# getting into film



## paigew (Dec 27, 2012)

I got a minolta x-700 for christmas. along with a 35-200; 35; and 50 lens. (and a fully manual flash too). This stuff is was my dads in college and the lenses are all manual focus. Anyway I have NO idea where to start, what film to buy or even how to load the film :er:. (I am a product of the digital era ) anyway I'm excited to get started, can someone point me in the right direction? I want a fast film with high iso.


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## gsgary (Dec 27, 2012)

paigew said:


> I got a minolta x-700 for christmas. along with a 35-200; 35; and 50 lens. (and a fully manual flash too). This stuff is was my dads in college and the lenses are all manual focus. Anyway I have NO idea where to start, what film to buy or even how to load the film :er:. (I am a product of the digital era ) anyway I'm excited to get started, can someone point me in the right direction? I want a fast film with high iso.



Ilford HP5 is a nice fast film, i use it just bought 100 feet a nice slower film is Ilford FP4 also Ilford are still investing in film and have no intentions of giving up on film


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## Mully (Dec 27, 2012)

You can push TriX asa 400 to 1600 without problems ...the grain is nice


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## nycphotography (Dec 27, 2012)

For 35mm... TMAX-3200... very grainy, which may be the whole point of getting into b&w for it's appeal in 35mm.

In Medium format, I used to love llford Delta 100.  Extremely fine grain and detail.

The real question is what to do with it after you shoot it?


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## Derrel (Dec 27, 2012)

nycphotography said:


> For 35mm... TMAX-3200... very grainy, which may be the whole point of getting into b&w for it's appeal in 35mm.
> 
> In Medium format, I used to love llford Delta 100.  Extremely fine grain and detail.
> 
> *The real question is what to do with it after you shoot it?*



YES, indeed!!! Whatcha' gonna do with the images once they are on film???? THAT is the $64,000 question!!! Scan the slides/negatives? Make inkjet prints from the scanned images? Have traditional "wet" darkroom prints made at a lab? A combination of prints and scanned images???

Scanning film at home is a pretty slow process...it's just not a quick process. Scans take time to pre-scan, to scan, and then to retouch and eliminate dust on. The bigger, better labs can offer high-quality scanned images at the time of developing, and even if it costs more money, having truly high quality scans might be worth the price.

Film is an odd bird these days...it can be converted to prints, both darkroom or inkjet, or printed "wet" or printed "digitally", and so on. So, as nycphotography said, the real question is what to do with the film after it has been shot!!!!


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## JAC526 (Dec 27, 2012)

For color negative film I love Fuji 400 ProH.


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## paigew (Dec 27, 2012)

hmmm. what will I do with it? I figured I would send it to a (pro)lab for prints/scans.  I will just be shooting family snapshots. I'm starting to think there may be more to it than I thought . I had a film camera as a kid and just got prints from walgreens etc.


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## StoneNYC (Dec 27, 2012)

paigew said:


> hmmm. what will I do with it? I figured I would send it to a (pro)lab for prints/scans.  I will just be shooting family snapshots. I'm starting to think there may be more to it than I thought . I had a film camera as a kid and just got prints from walgreens etc.



Th scans from a lab will never be as good as the digitals you are used to, a pro lab will have much better scans but its expensive or you can get your own scanner someday.

"Fast" in the film world is slower than digital usually, 400 is really fast in the film world.

Just pick up a cheap roll to start from Walmart and play around with it, remember you only get 36 shots so make them count.

After you can understand things further, then get nicer film.


~Stone

The Noteworthy Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II  /  Canon: 1V, AE-1  /  Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## StoneNYC (Dec 27, 2012)

The comment about the scans was just so you know, I don't want you to get the scans back and be disappointed and think film is junk. It's not, but most labs have crappy equipment because its fast and cheap, so you don't get as good an image.  Film is awesome.


~Stone

The Noteworthy Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II  /  Canon: 1V, AE-1  /  Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## paigew (Dec 27, 2012)

I have an epson artisan 800 photo printer/scanner. Do you think that would be good enough? I mainly would want them scanned for online sharing/backup


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## timor (Dec 27, 2012)

paigew said:


> I got a minolta x-700 for christmas. along with a 35-200; 35; and 50 lens. (and a fully manual flash too). This stuff is was my dads in college and the lenses are all manual focus. Anyway I have NO idea where to start, what film to buy or even how to load the film :er:. (I am a product of the digital era ) anyway I'm excited to get started, can someone point me in the right direction? I want a fast film with high iso.


