Having run the first roll through the ZI I've run up against a painful difference between film and digital – processing costs. An often overlooked (well at least by me) benefit to shooting digital is that once you’ve bought the kit you have zero additional running costs short of the occasional print. I had hoped that having shot the first roll yesterday I'd be able get the film developed and the images scanned to CD. Looking at the options we’re talking approximately £20 to £30 (Metro, Peak Imagine) for such a service. Depending on how much film I go through that’s going to add up to serious money in next to no time. Needless to say, it was immediately apparent that I needed to do things myself.
Fortunately I’d won some Amazon vouchers recently which almost covered the cost of a scanner. I opted for the Plustek 7300 for a couple of reasons – the scanner has had some positive reviews and its Mac compatible. The next and hopefully last hoop to jump through is getting a hold of the processing gear - developing can, chemicals, etc.
And then it’s all about getting out with the ZI. The plan is to run through a couple of film types over the weekend, possibly a roll of TMAX 400 and a slower Ilford film. Hopefully the weather carries on as is, that is temperamental. A moody sky works wonders for photography. Granted, getting the exposure right is a little tricky and you have to be ready to dash for cover occasionally but when the clouds break and the sun comes streaming through the images can really start to come to life.
Update: I picked up the processing gear earlier. Just the basics but I'm close to being self sufficient.
Second Roll: Ilford FP4 Plus 125 ISO
Headed out Saturday morning and ran off 36 shots in a couple of hours. Weather not too bad, mostly sunny though hazy. I felt that I may have grabbed a couple of good shots but took a chance and decided to process the film myself (for the first time in more than 10 years).
I’m pleased to say that the processing seems to have been successful. Until the scanner arrives it’s hard to say for sure but the neg’s look good. I realised that I forgot to pick up any neg storage sleeves so the film is going to have to hang from the light shade overnight. Ho hum..
[Images to follow]
3 comments:
Iwent and am still going through the same thing. I have had a ZI for a year or so. I love it. Check out: www.akivaphotography.com
Sorry, slight confusion with comments/notifications and what not. Thanks for the comment. You have some nice shots up flickr - I think I recognise one from RFF ;-)
BTW, how do you manage getting film from camera to flickr? Are you developing and scanning your own film?
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