Coming over to the dark side...

Matt989

Matt989

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Matt
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Right...ive decided id love to try some MF film, I love the look of the images produced the problem is im a relatively new to this photography thing and have never used anything more than a film point and shoot.

Question is, assuming im not going to be developing the film myself, I will be purchasing a Hasselblad 500 or a Bronica ETRS and would like to be able to have digital copies of my images....what will I need?

This is all down to me selling my 40D and 10-22mm, and getting it past the wife!!
 
If you wont be developing your film, then all you need is a scanner, just pop your negatives in and away you go!
 
if you want digital copies of your work, and don't want to process your own film, all you really need is this link *


* other processing companies are available, I've recommended a company that I have personal experience of their work but have no connection with them other than beeing a happy customer.
 
Or when you send them to be developed get them put onto CD.

Andy
 
I am thinking along similar lines to Matt so I hope he doesn't mind me asking whether professionally sourced digital copies of film suffer from dust spots etc or do the scans come through pretty clean?
 
TheBigYin said:
if you're not in a rush, then 7dayshop usually have decent prices, otherwise mailshots, ag photographic, silverprint amongst others.

As to what kind - well - what are you looking to shoot, and what effect are you looking to get?
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It will probably be used for a mixture of studio portraits (if I can get it to sync with my lights) and landscape.

I love the silky smooth black & white shots they seem to produce.
 
I would recommend the film scanner route, if you are going to shoot a lot then you will save money by buying and doing it yourself. Admittedly, it is a pain but I usually quick scan all of my negs then proper scan the best ones I want to use.

I love Fuji Acros but be careful with studio lights as i have found it is not the best film to use with lighting.
 
I would also recommend the Bronny over the Hasselblad, just for the price difference, if you start to like shooting it then maybe sell the 5d, you don't need a digital SLR anyways... :LOL:
 
onefunkypenguin said:
I would recommend the film scanner route, if you are going to shoot a lot then you will save money by buying and doing it yourself. Admittedly, it is a pain but I usually quick scan all of my negs then proper scan the best ones I want to use.

I love Fuji Acros but be careful with studio lights as i have found it is not the best film to use with lighting.
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Ive got a feeling I won't use it that often. Its more to satisfy a wee craving I have.

You in Motherwell? Your just over the valley from me.
 
Yeah I sure am, if you need any help or just even want to have a shot of the Mamiya then give me a shout.

I was looking into getting the Mamiya 645 afd with a digital back but lost out on two auctions on ebay, older backs but since i only shoot people and everything is usually set up I didn't mind. Maybe in a few years....
 
Go for it, I recently started shooting MF film and home dev B&W films and the whole process is great. For me it does not replace my digital set up but compliments it well.
Trouble is I now want to have a go at printing myself as well.

Mart
 
Marvin d martian said:
Go for it, I recently started shooting MF film and home dev B&W films and the whole process is great. For me it does not replace my digital set up but compliments it well.
Trouble is I now want to have a go at printing myself as well.

Mart
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Wuss! ;)
I would love to get rid of my digital equipment but it's just not happening, need it for weddings and other paid work until I can convince them that film is better...

I have just started printing again in college, have scanned all my films and digitally printed for the last two years but there is just something satisfying about printing your own that can't be beaten. Maybe if i just can talk my mum into converting the garage or loft into a darkroom after the New Year :)
 
onefunkypenguin said:
I would also recommend the Bronny over the Hasselblad, just for the price difference, if you start to like shooting it then maybe sell the 5d, you don't need a digital SLR anyways... :LOL:
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The Bronica 6X4.5 with 15 shots makes more sense than 12 shots of 6X6. When doing my own colour and B/W prints @ 8X10 size, most of the time I was cropping the sq neg/shot to fit the paper when using my 6X6 cameras. Ok the Blad guys will talk about the superior lenses, well at what size print are you going to see a difference :shrug:
 
Matt, have a look at the sticky re film development. It really is VERY easy to develop your own black and white film to negs then scan them. I have several spare dev tanks so PM me if you decide to go down this route. The chemicals cost about £25 and a changing bag is about £10 off ebay and that is ALL you really need. Put it this way, developing maybe 6-8 films yourself and buying the kit works out cheaper than getting them done at a lab and after that it is virtually free, the chemicals for B&W are seriously cheap!

There is also something magical about pulling the strip of negs out of the tank at the end :)
 
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From memory all of it. Just get a decent or properly calibrated light meter and you are good to go.
 
Everything Is manual unless you go for the h series! You can get metered prisms for mamiya, bronica, rollei and hasselblad. If your free this week then come to Motherwell and you can have a shot of my mamiya, it has a metered prism which def helps!
 
onefunkypenguin said:
Everything Is manual unless you go for the h series! You can get metered prisms for mamiya, bronica, rollei and hasselblad. If your free this week then come to Motherwell and you can have a shot of my mamiya, it has a metered prism which def helps!
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Cheers Dave, may just do that...

Im off work this week so have some time to spare. Got a few jobs to tie up but maybe towards the end of the week?
 
Yeah that should be fine, I'm off until the 7th so most days beside Wed night and Friday night are good for me.
 
645 is weedy, better than 35mm but it hardly seems worth the effort.
6x6 is miles better and more of a challenge.
If I wanted to stay oblong I'd go 6x7 6x8 6x9 and leave 645 in toytown.

but then...6x9 is weedy compared with 5x4.....:LOL:
 
645 is great because with the right setup you can use it very much like 35mm, for quick shooting [with far better quality and smaller depth of field, which is great for full length portraits]. I'd not like to see someone running around too much with a 6x7 slr, you'd get tired quickly.

(although I do pine for a Mamiya 7)
 
Scanning negatives is soul destroying work. Send you films off for development and have someone else do it.
 
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