Start here:
Amazon.com: Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual Third Revised Edition (9780316373050): Henry Horenstein: Books
Or check your local library. Knowledge is important as just by trying just something you *WILL* get frustrated. The second thing is a question if you want to be different from the mainstream and endure sometimes mocking. The third thing is if are you an experimenter, an empiric who will take a failure as a motivation. Camera nowadays is only a small beginning. 30 years ego there were labs to take your film to, now what left is C-41 process (color negative), black and white photography is becoming more and more specialized, niche thing for hard core amateurs of silver halide imaging who are doing lab work by themselves (which I think is very exiting). It will take some time and some expense before you become confident in exposing, developing and eventually printing your pictures. That is why I suggest some reading before you start. And don't worry, despite predictions we are not running out of film, there is still enough for the next 20 years or so (if the production would stop today).


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## gsgary (Dec 27, 2012)

Ask around if anyone has old b+w films going free, i get loads given to me from members of our club that went digital years back but still have film in the fridge


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## bhop (Dec 27, 2012)

If you're going to develop your own b&w, tri-x/hp5 is great stuff.. you can't go wrong with either.  If you want color film to take down to walgreens or a pro-lab, then i'd recommend Kodak Ektar 100.. probably my favorite color film.  If you want something faster, then maybe give Portra 400 a try.  If you want cheap, then Fuji's Superia line is pretty good for the price.

Here are a few examples.. all developed and scanned by me.  (color too)

Ektar



Impalas by bhop, on Flickr

Portra 400



New Friend by bhop, on Flickr

Tri-X



Dance by bhop, on Flickr

HP5



Only Cost Me A Dollar by bhop, on Flickr

Fuji Superia 800



Cat Life by bhop, on Flickr


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## StoneNYC (Dec 31, 2012)

gsgary said:


> Ask around if anyone has old b+w films going free, i get loads given to me from members of our club that went digital years back but still have film in the fridge



Oh what club I want some!! Haha


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II  /  Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII /  Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic   |   Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk


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## StoneNYC (Dec 31, 2012)

paigew said:


> I have an epson artisan 800 photo printer/scanner. Do you think that would be good enough? I mainly would want them scanned for online sharing/backup



Epson in general makes the best scanners for normal folk (I have an Epson v750 that costs about $800 new, and that's considered a "mid grade" scanner compared to the $2,000-$8,000 scanners) but I'm not familiar with your scanner, however I've found that lab scans are just so bad, but who knows, just try and compare, if the lab scans are good enough for you, that's a good start, it's easy and not as frustrating as doing it yourself.  And when starting out you want to have as little distractions as possible, all I mean is hold onto the film, "bad scans" are ones with blurry lines where the focus is crisp and foggy images, if it looks crisp it's fine.  The better you get the more particular you will become but film can be re-scanned later as you advance.

Also if you ever take some AMAZING shot, you can ask the lab if they will make a High Rez (high resolution) scan for you for that image only, usually costs about $10 per image.

All food for thought.  Just get out there and shoot for now, see what you get, and post some results here so we can see 


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II  /  Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII /  Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic   |   Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk


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## bsinmich (Dec 31, 2012)

You say you want a fast film.  After digital where it makes very little difference you will find that in film there can be a big difference.  Super fast film will have more visible grain in the pictures if you enlarge them.  I like to make 11X14 and using 2 1/4 sq. I try to use slow B&W with a speed under 100.  With 35mm 400 speed will give you a lot of potential with acceptable grain unless you are also making 11X14.  Grain seems to show up a little less in negative color than in B&W.  Using the slow film I have to use a tripod frequently.  I just don't seem to be able to hold it as still as I did 65 years ago when I started in photography.  There is only 2 f stops difference between 100 & 400 ASA speeds.  If you get much higher speed film than 400 you will need a ND (neutral density) filter to cut the light to usable values.


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## BobM (Dec 31, 2012)

I print 11 X 14. With 120 film I see little difference in grain between Efke R25 (25 ASA), Ilford FP4 (125 ASA) and Ilford HP 5 (400 ASA). Because of that I stopped using the 25 ASA film several years ago. When I used 35 mm I saw a BIG difference and used Efke KB25 whenever possible.


