Things no things

[Rob MacKillop]

No shots to share, as Boots (where I get the processing done) cannot scan the negatives due to their scanner breaking down. I have two rolls awaiting scanning. However, I do have the prints. I tried scanning the photos, but they looked awful, so I'll have to wait for Boots to get their machine fixed. They gave me the uncut rolls of negatives, offering to scan them for free in a week or so.

Time to think about scanning my own negatives. Please give advice on what to buy (within financial reason) including software, etc.

 

[Pete Askew]

What is your budget, Rob? Just film?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Well, I'm going through a rethink about how I do photography. I seem to love film more than digital, but it really only makes sense in the long term to develop your own film, not least purely for financial reasons, though there are other positives too.

As you know, I didn't have a good experience in the dark room before, but have been watching videos of people using dark bags instead, and they seem to have no trouble getting the film onto the reels and into the tanks. Susan said she will do the chemistry part for me, though I will do the rinsing and so on. The intention is to develop and scan the film, rather than enlarge and print.

So, I need a budget. Susan will donate £100 as a birthday present in July (there is no hurry about all this) and I will cough up a further £200. Ideally an Epson V550, and a Paterson developing kit, or similar.

What do you think?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

According to one YouTube blogger, the AP spirals are much easier to get film into than the Paterson spirals. So I'm thinking of this lot - hopefully SilverPrint will have them:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003PX4...TF8&colid=1QKLNESJMJA6Z&coliid=I1QTPY6IH73TLG

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Here's the Paterson large changing bag:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005770...TF8&colid=1QKLNESJMJA6Z&coliid=I21UDJY3YO0NWV

I'll need some chem....I imagine opinions vary widely in what would be best for a beginner?

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Hmm, the Amazon reviews for the Epson are not at all positive for Mac users, which I am. Any suggestions?

 

[Brian Moore]

Rob I just noticed this post. I use a dark bag to get my film onto the reels and into the light-tight canister. I use plastic reels. (Never could get the hang of the stainless steel ones.) It's no problem with practice. However, occasionally I run into a roll that doesn't want to load onto the reel. You have to be patient, but you can't dilly-dally because after a while your arms and hands will begin to perspire. Moisture in the dark bag is your enemy. Once the film or the plastic reels get moist the film will never go on. Once or twice I've had moisture problems and so I was compelled to put the loose film in the canister, seal it and bring it out of the dark bag and let it sit to air dry overnight and have another go at it the following day. However, despite the occasional mishap generally things go fine. For me 35mm film is easier to load onto a reel than 120.

Scanner: I've been very happy with my Epson V500. I've had it 5 years or more now and have scanned thousands of negs with it. However, the Epson drivers and the MAC OS sometimes don't get along. For example, with my first MAC OS--I think it was Lion or something--the V500 worked just fine. I could set it to scan up to 12 negs and walk away for a few minutes and do other things or I could surf the web while it scanned. However, when I upgraded the OS to whatever came after Lion I found that I could no longer surf the web while scanning. The scanner would crash. Lived with that problem until my next OS upgrade. Next upgrade I found that not only could I not surf the web, but I could no longer scan 12 negs; I could only scan them one at a time. On my next OS upgrade I was back to being able to surf the web while scanning, but I had to "nudge" my cursor between scans to activate the next scan.

But I'm happy with the reliability of the scanner.

 

[Rob MacKillop]

Thanks, Brian. I've been told that ViewScan software for the Epson works well with Macs. Have you tried that?

Thanks for the tips on the bags. You've lived in California too long, and have forgotten that no one in Scotland ever sweats - impossible here!

Much to think about...

 

[Brian Moore]

Thanks, Brian. I've been told that ViewScan software for the Epson works well with Macs. Have you tried that?

Thanks for the tips on the bags. You've lived in California too long, and have forgotten that no one in Scotland ever sweats - impossible here!

Much to think about...

One less potential problem to worry about then!