Cost of develop and print B&W could drive me to a Monochrom

[stunsworth]

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Sorry, but dust and scratches on home processed film are entirely in your own hands.

 

To avoid scratches, take the top off the canister and remove the film rather than pulling it back through the felt seal. A bottle opener will do this - plus you can award yourself a bottle of beer when the film is safely in the tank.

 

Don't use a squeege when hanging the film up to dry.

 

It you're still getting scratches check the film gate for grit or any rough metal - especially if you consistently get scratches all the way through the film, and in the location on the frame.

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[MPJMP]

To avoid scratches, take the top off the canister and remove the film rather than pulling it back through the felt seal. A bottle opener will do this - plus you can award yourself a bottle of beer when the film is safely in the tank.

 

Don't use a squeege when hanging the film up to dry.

 

It you're still getting scratches check the film gate for grit or any rough metal - especially if you consistently get scratches all the way through the film, and in the location on the frame.

 

Thanks for the tip on the bottle opener (and subsequent beverage consumption ). I actually started off using a bottle opener years ago, but later just went to pulling the film back through the cannister. I'll try this again and see if it makes a difference.

 

Dust is still something I just can't seem to get entirely rid of, although I find it much easier to remove dust in post than long, fine scratches. FWIW, the orange Ilford "Antistaticum" cloths don't seem to do much good.

[stunsworth]

Dust is still something I just can't seem to get entirely rid of, although I find it much easier to remove dust in post than long, fine scratches

 

First of all check that there's no dust on the inside of your changing bag - assuming you use one.

 

Secondly if you dry your negatives in the bathroom, try running the shower for a few minutes - assuming you have one - before hanging up the negatives. The water vapour should help remove dust from the air.

 

I confess that when I was processing film I often got some dust spots on the negatives despite following the above advice, but I seemed to get much fewer than if I hung them up straight from the tank.

[gyoung]

snip...

Processing yourself is very easy and very cheap and you don't need a darkroom.

 

...and IMHO not only fun and satisfying but the only way to get the best quality and exactly the print you want in B&W, short of standing over the printer personally as CB seems to have done!!

 

Gerry

[doolittle]

Can you be more specific, I would be interested in dedicated ink sets and paper that give a fine approximation to continuous tone black&white photographic paper.

 

Nick

 

Ah, that is the crux. You can have inkjet prints which have the same archival qualities as a black and white print, that is they should have the same longevity, however there is still a difference in look between the two.

 

Pigment ink is definitely the way to go, and the more shades of grey ink the better.

As for paper, check out Canson's range of papers. Here is a link to an article on luminous landscapes on Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique.

[kokoshawnuff]

Developing at home takes up almost no space at all. A sink with running water (which most on this forum presumably have), changing bag, scissors, tank, reels, chemicals, a small scanner (like plustek)...at most, 1/2 square meter of total space lost.

 

Ultimately disciplined processing and practice will give you better negatives and scans than almost any lab in the world, and then you can decide if you want to buy a good inkjet printer (and learn how to use it) or send your files out to be printed.

[Nick_S]

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Ah, that is the crux. You can have inkjet prints which have the same archival qualities as a black and white print, that is they should have the same longevity, however there is still a difference in look between the two.

 

Pigment ink is definitely the way to go, and the more shades of grey ink the better.

As for paper, check out Canson's range of papers. Here is a link to an article on luminous landscapes on Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique.

 

Thanks for the link. From the article it seems that Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique and Ilford's Gold Fiber Silk are a good starting place (apart from their apparent proneness to scratching). Now what would be examples of optimal ink sets to go with these papers for approximating continuous black&white tones?

 

Nick

[philipus]

I will plead ignorance here. What dimensions are you asking for? Will happily respond once I understand how to answer

 

Sorry Steve, I was unclear. I only meant what pixel size (LxW) the images typically have.

[plewislambert]

I come out to about $0.20 (US) per exposure. Yes, film as a hobby is expensive, but the consideration should be the cost per keeper. For me, I take better pictures when I'm using a mechanical and manual camera. Plus I just like the look of film better. Some of the digital captures I'm seeing, especially in B&W, is just gross (very contrasty), and the color images can be way over saturated. Of course there's a lot of great digital photography out there too.

 

I recently moved from using Fuji 200 print film on an M4-P with Leica 28mm, 40mm + 90mm and Voigt 15mm +21mm lenses to an M9. The results permit higher magnification on-screen as the 18mb TIFF scanned film images went pixillated before the lenses limited sharpness.

The move from a £500 film body to a £3000 used M9 is unlikely to be recouped out of saved processing costs.

Using the film camera for a couple of years after several years of digital Nikon slrs made me compose the picture a lot more carefully and I felt no urge to return to Nikons. The M9 has its quirks and I will hold on to my film Leica but I doubt it will get much use (maybe monochrome film ).

Philip