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## Light Guru (Dec 31, 2012)

Half the fun of shooting film is developing it yourself and looking at the negatives after you take it out of the chemistry. 

There are lots of videos online on how to develop at home.


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## StoneNYC (Jan 1, 2013)

This poor girl.... Haha too much info thrown at you probably.

If you have any questions post then or PM me 


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II  /  Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII /  Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic   |   Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Helen B (Jan 1, 2013)

The highest ISO film currently available is Fuji Superia 1600, which is ISO 1600 colour negative. It is not very grainy. It can be used in daylight because it has huge 'latitude' (bad word, but it seems to be common) for overexposure. The highest ISO B&W films are Kodak P3200 T-Max (ISO 1250 about) and Ilford Delta 3200 (ISO 1000 about). Both of those are quite grainy.

You can push colour negative and reversal ("slide") films to get more graininess. That also reduces the dynamic range / latitude of the film, which can get to be a problem with reversal film but not so much with negative. 

It's quite demanding of a scanner to accurately represent the characteristic graininess of a film -it actually needs very high resolution. It is not so demanding if you simply want a grainy look.


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## paigew (Jan 1, 2013)

StoneNYC said:


> This poor girl.... Haha too much info thrown at you probably.
> 
> If you have any questions post then or PM me
> 
> ...



lol yeah, lots of info. I'm a hands on learner so I'm just going to jump in! Ordering my film today...stay tuned


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## paigew (Jan 1, 2013)

Oh and THANK YOU for all the help :hugs:


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## Mully (Jan 1, 2013)

Look on line for Freestyle in LA ...they have a lot of good film, paper and developing supplies..... get their catalog.


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## paigew (Jan 1, 2013)

bhop said:


> If you're going to develop your own b&w, tri-x/hp5 is great stuff.. you can't go wrong with either.  If you want color film to take down to walgreens or a pro-lab, then i'd recommend Kodak Ektar 100.. probably my favorite color film.  If you want something faster, then maybe give Portra 400 a try.  If you want cheap, then Fuji's Superia line is pretty good for the price.
> 
> Here are a few examples.. all developed and scanned by me.
> r



beautiful photos, love the cat one


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## StoneNYC (Jan 3, 2013)

paigew said:


> Oh and THANK YOU for all the help :hugs:



Welcome :hugs back: 

Basically all I wanted you to know is that if the image looks REALY low resolution but the image itself looks interesting and exposed ok, save it and someday you can re-scan it.  That's all.

Last tip, 

Checklist.

1. Did I remember to set the right film speed ASA/ISO setting on the camera to match the number on the film (if its wrong the meter will be wrong).

2. Does my meter in the camera work.( battery in the camera is new etc).

3. Is my F/stop (aperture)set to the right number.

4. Is my shutter speed set to the right number. (Any number smaller than 1/60 will be too slow to hand hold FYI)

5. Keep perfectly still when clicking the shutter.

Best I can do short of bring there with you lol.

If you're near NY/CT/MA I can give a free lesson too 



~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II  /  Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII /  Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic   |   Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk


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## tevo (Jan 3, 2013)

bhop said:


> If you're going to develop your own b&w, tri-x/hp5 is great stuff.. you can't go wrong with either.  If you want color film to take down to walgreens or a pro-lab, then i'd recommend Kodak Ektar 100.. probably my favorite color film.  If you want something faster, then maybe give Portra 400 a try.  If you want cheap, then Fuji's Superia line is pretty good for the price.
> 
> Here are a few examples.. all developed and scanned by me.  (color too)
> 
> ...



How do you like your Leica? I recently obtained the IIIc, were any of these shot on it?


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## Helen B (Jan 3, 2013)

What film did you decide to go with? If you are having it developed by others a medium speed colour negative film like Porta 400 is an excellent all-round film with low graininess and enormous dynamic range. You can set your meter anywhere between 100 and 400 and still get great results (developed normally). Setting the meter at 200 gives you quite a lot of room for exposure error, and is generally smoother and less grainy than when shooting at the box speed. That is a feature of colour neg film that is not shared by conventional B&W film. If you are scanning the film colour neg isn't a bad starting place for B&W - different character than silver image (conventional) B&W film, however.


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## bhop (Jan 7, 2013)

tevo said:


> How do you like your Leica? I recently obtained the IIIc, were any of these shot on it?



None are from the IIIf, but 'impalas, 'dance', and 'cat life' were from my M6..  the IIIf is fun, just slow to use, mostly because i'm not used to using a handheld meter.


