cliffp Posted December 13, 2009 Share #1 Posted December 13, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) I recently bought an M7 to try out rangefinder photography and have been disappointed with the quality of film development from two high street shops. Both my local Boots and Jessops scratched the negatives badly and the scanned images have a large number of small white specks. I don't believe these are due to dust as the film was very recently developed and I was careful to blow air (using a Rocket blower) over the negatives prior to scanning. The scanner is a Minolta Dual Scan 4 (no ICE). Clearly the scratches are due to careless handling but I would be interested in opinions about the cause of the white specks. Any advice on the choice of photo processing labs would also be appreciated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted December 13, 2009 Posted December 13, 2009 Hi cliffp, Take a look here Problems with film development. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Adrian Lord Posted December 13, 2009 Share #2 Posted December 13, 2009 I would send B+W off to Ilford for processing - see their website for the order forms, or better still, start developing yourself - then you can only blame yourself for the inevitable scratches etc! I have been doing the former and am about to start the latter... Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 13, 2009 Author Share #3 Posted December 13, 2009 I should have said that my main interest is in colour. Maybe I should try B + W again (during my youth B + W was all I could afford) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted December 13, 2009 Share #4 Posted December 13, 2009 Oh no! I've had films ruined/lost by both Boots and Jessops. If you want reliable decent quality C41 processing then try Snappy Snaps. If you're doing B&W then you really should process it yourself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin T-M Posted December 13, 2009 Share #5 Posted December 13, 2009 You really need a scanner with ICE, it'so much efficient. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sketchyhead Posted December 14, 2009 Share #6 Posted December 14, 2009 Hello, I think the days of decent high street film processing companies are numbered. I too have had similar experiences with bad handling techniques and an indifferent approach to quality from some of the big names. The good news is that I found a good processing contact in Salisbury (Wiltshire, UK) where a guy I know takes care of film and tries to get the best results for you. Here are a couple of shots they recently produced for me from my Nocti -M6. Details are:- Salisbury Processing Company (Ian Scott) 01722 337615 or email him at spc.fuji@virgin.net Let me know how you get on and good luck. Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 14, 2009 Author Share #7 Posted December 14, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Paul Thanks for that. Did you use their scanning service as well? I phoned them up but only managed to speak to an operator who wasn't sure about the details of the scan resolution. If their scanning is any good I will definitely be interested in using them. The pictures you posted certainly seemed good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sketchyhead Posted December 15, 2009 Share #8 Posted December 15, 2009 Hi, No I didn't use their scanning services. I scan my own film on an 'old but good' Heidelberg Linoscan, which seems to work fine for me at the moment. I work as a graphic designer, so I use my scanner for graphics as well as digitising film. Let me know if their scanning is OK. Regards Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share #9 Posted December 15, 2009 I have looked at their website and their prices for scanning are too high for me (£25 for a 36 exp film). I will either try out their dev service and scan my own or try the company Ken Rockwell recommends in the states - this is only £8 on top of development. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcg Posted December 15, 2009 Share #10 Posted December 15, 2009 I have looked at their website and their prices for scanning are too high for me (£25 for a 36 exp film). I will either try out their dev service and scan my own or try the company Ken Rockwell recommends in the states - this is only £8 on top of development. At £25, you will get a good secondhand scanner for 32 rolls At £8, you will get the scanner for 100 rolls. - plus you get to keep the scanner - and it is far more interesting and more fun. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
earleygallery Posted December 15, 2009 Share #11 Posted December 15, 2009 Send your film to the States for C41 & scan OK I send Kodachrome there but that's because there aren't any other options. Have you checked to see what the postage costs will be?! Probably more that the difference you're not willing to pay for the scan! I would give Snappy Snaps a go first - their scans are fine for proofing, small prints and web use. I use an Epson scanner which I rescan the 'keepers' with. I don't see the point in paying for high resolution scans of shots that I'm never going to use! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share #12 Posted December 15, 2009 If I remember correctly, it only costs £1.20 or so to have a CD sent over from the states so I am guessing £2.40 in total since a film won't weight more than a CD. Of course its arguably stupid to risk a non-signed for postal service though if it gets lost an amount of monetary compensation wouldn't be much - it is of course less likely that it would go missing as there would be more of an audit trail which would deter any dishonest or careless post office employees. What I may well end up doing is using Snappy Snaps or the Salisbury Processing Company and scanning myself using my Minolta Dual Scan IV. The scans this produces don't seem too bad except for slightly grainy skys which may be partly to do with my use of 200 iso film (Fuji Superia). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpattinson Posted December 15, 2009 Share #13 Posted December 15, 2009 If I remember correctly, it only costs £1.20 or so to have a CD sent over from the states so I am guessing £2.40 in total since a film won't weight more than a CD. Of course its arguably stupid to risk a non-signed for postal service though if it gets lost an amount of monetary compensation wouldn't be much - it is of course less likely that it would go missing as there would be more of an audit trail which would deter any dishonest or careless post office employees. What I may well end up doing is using Snappy Snaps or the Salisbury Processing Company and scanning myself using my Minolta Dual Scan IV. The scans this produces don't seem too bad except for slightly grainy skys which may be partly to do with my use of 200 iso film (Fuji Superia). You might want to try scanning at a lower resolution to fix the grainy skies. Give a few different resolutions a try and see which comes out best - it's often not the scanner's maximum. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted December 15, 2009 Share #14 Posted December 15, 2009 Film will be or has become a do it yourself affair. If you expect Leica quality. No darkroom, afraid of chemicals, have no time, have no space, have but one hand, the ideal solution is M9. But for $7000 you can build a superb darkroom equiped with the best of everything. I predict home color will become a serious issue without a work around. So if you like color, buy a scanner. At some point color chems for at home C41 will become difficult. Same solution, M9. The writing is on the wall and I wish I could paint over it, but it keeps showing through. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 15, 2009 Author Share #15 Posted December 15, 2009 Actually I am tempted to buy a good projector and screen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted December 16, 2009 Share #16 Posted December 16, 2009 E6 is becoming difficult too. Like ai said. the writing is on the wall. I bought many film M and R cameras 20 years ago incase something happened to Leica. They shoud be sold before becoming valueless. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted December 16, 2009 Share #17 Posted December 16, 2009 E6 is easy to process at home, if you have a Jobo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tobey bilek Posted December 17, 2009 Share #18 Posted December 17, 2009 Yes I have done done E6 at home too. The process is not complicated, but the problem remains the chemical availability just like C41. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Rawcs Posted December 17, 2009 Share #19 Posted December 17, 2009 Cliff, I've tried both Boots and Jessops and, like you, found scratches and white specks after scanning. Next, I sent some colour neg film to Peak Imaging in sheffield. This is a pro lab and the results are very good. Recommended. After scanning I use Actual Pixels in photoshop to check for any specks or scratches etc. and remove them using the Clone Stamp or Healing Tool (I think it's called). It's rather laborious to work through a full roll of film this way as every miniscule blemish is shown but, when finished, the prints look great. Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffp Posted December 17, 2009 Author Share #20 Posted December 17, 2009 Mike I have used the healing tool as well - also an excellent program called Neat Image which seems to do a great job of de-graining the sky. I either use the magic wand tool to select the sky or sometimes apply the filtering to the whole image. On some photos the improvement in noise is outweighed by the loss of sharpness (obviously the sharpening is left to the last step). My next step is going to be to use a better developer (like Peak image) - I might also get a scanner with ICE. Thanks to everyone for their helpful suggestions! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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