Getting Film Developed

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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Ian
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Hi folks.

Mainly lurked in this forum, but now I need to post something...

I picked up an Olympus Trip off Freecycle, and have almost finished the film. I am looking to get it developed and scanned onto CD. I don't have a scanner or darkroom kit, and all I really wanted to do was shoot a test roll to see if the camera works or not.

If I walk into Jessops to get the film developed and scanned (a service they offer) does anyone know what resolution and filetype the final images will be? Will I have a 50k jpeg, or a 30Mb tiff?

Also, are there other developers out there that scan to better resolutions? Any pitfalls to watch out for?

Thanks in advance!

Ian.
 
New to film? Then try Tesco first, dev and scan to CD for £1.98
 
if it's a test roll then definitely take it to tesco/asda rather than bothering with jessops.
 
:) Only for now... ;)

Jessops will scan it at 9x6 if you want them to, which will yield a 3000x2000 pixel image. Any higher than this, and it will be interpolation, not actual information. This can be done at home in PS which will achieve better results. In all honesty, aside from the silly software that you "have" to install, the scanners we use are actually pretty good. You should remind them to scan at 9x6.

If you put the burnt cd in and browse to the files instead of installing the software, it works as normal. As said though, Jessops will charge more for it.

As a side note, whilst everyone bitches about jessops (and in most cases, rightly so...) the store I'm in is awesome. Every single one of the people I work with knows as much as I do, and in one case, even more. All I can say is, don't tarnish EVERY store with the same brush, as sometimes, you might just be surprised.
 
Thanks for the replies evgeryone...

As I'm not sure if the camera even works, I'll get it done at Tesco for now. There was another thread saying that there's supposed to be a flag that pops up when there's not enough light, and when I cover the lens, I see no flag... So I'm not optimistic at the moment.

If it does work though, I may try Jessops for the first roll or two. Good news though is that the course I'm starting in September has access to a dark room, so that'll be good for me to see if I want to carry on with film and do it myself. Just the expense of a scanner and the film developing kit to consider.

As to Jessops. There's one guy in our local store that seems knowledgeable. All the others 'aint so great.

Ian.
 
A few years ago, when the Tour de France visited Kent, I had a film developed, with a contact print and photo CD (From a local Jessops). I was looking forward to the results, particularly as I had used my Canon EOS30V with Superia 100, and the images were all taken in perfect light. The images were a complete failure, so grainy, they were worse than some of my efforts from years ago, where I had pushed the film to 3200 ASA.
Is this down to the scanning or something else, because like the OP, I am now confused about the whole film scene. Should I buy my own Epson 500 and do it myself?
 
andy700 said:
A few years ago, when the Tour de France visited Kent, I had a film developed, with a contact print and photo CD (From a local Jessops). I was looking forward to the results, particularly as I had used my Canon EOS30V with Superia 100, and the images were all taken in perfect light. The images were a complete failure, so grainy, they were worse than some of my efforts from years ago, where I had pushed the film to 3200 ASA.
Is this down to the scanning or something else, because like the OP, I am now confused about the whole film scene. Should I buy my own Epson 500 and do it myself?
Click to expand...

Do you know what resolution they were scanned at? I know Jessops come in for some stick on here but I've never had a problem with stuff I've had processed by them, although it's been a few years since I used them.

Just noticed you said it was Superia, not the best IMHO. And as the Big Yin says if you've still got the negs if you want to drop them in the post i'll scan them for you.
 
andy700 said:
A few years ago, when the Tour de France visited Kent, I had a film developed, with a contact print and photo CD (From a local Jessops). I was looking forward to the results, particularly as I had used my Canon EOS30V with Superia 100, and the images were all taken in perfect light. The images were a complete failure, so grainy, they were worse than some of my efforts from years ago, where I had pushed the film to 3200 ASA.
Is this down to the scanning or something else, because like the OP, I am now confused about the whole film scene. Should I buy my own Epson 500 and do it myself?
Click to expand...

If you've still got the neg's maybe someone on here could have a look at 'em for you ?
 
Thanks for the offers chaps. I think that I am going to go down the scanner route, because I need to transfer a lot of my film work to CD. I have nothing against Jessops (bought all my new digital SLR gear there, and the staff at Bluewater are very good), but these were taken to another branch which I do not usually visit.
There are quite a few reco's for Tesco/Asda on here, so I may try them with a film (process only), and then scan the negs when I get them home.
How long does it take to scan 24/36 negs at 9600 DPI on to a CD, and is it worth it, or should I simply pick the best ones for that treatment?
I am thinking whilst typing now, and I suppose the best way, would be to scan the whole lot at low res very quickly and then cherry pick the best ones?
I have a few rolls of Reala, maybe a few portraits under different lighting conditions, together with some simple still life shots, using a tripod should give me a realistic idea as to the quality I should expect.
 
Up to you how you choose what ones to scan in high res, but just a quick point from me about DPI... Even the best scanners out there have an optical diffraction limit that equates to around 4800DPI. Any higher than this, and it's simply interpolation and not actual information from the source. As a result, I wouldn't bother scanning at 9600DPI. Anything between 2400 and 4800DPI will be fine, and then use PS to interpolate up if you need to, as this will do a better job of it than most scanning software.

it also has the advantage of being quicker in the scanning stage :)
 
Well, Jessops are off the hook for the TdF shots, because I have just found the original contact (?) print and the photo CD, and they were done by a Max Spielman lab. I am now sorting through loads of negs to find the right ones.
I have found some old Kodachrome slides from the 1980s, which were taken using an OM1N, and they look pretty vivid and razor sharp (mind you, everything does until you put them on a screen or enlarge them).
I will have to post before and after pics when I get them re-scanned (assuming that they are any good of course, because I am a real coward when it comes to showing people my pictures).
Thanks for the help chaps.

Andy
 
****There are quite a few reco's for Tesco/Asda on here, so I may try them with a film (process only), and then scan the negs when I get them home.
How long does it take to scan 24/36 negs at 9600 DPI on to a CD, and is it worth it, or should I simply pick the best ones for that treatment?***

If you don't start finding easier ways with film you will give up and go back to digital. Those Tescos CDs are damn good, why make work for yourself? If you get a winning shot then get it drum scanned...all an Epson V750 will do, will allow you to enlarge more and give a slight more detail in the shot, so how many 12X16 prints are you going to have done and more importantly as an amateur "whom do you want to please with your shots"
 
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