous.

Hence, I am getting back into film photography, and now, having just scanned in slides I took when I was 17 on a trip to Greece -- and after 38 years, the colors are as gorgeous as ever -- I want to try slide film again.

I'm researching on the internet about various places to get film. Does anyone have any recommendations of good types of slide film, regular film, and black and white film?

Can anyone recommend a good place to have these various films developed?

[StudioDesigntC]

For slides it depends what I'm shooting. For (most) landscapes I prefer Velvia. If I'm shooting strictly people and want nice skin tones I'll usually opt for Astia. For accurate color reproduction I'll opt for Kodachrome or Provia or Kodak Gold. A word of caution, Dywane's is the only place in the US that can develop Kodachrome. I usually drop it at Walmart, they send it to there anyway.
For print film again it depends what I'm shooting, but I like the Fuji/Kodak 160 films. Black and white it's again subjective to personal taste. I enjoy using Tri X 400 and Plus X 125 pushed to 200.

[corazondedios]

Thanks so much.

Yesterday I found a treasure trove of my 1969 sprig break trip to Corfu and Athens (I lived in London at the time, so it was a normal spring break affair -- like Cancun from Texas). That was when I first got into photography. My dad let me use his Konika SLR.

The slides taken with the Konica were absolutely amazing and in pristine condition and color despite 38 years. They scanned in at 3600 dpi beautifully.

It really made me want to pick up another Konica Autoreflex T -- so I did!

I really appreciate the advice on the film and slides. I'll use it as I expand my knowlege of both digital and film photography at this awesome forum.

[venchka]

Welcome aboard! Your Konica was a film SLR. Digital wasn't around in the 60s. Do you still have the Konica body? Konica lenses are fabulous. I have my dad's Konica I rangefinder from 1950. It makes great pictures. The lens is really sharp. I like that lens so much I bought two new Konica lenses in the last year. They are great too.

If you do buy the AE-1, look for some nice Canon lenses from the early 70s. I own 3: 50/1.4 S.S.C., 50/3.5 S.S.C. Macro and 35/3.5 S.C. All are fantastic, built like tanks and smooth as butter. I really like the 50/1.4. I also have a newer FD 24mm lens. It's a good lens but it's not built the way the eralier lenses were built.

Film: Believe it or not, there really are TOO many different kinds of film around today. A very confusing array of slide, negative & B&W film around. Shucks, I even saw some Kodak slide film at Kroger! Wal-Mart switched from Kodak to Fuji recently. They have 100-200-400-800 Fuji color negative film. Walgreen's house brand is Fuji. Wolf Camera stocks a decent selection of Kodak, Fuji & Ilford films. Freestyle Photo, B & H Photo and several other online sources have good selections. Both Kodak & Ilford make a very nice 400 speed B&W film that goes through the same machines as color negative film. Any mini-lab can process it. For real B&W film, it's hard to beat Plus-X and Tri-X. However, Fuji & Ilford make great B&W film too. In the right hands, Fuji 100 Across shines. Same is true for Ilford's films.

As for labs, it took me some trial and error to find a decent one. The Wal-Mart and Wolf Camera near me (NW Houston) have people who care running their machines. I can't say the same for Walgreens & CVS in my neighborhood. I also send film to Dwyane's Photo in Kansas. They are great! One of these days I will get up the nerve to give Wal-Mart a roll of Kodachrome and see what happens. Dwayne's processes any roll film you send them.

When you get the hang of it again, we'll talk about medium and large format photography. Go big or go home I say!

[corazondedios]

I know the Konica is a film camera. I bought an Epson Perfection 3170 Photo scanner that can scan transparencies.

I was just amazed at how well the slides my dad took 50 plus years ago, and that I took 38 years ago -- have held up.

Does anyone know the proper way to clean slides. I'm just using a very soft sable hair paintbrush of mine to lightly dust them off, and blowing on them a couple of times for good luck.

So far, so good. But I'm open and interested to hear others ways of doing it.

God knows I've got a LOT of them to clean.

[Dobick]

I love fuji velvia for slides. The colors are so rich and beautiful. The reds are rich and deep, and the blues absolutely jump out at you. In some situations, they may be too saturated, but I haven't found one. As for where to buy it, I have either bought it locally (not much help to you) or purchased from B&H. They had decent prices on the last batch that I bought.

[corazondedios]

Wow, Venchka! Thanks so much for all of the incredible information you just gave. I'll be referencing and rereading your post for sure.

