Film is dead

[tony field]

My dear friend who is an excellent photographer to say the least wanted to try film photography. I offered him my ancient mamiya rb67 with three lenses but just now found out that there is no commercial service in Calgary that process film any longer. In a practical sense, film is dead when it comes to film. Of course the only other option is to process film yourself which may not be practical in this case.

Unfortunately I do not have a digital back for the camera!

--
Charles Darwin: "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."
tony

 

[LeicaEye]

Didn't I just read Ilford have marketed a PopUp Dark Room.. woweee take it and process in your own back yard... L


Your Wishes Have Come True...

--
Everyday is a Challenge. I Meet It Head On..

 

[SrMi]

My dear friend who is an excellent photographer to say the least wanted to try film photography. I offered him my ancient mamiya rb67 with three lenses but just now found out that there is no commercial service in Calgary that process film any longer. In a practical sense, film is dead when it comes to film. Of course the only other option is to process film yourself which may not be practical in this case.

Unfortunately I do not have a digital back for the camera!

There are plenty of mail-in film processing services, at least in the USA.

 

[techjedi]

My dear friend who is an excellent photographer to say the least wanted to try film photography. I offered him my ancient mamiya rb67 with three lenses but just now found out that there is no commercial service in Calgary that process film any longer. In a practical sense, film is dead when it comes to film. Of course the only other option is to process film yourself which may not be practical in this case.

Unfortunately I do not have a digital back for the camera!

There are plenty of mail-in film processing services, at least in the USA.

They are all prohibitively expensive "per roll" if you want your negatives and prints back. Even the "scans only" options are not cheap enough for any hobbyist to experiment with film often.

 

[Pocket Lint]

Not dead yet here in B.C. Vancouver got a thriving film community.

 

[Craig Gillette]

My daughter's boyfriend is using film. He has several 35mm slrs and he uses them, and I'm not sure who he's getting the darkroom and scanning work done by. I couldn't do that these days, but he deals with the effort. We're in the greater Los Angeles area so resources might be more available than in many other areas.

 

[Overrank]

My dear friend who is an excellent photographer to say the least wanted to try film photography. I offered him my ancient mamiya rb67 with three lenses but just now found out that there is no commercial service in Calgary that process film any longer. In a practical sense, film is dead when it comes to film. Of course the only other option is to process film yourself which may not be practical in this case.

Unfortunately I do not have a digital back for the camera!

In the UK a new lab is opening up this month offering walk in developing, that’s on top of the three or four new labs that have opened over the last few years. Most do walk ins as well as mail in.

 

[Overrank]

My dear friend who is an excellent photographer to say the least wanted to try film photography. I offered him my ancient mamiya rb67 with three lenses but just now found out that there is no commercial service in Calgary that process film any longer. In a practical sense, film is dead when it comes to film. Of course the only other option is to process film yourself which may not be practical in this case.

Unfortunately I do not have a digital back for the camera!

There are plenty of mail-in film processing services, at least in the USA.

They are all prohibitively expensive "per roll" if you want your negatives and prints back. Even the "scans only" options are not cheap enough for any hobbyist to experiment with film often.

In the UK the cheapest is around £3.50 per roll to develop, you can either scan yourself (~£100 - £200 one off cost for second hand film scanner) or pay for a lab scan.

 

[tony field]

This afternoon Dimitri came over for a coffee and I explained the Calgary situation to him regarding film processing. I explained that it would be very easy for him to do his own black and white processing however that would be very inconvenient for him because he would have to learn all of the basic processing theory that he is not familiar with. Of course all of the necessary chemicals are available at local photography shops but that would be an unnecessary learning curve for his activity as a photographer. Sadly for him film is indeedly dead.

 

[Overrank]

This afternoon Dimitri came over for a coffee and I explained the Calgary situation to him regarding film processing. I explained that it would be very easy for him to do his own black and white processing however that would be very inconvenient for him because he would have to learn all of the basic processing theory that he is not familiar with. Of course all of the necessary chemicals are available at local photography shops but that would be an unnecessary learning curve for his activity as a photographer. Sadly for him film is indeedly dead.

Or a stamp and an envelope? https://www.reddit.com/r/analog/wiki/labs/north-america#wiki_canada

 

[Overrank]

This afternoon Dimitri came over for a coffee and I explained the Calgary situation to him regarding film processing. I explained that it would be very easy for him to do his own black and white processing however that would be very inconvenient for him because he would have to learn all of the basic processing theory that he is not familiar with. Of course all of the necessary chemicals are available at local photography shops but that would be an unnecessary learning curve for his activity as a photographer. Sadly for him film is indeedly dead.

