Help

grinch8 · Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 11:29 pm Post subject: Help

My mum has a old SLR with 3 lenses which i didnt even know about, i want to take a few pictures with it but dont know where to start, What speed film is best for MTB photography and is there anything else i should know.

Also how hard it is to develop your own photos??? and what do you need for that??

Thanks
Tom

rad2themax · Quite High User Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 136

Try ilford 400 or something just to get you started in Black and White. Theres masses of information on film all over the net but that's just a pretty standard film.

As for developing, black and white is fairly easy to develop but colour isn't. Black and white you could get a kit (with a light tight bag) for around £80 with some chemicals to get you started. Colour i wouldn't even try unless you have a proper darkroom etc to be honest.

And i'm not sure if you know what you actually mean by developing. To develop the film just means to run the film through chemicals so you get negatives that can be used. These can either then be used to print in a darkroom or to scan straight to computer. To print them (so you get those photos the lab would give you) would cost you £200 or so to get a basic setup as enlargers are very expensive. To scan them to computer you need a scanner such as the epson 4490 (around £100) which has a 35mm neg holder so you put the negs in there, scan them to the computer and then inverse the colours.

So it depends what you want to do, do you want actual 6x4 photos or do you just want to scan the film to the computer? Either way, i'd get a few films developed at a lab first before you dive in with the dollar. I love film though, is awesome fun.

If you really want to get into film i'd reccomend finding somewhere you can access a rgood darkroom setup to develop and print your own photos so you get the creative control. I've done this by taking photography A level at a school that still focuses on film but other ways could be through local photography clubs, after school photography classes or whatever. Search about! There was a time when i paid £2 a week to go on a 2 hour a week photography class but came to a deal with the teacher to just let me develop my photos haha.
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bluebomberx · Quite High User Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Posts: 134

What kind of camera did you get?

Just to clarify on what rad2themax said, look for Ilford HP5+. Ilford makes a couple of 400 speed emulsions and HP5+ is the cheaper of the two usually. It really depends on what you want your finished shot to look like. If you want to pan with the action to show motion, you might get by with 100-400 speed film, depending on the lighting. If you are a forrest with a heavy canopy, you may need 400. If you are shooting on a open hillside, you may need ISO 100.

However, to shoot and process b/w on your will require an upfront investment in some tanks/reels chemicals and graduated cylinders. It is all great fun, but if you aren't up to processing the film yourself, you might want to shoot color film instead. On the other hand though, digital is sweeping the world and photographers are unloading their darkroom equipment at fire sale prices. There are fantastic deals to be had if you look hard enough.

A film scanner is a good investment. You can get multi-format scanners such as the Epson flatbeds that can scan anything from prints to medium or large format negatives. You can also get dedicated 35mm film scanners such as the Nikon LS-V or 5000ED. I used to have the 4000ED and it was an awesome scanner. I should've never sold it. If you aren't interested in the prints, you can ask the lab to process the negatives only and get out the door a lot cheaper and then scan the negatives at home.

grinch8 · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:39 pm Post subject:

wow thanks alot for all that,
i think i will look into investing into a scanner and then getting a shop to develop just negatives and then scan them in, Later on i can allways look into developing negatives myself.

as for the camera, i really dont know its a nikon body
a 50mm lense
one of those lenses that you put on to double the zoom of the one you put infrount of that.
one flash
and a telephoto lense
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grinch8 · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:25 pm Post subject:

Took a few pictures, you can really see how bad my camera is now, there is a huge black spot on the lense!!

You can see the damage! but it dosent effect anything.

This damage is quite bad, but again it dosent effect anything.

The 2X lense, compleatly out of focas but o well...

Hamish · Forum Veteran Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 1011

grinch8 · Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:51 pm Post subject:

can i buy a DSLR body and put those lenses on it, is it worth it?

and if i did what body would be best, concidering i am on a very tight budget!
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rad2themax · Quite High User Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 136

grinch8 · Posted: Sun Dec 23, 2007 6:44 pm Post subject:

i think i would go into black and white, but also buy some color reels and get them developed to try everything out.

Will my local camera shop sell film? or is it something i should buy online??

Thanks
Tom
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bluebomberx · Quite High User Joined: 01 Oct 2006 Posts: 134

They should, but YMMV on the pricing. Our local camera shop wants $10.99 USD/roll of Fuji Reala 100 and B&H sells it for $2.99 USD/roll. Depends on how your local shop wants to do business. Before buying all of the darkroom equipment, I'd run a roll of color film through it to make sure the camera is in good working order first. Here in the US Kodak Gold 200 and Fuji Superia 400 is available at most chain stores and are both good film stocks.

rad2themax · Quite High User Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 136

Yer, in the UK most camera shops should have Ilford film for about £4 a pop. I'd say just buy it from there to start with and then when you get really into it you'll probably want to experiment with different films you can buy off ebay.

Theres a very extensive thread on different colour and black and white films here:
http://forums.skateperception.com/index.php?showtopic=38727
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grinch8 · Posted: Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:28 pm Post subject:

after christmas i will go to my lacal shop, then i need to invest in a scanner!
and i am buying a new bike,
and a new video camera,
and a trip to les gets.
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rad2themax · Quite High User Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 136