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## ktan7 (Apr 16, 2013)

400 film speed is definitely a fast film speed. Awesome for daylight. Just underexpose it a couple of stops and you will get that pastel look! Amazing.

Ken Tan | Vancouver and Destination Wedding Photographer
Vancouver and Destination Wedding Photographer


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## StoneNYC (Apr 17, 2013)

ktan7 said:


> 400 film speed is definitely a fast film speed. Awesome for daylight. Just underexpose it a couple of stops and you will get that pastel look! Amazing.
> 
> Ken Tan | Vancouver and Destination Wedding Photographer
> Vancouver and Destination Wedding Photographer



Pastel? Do you mean color film? Are you talking about under exposing and then pushing the film? Can you elaborate please? I do a lot of film developing (mostly B&W and chromes) and I've never heard film described with a "pastel look".


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II  /  Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII /  Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic   |   Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk


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## timor (Apr 17, 2013)

paigew said:


> Oh and THANK YOU for all the help :hugs:


3 1/2 moths later. 
I just wonder how Paigew succeeded with the own film development.


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## StoneNYC (Apr 17, 2013)

Yea Paige! How goes it?


~Stone

Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II  /  Canon: 1V, AE-1, 5DmkII /  Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic   |   Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk


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## ktan7 (Apr 27, 2013)

I would suggest to start with a 400 speed film ie. Kodak Portra 400 or Fuji 400H. Those are good film speeds to start off!


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## StoneNYC (May 25, 2013)

ktan7 said:


> I would suggest to start with a 400 speed film ie. Kodak Portra 400 or Fuji 400H. Those are good film speeds to start off!



If she is developing them at home, those are terrible films to start with haha, color processing (though easy when you know what you're doing) is not as easy as B&W by a long stretch, also it costs a lot more.  Stick to B&W for now.


~Stone  |  Sent w/ iPhone using Tapatalk


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## StoneNYC (Mar 26, 2014)

So... Was there ever a conclusion?


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## Gavjenks (Mar 26, 2014)

(edit: okay fine zombie thread, still useful to others though so not deleting the following

If you just want to have fun doing family snapshots as stated, just buy some ISO 200 or 400 film or so (one that your drugstore says they can develop! Which does not often include many of the films mentioned in this thread! Just call and ask), look up how to load your camera on google, put it in, and shoot. Then send it to CVS, who cares?

if you start taking photos you think you can sell for hundreds of dollars to clients or gallery sales, then start worrying about high end scanners or pro labs, etc.



Oh also, *Ilford XP2* is formulated to be black and white film but it uses C41 chemicals that most places like walgreens or CVS use so they can develop it anywhere (if they say "we only do color" then just say "throw it in anyway"). I think it only comes in ISO 400
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...PLK2YbmsL0CFclDMgodTVcA8g&Q=&is=REG&A=details


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## StoneNYC (Mar 26, 2014)

Sorry, I don't log in often... And for a while it "wasn't working" until I went to the site where I was forced to view a thread about something in 2013... So apparently that's why it wasn't working through the app I use... Lol


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## Robin Usagani (Mar 26, 2014)

gsgary said:


> paigew said:
> 
> 
> > I got a minolta x-700 for christmas. along with a 35-200; 35; and 50 lens. (and a fully manual flash too). This stuff is was my dads in college and the lenses are all manual focus. Anyway I have NO idea where to start, what film to buy or even how to load the film :er:. (I am a product of the digital era ) anyway I'm excited to get started, can someone point me in the right direction? I want a fast film with high iso.
> ...



When gary said 100 feet, I assume he rolls his own film canister.  Paige will probably buy 24 or 36 exposure film.  Gary can make his roll however short he wants.


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## paigew (Mar 26, 2014)

Shamefully I haven't touched my film camera since this roll  over a year ago :blushing:. It's one of those things I just never get around to doing. Especially since I am doing a 365 right now that takes up a ton of time. And it is a lot harder to do 365 with film due to processing time.

I do have dreams of someday buying a nice film camera my lenses will work on.


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## Robin Usagani (Mar 26, 2014)

You shoot with a 5d3 righr?  Yeah.. Just buy a more modern Canon film camera with eos mount.


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## StoneNYC (Mar 26, 2014)

Any EOS mount camera will be fine, you could shoot 1 photo along with each day of your 365 and compare them as you process 1 roll a month  see how your tones are different in the B&W film images or try out Portra etc...