Or a stamp and an envelope? https://www.reddit.com/r/analog/wiki/labs/north-america#wiki_canada

There’s this person in Calgary offering film development - http://www.paulstackphotography.com/bw-film-and-print-prices

(no idea how good they are,just found them with a search on the Harman Darkroom site - https://www.localdarkroom.com/index.php )

 

[Austinian]

Of course the only other option is to process film yourself which may not be practical in this case.

The last time I shot with my Nikon F, just for nostalgia, I had the film processed here:

Loading…

thedarkroom.com

Seemed OK.

 

[tony field]

This afternoon Dimitri came over for a coffee and I explained the Calgary situation to him regarding film processing. I explained that it would be very easy for him to do his own black and white processing however that would be very inconvenient for him because he would have to learn all of the basic processing theory that he is not familiar with. Of course all of the necessary chemicals are available at local photography shops but that would be an unnecessary learning curve for his activity as a photographer. Sadly for him film is indeedly dead.

Or a stamp and an envelope? https://www.reddit.com/r/analog/wiki/labs/north-america#wiki_canada

There’s this person in Calgary offering film development - http://www.paulstackphotography.com/bw-film-and-print-prices

(no idea how good they are,just found them with a search on the Harman Darkroom site - https://www.localdarkroom.com/index.php )

Thanks for the link to Paul stack. I will mention this to Dimitri

 

[mcsk]

This afternoon Dimitri came over for a coffee and I explained the Calgary situation to him regarding film processing. I explained that it would be very easy for him to do his own black and white processing however that would be very inconvenient for him because he would have to learn all of the basic processing theory that he is not familiar with. Of course all of the necessary chemicals are available at local photography shops but that would be an unnecessary learning curve for his activity as a photographer. Sadly for him film is indeedly dead.

 

[grsnovi]

Google search for mail order film processing.

 

[tony field]

Google search for mail order film processing.

Personally I cannot see why anybody would want to do mail order film processing particularly what I only takes about 15 minutes to develop in your own house. All you have to do is go into your dark bathroom load the film and do the processing and then scan the negatives on your scanner. Dimitri has other serious interest in photography and this was nothing more than a curiosity item to try to work with film

I have about 10,000 or more frames of black and white and color images that I have scanned however I would not like to go through that again. Printing was one of my favorite pastimes and have hundreds of film images that I have printed in a2 format and have for some unknown reason two seal mounting presses. That reminds me I have a number of digital images that I have printed and should mount

--
Charles Darwin: "ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge."
tony

 

[mamallama]

Yes it is for all practical purposes. It is only kept alive and only barely compared to photography in general by those who want to tinker with past technology.

 

[SrMi]

Yes it is for all practical purposes. It is only kept alive and only barely compared to photography in general by those who want to tinker with past technology.

Some great photographers are still shooting films. Photrio.com, a film-only community, is very active and thriving. In addition, DPR has increased its film-related articles.

The film is not as convenient as digital but can be very rewarding. The film is not about tinkering but about a specific look that digital often cannot provide. I am not saying that the one or the other looks better. They look different, IMO.

 

[sybersitizen]

... just now found out that there is no commercial service in Calgary that process film any longer. In a practical sense, film is dead when it comes to film.

Maybe it is there.

Of course the only other option is to process film yourself which may not be practical in this case.

I can take a 35mm or 120 film roll to an actual camera store (!) a few miles from my house, or mail it to any of dozens of online labs and get it processed.

 

[Kokopelli_Rocks]

Didn't I just read Ilford have marketed a PopUp Dark Room.. woweee take it and process in your own back yard... L


Your Wishes Have Come True...

--
Everyday is a Challenge. I Meet It Head On..

Glad you enjoy it, but for me after 45+ years of photography I stopped using film after the 2002 Olympics. I started playing around with digital in '97 and used both film and digital for several years. After the Olympics I stopped using film.

I never enjoyed working in darkrooms. But after our main local pro shop messed up on over 25+ rolls of our 10 day trip to Disney World and Orlando I started focusing more on digital. They even scatched the negatives. They were remodeling and did not properly protect their equipment. Can't tell how pleased I was when they did not change me and gave me replacement film .

A few years later I bought a Nikon film scanner and Nikon and ICE saved the images. After scanning 25 years of my slides and film and my Dad's slides I am done with scanning. Proper conversation to get the best HQ digital output takes time in preparation and conversation.

My big question for those using film in 2021 is what is your final outcome. Do you print just a few images or do you scan the film?

Hope those who enjoy film can find all the resources they need. I have nothing against other people using film, you should use what you enjoy. For me 25+ years of film was more than enough!