# I have magical film!



## ctam43 (Jan 5, 2011)

I seemed to have stumbled across magical film that no one can seem to develop.  The film is fujifilm black and white iso 400 35mm 36 exposure neopan professional.

My first attempt to get this film developed was at two different wal-marts, and a shoppers drug mart (I just wanted it done quick), both places said they couldn't do it because it wasn't c-41 film.  So I went to two other local camera shops around my hometown, and they told me they would have to send it away since they didn't have the chemicals to develop the film.  Finally, I just returned home to Halifax, and I took it to the Atlantic Photo Supply today, and they told me they would have to send it all the way to Winnipeg to get developed and it would take approximately 3 weeks.

WTF is the point of having this film if I can't get any God damn pictures developed from it??  

Sorry about the swearing, but it's pretty frustrating.  Does anyone know where I could get this developed?


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## Josh66 (Jan 5, 2011)

You would be hard pressed to find a 1 hour lab that still does traditional B&W...

You can either buy the chems and equipment to do it yourself, or send it out.

B&H sells mailers:
A&I Develop + Prints Mailer for Black & White Film B&H Photo

You should be able to buy them at other stores too.


Walmart, et al., even though they can't do it in-house, should still be able to send it out for you.  Expect a 2-3 week turnaround time.


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## bruce282 (Jan 5, 2011)

Fewer and fewer places develop B&W film anymore. 

A lot of folks that shoot B&W develop their own film, it's not that hard or expensive.

Bruce


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## compur (Jan 5, 2011)

There are places advertised on the web that do B&W film via mail.  

You can also learn to do it your self.  It's not difficult.


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## ctam43 (Jan 5, 2011)

Thanks a lot guys.

I guess the consensus is to do it myself.  Thanks for the links and the help.


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## Josh66 (Jan 5, 2011)

If you plan on doing a lot of B&W, yeah - I would say do it yourself.

If it's just a few rolls a year though, it might be better to just send it out.

For what 10 mailers would cost, you can buy everything you need to do it yourself.
If you see yourself shooting much more than 10 rolls, I would consider buying the gear to do it on your own.


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## ctam43 (Jan 5, 2011)

Yea, that makes sense.

I will be shooting a pretty significant amount of B&W for the next little while.  

I've been looking up developing kits online, but do you know of any out there that are good, and fairly affordable?

Thanks again.


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## Josh66 (Jan 5, 2011)

Take a look at this thread, post #9 by djacobox372:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/film-discussion-q/226740-film-developed-incorrectly.html

Maybe toss a thermometer in there too.


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## ctam43 (Jan 5, 2011)

Perfect!

Thanks a lot


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## j-dogg (Jan 6, 2011)

I saw magical film and came in here expecting Kodachrome content.

Develop it yourself, you can do it in a kitchen sink or a dark closet (followed shortly thereafter with the obligatory "that's what she said" ) takes next to no time at all.

Kodak sells a film called BW400CN in Walgreens it's not true black and white because it uses the C41 process but it is damn close and I honestly can't tell the difference.


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## Rob1n (Jan 6, 2011)

Try a digital camera, then you don't need to get a gum chewing student to process  it for you. They will ruin it anyway, processing B&W is a lost art. Neopan has a tiny tolerance, get it wrong and the grain gets very ugly indeed. sorry


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## terri (Jan 6, 2011)

Rob1n said:


> Try a digital camera, then you don't need to get a gum chewing student to process it for you. They will ruin it anyway, processing B&W is a lost art. Neopan has a tiny tolerance, get it wrong and the grain gets very ugly indeed. sorry


There's a lot wrong with this post, starting off with assuming anyone shooting B&W film is interested in a digital camera.        Not helpful.


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## Torus34 (Jan 7, 2011)

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...lm-photography-part-iii-film-development.html


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## terri (Jan 8, 2011)

Torus34 said:


> http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...lm-photography-part-iii-film-development.html


 I can vouch for this series of articles!   

Happy New Year, Jim!     :hug::


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## djacobox372 (Jan 8, 2011)

O|||||||O said:


> Take a look at this thread, post #9 by djacobox372:
> http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/film-discussion-q/226740-film-developed-incorrectly.html
> 
> Maybe toss a thermometer in there too.



There are also a lot of great how-to's on youtube that show you how simple it is.

The nice thing about B/W is that it's developed at room temperature, making a thermometer not completely necessary (although it's a good idea).


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## tammiethaler (Jan 10, 2011)

??????


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## ann (Jan 10, 2011)

it is not the room temperature that is important, it is the termperature of the chemistry.


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## Torus34 (Jan 11, 2011)

On temperature:

Chemists [I'm one, btw] will tell you that there's a rule of thumb about temperature and chemical reactions. Reaction speeds will double for every increase of 10 degeees C.

Now, I'm not going to crunch numbers here nor dabble in arcane math. The truth of the matter, in simple terms, is that winter room temperatures of about 68-70 degrees F will work just fine if your solutions [primarily the developer -- stop baths and fixers are less fussy,] are at that temperature. However, in summer many parts of the US will reach temperatures of 90 degrees or more. Unless you've got your bottles of chemicals in a room cooled to 68-70 degrees, you could face overdevelopment [dark negatives of increased contrast] unless you compensated for the temperature with a reduction in developing time. [There are tables which do this.]

To boil this down further: film development's 'comfort zone' is around 68 degrees F. You can stray a degree or two either side without much of a problem. However, if your indoor temperatures are going to be outside that range -- get a thermometer and heat or cool your developer to bring it back to 68 degrees F [more or less.]


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## franknl (Mar 19, 2011)

lolz.. i thought ... you have a really magical film ..


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## photocist (Mar 20, 2011)

ann said:


> it is not the room temperature that is important, it is the termperature of the chemistry.


 its not so much the entire chemistry set but rather only the temp of the developer.

B&W is extremely easy to do and it only takes a couple tries to really get it down.


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## Film66 (Sep 11, 2011)

I use Neopan 35 and 120 I develop and print my own. I use Patterson Aculux to develop the film, the make of the wash and fix not so important. Now the lazy and unwashed have all gone to digital the cost of setting up a dark room is very small if you buy second hand. If your particularly lucky you might get it given.


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## David A Sercel (Sep 11, 2011)

I love Neopan 100 Acros too for a general shooting film. Great values and at 6x6 sizes it can get a fair amount of detail. I usually use the old standby D-76 for developing.


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## wwwphil (Sep 20, 2011)

Defiantly develop black and white at home


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## HilltopNovaPhoto (Nov 8, 2011)

Take a photo class at a local college and you can do it in 30 min.  But yea, b/w that isn't c-41 gets sent out.


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## unpopular (Nov 11, 2011)

... this is kind of like buying a button battery and trying to fit it into gadgets that take AA, and wondering what the point of a battery is that you can't use.

Unfortunately they stopped processing b/w film locally a long time ago at places like wal mart. Even when I was in college in the late 1990's they couldn't do it.

No need to take a college course just to learn how to process b/w film. Straight development is pretty easy. Just look it up on the internets and ask questions here.


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## fotoshooter (Nov 13, 2011)

I've been doing B&W film for years in my own darkroom. As stated by others it is easy to learn and a lot of fun..

If you want your film scanned to high resolution go here Ultra Hi-Res Scan Order Form


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## orlovphoto (Nov 15, 2011)

It's only a lost art for the 'lost people' - those who take convenience over quality and volume over soul.


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