Those rebel EOS bodies can be had for $25 or free on craigslist... You don't need anything fancy...


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## paigew (Mar 26, 2014)

StoneNYC said:


> Any EOS mount camera will be fine, you could shoot 1 photo along with each day of your 365 and compare them as you process 1 roll a month  see how your tones are different in the B&W film images or try out Portra etc...


you know that is a great idea! I may do that. One shot a day, I think I can handle that


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## StoneNYC (Mar 26, 2014)

paigew said:


> StoneNYC said:
> 
> 
> > Any EOS mount camera will be fine, you could shoot 1 photo along with each day of your 365 and compare them as you process 1 roll a month  see how your tones are different in the B&W film images or try out Portra etc...
> ...



Hurray! Test 1 different film each month so you get a variety, I suggest HP5+, PanF+, Delta100, for B&W Portra400, Provia100 for color (people) Ektar100, Velvia50 (landscape) not sure which your project.


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## minicoop1985 (Mar 27, 2014)

I suggest avoiding Lomo. Even at 100, it's horribly grainy. And not in a good way. I have a ton of this junk to burn off too (came with some other stuff). I second the test a new film each month idea. That's a great idea.


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## StoneNYC (Mar 27, 2014)

minicoop1985 said:


> I suggest avoiding Lomo. Even at 100, it's horribly grainy. And not in a good way. I have a ton of this junk to burn off too (came with some other stuff). I second the test a new film each month idea. That's a great idea.



Some of their stuff is good, it's not all horrible as it's just repackaged from some other standard film maker, but it's DEFINITELY over priced compared to kodak/ilford/Fuji films. So that's why I wouldn't suggest buying it.

I've looked recently at the site and I think they are running out of old film and investing all their money in the purple film because they are out of stock of everything, even the stuff that's still in production and made fresh right now... It's all put of stock!

Their purple film is "ok" but what annoyed me is they called it "Chrome" a term for transparency film... This is NOT an E6 film... So it's not chrome... Way to confuse and already uneducated group of consumers...


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## gsgary (Mar 27, 2014)

Robin Usagani said:


> gsgary said:
> 
> 
> > paigew said:
> ...



I never roll them short it wastes too much


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## Robin Usagani (Mar 27, 2014)

What is the max gary?


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## pixmedic (Mar 27, 2014)

gsgary said:


> Robin Usagani said:
> 
> 
> > gsgary said:
> ...



Yea, i hear that. I used to roll some pretty good fatties myself back in the day.


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## limr (Mar 27, 2014)

pixmedic said:


> gsgary said:
> 
> 
> > Robin Usagani said:
> ...



*snort* :mrgreen:


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## gsgary (Mar 27, 2014)

Robin Usagani said:


> What is the max gary?



40 clicks on the loader gives me about 36 too much and it my not fit on the reel when developing


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## StoneNYC (Mar 27, 2014)

gsgary said:


> Robin Usagani said:
> 
> 
> > gsgary said:
> ...



Well waste is relative, but I understand that, I like to keep them the same as 120 which is often too much, so I often re-roll 10 frames.

36 frames is a waste to me because I end up taking crappy shots just to "get through" the roll, or get careless feeling like I have unlimited images in a day.

You only need one good image


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## gsgary (Mar 28, 2014)

StoneNYC said:


> Well waste is relative, but I understand that, I like to keep them the same as 120 which is often too much, so I often re-roll 10 frames.
> 
> 36 frames is a waste to me because I end up taking crappy shots just to "get through" the roll, or get careless feeling like I have unlimited images in a day.
> 
> You only need one good image



Come summer I will be going through 100 feet a month so it makes a big difference to me, the only 100 foot roll I roll small is a roll of Kodalith Ortho I got for £0.50


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## remylebeau (Mar 28, 2014)

JAC526 said:


> For color negative film I love Fuji 400 ProH.



That is some amazing stuff!!!!

But if OP has never shot slide I highly suggest he shoot some...it's magic! I love Provia


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## StoneNYC (Mar 28, 2014)

remylebeau said:


> JAC526 said:
> 
> 
> > For color negative film I love Fuji 400 ProH.
> ...



Plus Fuji is getting out of the C-41 game, I don't think the 400 ProH is being made anymore. I could be wrong, it's certainly not made in sheet film.


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