Film Sam's 35mm film question thread

Sam, just note that the image-cleaning facilities on the Plusteks are to do with the software, not just the scanner hardware; SF8 and Vuescan will both attempt it if you ask them, and as I understand things, are intended for colour films (and perhaps chromagenic (C41) B&W like BW400CN and XP2S) because they use an IR channel supplied by the scanner. Silver halide b&w film doesn't respond to the IR channel in the same way (or at all).

If I'm wrong about the technicals of this I hope one of our scientist/engineer types will come along and correct me ...

You are exactly correct. The IR dust and scratch cleaning facility WILL NOT WORK with conventional B&W film or Kodachrome. It will make a huge mess of things. It works fine with E-6 and C-41 process films (including BW400CN and XP2), although I had better success in that regard with Digital ICE on Epson Scan that I do with VueScan. I mostly do my dust spotting and scratch removal manually through Photoshop, so it's not a big deal for me.

Cheers,

Antonio
 
Ok, I'm reconsidering on the scanner after the advice given here. It will either be one of the Epsons (V330 or V500) or a Canon. Does anyone have any experience with any of the Canoscans? The 9000F looks fairly high end on specs for a flatbed but at a reasonable price. I have also found a cheap used Canoscan 5200F which would probably do as a starting point - are there any opinions on this model?
 
I decided on a scanner - I have a V500 on the way.

Just a subtle bump for the following questions I posted a few days ago:
Now onto negative development:
1) from what little reading I have done I gather I need the following chemicals - developer, stop bath, fixer, hypo-clearing agent.
2) It has also been suggested that water can be used instead of chemical in the stop bath, any opinions on this?
3) I know that there will be a lot of differing opinions out there regarding which brand of chemical to use for each process but can someone suggest a good starting point for a beginner for each process?
4) what quantities of each am I likely to use per development?
5) can you develop more than one roll of film at a time?

Also, can someone point me to a chart that explains the different results you get from the more common film developers please?

Cheers,
 
Sam,

What you'll want from film is too subjective. I'd encourage you to do comparisons online - maybe Flickr Film database - and decide
1. what emulsion you want, and then
2. what developer.
Stop and Fix are much of a muchness. I'd say to start go Indicator Stop and Rapid Fixer

You can use the massive dev chart for reference....as most of us do....or look up info for your specific chems.

Otherwise, Kodak folks would recommend Tri-X and D-76 for starters....

Have fun!
 
Cheers Mark,
Surely each developer has certain characteristics that it exhibits with whichever film it develops though? E.g grain, contrast, shadow/highlight detail etc.

I understand that the choice is subjective but I am interested why people choose the combinations they have. It must be a certain 'look' that is produced surely.

I have had a look on Flickr but there are so many combinations that I end up chasing my tail trying to keep track of it all.

Any comments regarding why home processors chose the film/developer combo they did would be most helpful. Feel free to show it with images too.

Cheers,
 
TMY - aka TMAX400. Widest tonal range and nice modern T-grain makes it darn sharp. Xtol to add creaminess especially to the mid-tones. Keen to source some Rodinal to mix with the Xtol and make the tones even more rich and deep.

But I still have so many years left playing with this stuff and have only used a few emulsions and a couple of developers. Though still pretty happy with 30m+ of TMY sitting in the fridge and 10L of Xtol in the laundry (y)
 
TMY - aka TMAX400. Widest tonal range and nice modern T-grain makes it darn sharp. Xtol to add creaminess especially to the mid-tones. Keen to source some Rodinal to mix with the Xtol and make the tones even more rich and deep.

But I still have so many years left playing with this stuff and have only used a few emulsions and a couple of developers. Though still pretty happy with 30m+ of TMY sitting in the fridge and 10L of Xtol in the laundry (y)

Thanks Mark, that's what I'm after. I didn't know you could mix developers, I imagine that would take some trial and error to get the mix right as well as the development time.
 
How important is water quality for developing film? Our house's water is supplied directly from a mountain creek so does contain quite a bit of clay and minerals. Will boiling it help or do I need to set up a rainwater tank or buy distilled water?

Cheers,
 
To save hijacking the image thread I will move this question to here:
I recently developed my first roll of 35mm for a long time and got some variable results with grain - some frames were extreme and some had very little. Is it the aperture/exposure used, the development process or something else? Maybe it is just that some tones in an image exhibit it more than others, I'll post a couple of examples tonight.

Sam
 
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