I already bought a mint condtion AE-1 program on Craig's list. I'm a little concerned that the film spool is stiff -- when I rewound the second roll, it jammed and stretched the film, and it developed with serrated overexposed to normal exposed strips throughout almost the entire length of the reel.

The first reel shot came out fine, though. I'm taking the third reel in soon. So it's still too early to tell if there is a problem with the camera.

I'll probably start a new thread about film shooting with old SRL's since there is a lot to learn about it, unless this is a digital only forum.

[L Stegall]

DJ,

My slide preferences run to Velvia, Provia and Astia, depending on subject. Too bad, I just sold about 40 rolls on ebay relatively recently, as I wasn't using them. I had all my slides developed at BWC in Dallas - would definitely recommend them.

[venchka]

Originally Posted by L Stegall

DJ,

My slide preferences run to Velvia, Provia and Astia, depending on subject. Too bad, I just sold about 40 rolls on ebay relatively recently, as I wasn't using them. I had all my slides developed at BWC in Dallas - would definitely recommend them.

Please! Please! Please! Offer your goods here first.

[venchka]

Originally Posted by corazondedios

...I'll probably start a new thread about film shooting with old SRL's since there is a lot to learn about it, unless this is a digital only forum.

Some folks might think this is a D$#%tal only Forum. That won't happen as long as I and several others are around. Feel free to talk about film as much as you like.

I'm guessing. Your 1960s vintage slides are Kodachrome, right? No other color film holds it's quality as well as a properly stored Kodachrome slide. If Kodak stops making it we will have lost a National Treasure. The 20th Century was documented with Kodachrome. I hope we can say the same for the 21st Century. I'm certainly trying to do my part.

You don't only have to talk about film SLRs. Some of us use other types of cameras as well. Thanks to a TPF member, I added one of these to my assortment recently.





Holler if you have questions.

[corazondedios]

I'm going to learn to use one of those at the class I'm taking this fall. I live in a VERY UNARTSY part of Texas, so my lifeline to other artists is classes at Lee College. They have a very nice art department and Steve Neihaus is a great professor.

They have a virtually unused photo studio with all kinds of cool stuff, and there's some large mysterious camears like the one pictured above that Steve brings out for people to use.

I'll be learning to develop black and white film, so I'm really looking forward to that. I have a room at home that I can set up as a darkroom.

I'm planning to have a hell of lot of fun with photography the last half of 2007 (and 2008 ad infinitum...)

[corazondedios]

and yeah, it's Kodachrome -- the most awesome slide film in exsistence, as far as I can tell!

[srwatters]

Originally Posted by L Stegall

DJ,

My slide preferences run to Velvia, Provia and Astia, depending on subject. Too bad, I just sold about 40 rolls on ebay relatively recently, as I wasn't using them. I had all my slides developed at BWC in Dallas - would definitely recommend them.

I'm on the same boat with the Fuji films, although I want to try some Portra VC to compare to the NC I shot last time.

BWC also handles all my developing. So far they have done well for me, but I'm not doing anything esoteric like push/pull or cross processing.

I'm trying to learn how to use my new CoolScan 5000, but I'm still a little in the dark. I've gotten decent results with Nikon Scan, but I'm having trouble with the Mac interface on VueScan (I bought the pro version).

Anyone have a really good resource for learning how to scan film with these applications?

[Big Dog]

Originally Posted by corazondedios

I'll be learning to develop black and white film, so I'm really looking forward to that. I have a room at home that I can set up as a darkroom.

I'm planning to have a hell of lot of fun with photography the last half of 2007 (and 2008 ad infinitum...)

Welcome to the dark (room) side.

Kodachrome is what it is, and there is no substitute for all of its characteristics. However, if properly processed and stored, Ektachrome and Fujichrome will last a long time, too. I have Ektachrome slides that are 40 years old.

Color neg - there's too many to talk about in a forum like this (as Venscka said). Hard to go wrong with Kodak or Fuji. B&W - it's all good. Your instructor will likely have some suggestions, and B&W film is really a matter of personal taste when you get down to it. My suggestion (strictly my opinion, understand) is to start with something like Tri-X and D-76 and then move on from there when you feel comfortable. The T-grain films (Delta and Tmax) are nice, and have less grain, but have a different "look" and are not to some peoples' tastes.

Take a look at www.apug.org. 21,000+ film users and growing.

Anything we film users can do to help - just ask!

[corazondedios]

WOW.

dayumn!

I just joined apug.org

that is one helluva site!

i'll definitely have all my analogue questions thoroughly dealt with there!