nearly ready to burn film

[gteague]

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i know i posted here a month or so ago asking for film and lab and platform recommendations and haven't posted since, but i was busy acting on your recommendations as much as i could. as far as platforms go, a rollei 35 and a minox 35 didn't work out and i returned them. but i did find a minolta cl (already tested the rokkor 40/2 and it's as sharp as my /m/ 50 summicron) and no worries there. but just a couple weeks ago i came across a camera i'd owned when they first arrived and haven't the faintest memory of why i ditched it except that i worked for a camera store and there was always the next new and big thing to try out. 

it is the contax g1 and back then i had all 3 original lenses for it. i found one in japan near mint with the 45/2 planar and added the 21/2.8 since my g1 is the green label one. so i like the lense setup better than the original one i had, tell the truth. i've gone through the manual and the g1 checks out and i even shot the 45/2 on my digital cl and it's sharp and has a sort of 'retro' look to the b&w images.

as far as labs go, less luck. of course there's the first google hit of 'the darkroom' in california but my search to find one local to texas for faster turnaround was less fruitful. i found a lab in austin, but with a long turnaround time and no in-house b&w development, so it looks like i'll have to go with the popular california online lab.

as far as film, after posting here i picked up 3 rolls of ilford fp4 as it seemed the most popular suggestion. i have some xp5, although how you'd scan that is beyond me--back in the day you had to have polycontrast filters and paper. i also have the ilford 'delta' but i'm going with the fp4 first. for color, i'd already bought some cheap fuji 200 but reading reviews and suggestions here caused me to get two more rolls of ektar. many recommended the kodak 160 which is much cheaper, but i haven't liked the colors i've seen out of it.

today i found this youtube video where a guy tested 9 color films and the video is structured such that you can do a blind viewing of them in 3 scenes and pick your favorites by the numbers. i did this and i picked ektar as one of my favorites in all 3 scenes, so my choice to buy 4 rolls of that is confirmed. but i chose one called cinestill as my favorite in two scenes. turns out when he reveals the prices, cinestill is like 25-cents a frame and ektar 22-cents--two of the highest in the test. the fuji 200, for comparison, is only 8-cents a frame and i did pick it one time, but not as the top one in the scene.
 

 

/guy

[TomB_tx]

You’ve done good research. I also like the look of Ektar for most outdoor use, but lately have been shooting the new Ektachrome.

I’ve tried Precision Camera’s lab in Austin a few years ago with good results, but usually use Dwayne’s in Kansas for color work. I went back to processing B&W myself.

[gteague]

6 minutes ago, TomB_tx said:

You’ve done good research. I also like the look of Ektar for most outdoor use, but lately have been shooting the new Ektachrome.

I’ve tried Precision Camera’s lab in Austin a few years ago with good results, but usually use Dwayne’s in Kansas for color work. I went back to processing B&W myself.

indeed precision was who i found. spoke with a very nice girl there. the only things holding me back is the fine print. up to 7 days for processing after receiving the film and up to 7 days for scanning. i'm going to send them a test roll to see if they do better than that and hopefully it's a worst-case estimate. 

oh, and i checked prices after watching the video and i found his prices wrong. at least for amazon. i can get ektar for just less than $10 per 36 exp roll but the cinestill 50 costs $20 per roll. 

back when i was in the navy and had access to labs in exchange for me shooting naval events (i was a radioman, not a photographer's mate) i shot a lot of ektachrome. i liked it and they needed transparencies for their uses. but even in a good lab the temp control is a bitch.

/guy

Edited September 29, 2020 by gteague

[Stealth3kpl]

I was going to suggest Dwaynes, not that I've personal experience with them, but I've read good reports.

I have a lot of Fuji c200 (Agfa Vista 200) and I like it, but I'm not too worried about grain.

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/205842-i-like-filmopen-thread/page/3196/?tab=comments#comment-3832100

Pete

Edited September 29, 2020 by Stealth3kpl

[gteague]

On 9/28/2020 at 7:00 PM, TomB_tx said:

You’ve done good research. I also like the look of Ektar for most outdoor use, but lately have been shooting the new Ektachrome.

I’ve tried Precision Camera’s lab in Austin a few years ago with good results, but usually use Dwayne’s in Kansas for color work. I went back to processing B&W myself.

 @TomB_tx

i recently re-connected with a childhood friend who ended up teaching photography at ut in austin. he sent me another austin lab today which is the best i've found and with a week turnaround time and $15/roll which is about as cheap as anyone else. and they do 'dip-and-dunk' b&w as well. i plan to send them a roll each of c41 and b&w as soon as i can shoot 2x 36 frames and my plan is to load the minolta cl with b&w as i have an orange filter for it and the g1 with color and shoot some of the same scenes in both.

https://www.hollandphoto.com/color-film-processing

/guy

Edited September 30, 2020 by gteague