Old B&W Film

Ladystrange

Ladystrange

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Hi! I was looking for some advice please. I found my dad's old Canon film camera, it's just a wee Sure Shot so no lenses or anything, but I fancy doing a wee project with it. I have 2 rolls of out of date B&W film I'm going to use (yes I know they may be beyond use but I've gotta try!!) What I'm wondering is how to get them developed or preferably converted to digital files when I'm done. Is this easy enough or do I need specialist equipment? Thanks guys!

Sorry if this has been asked before!!
 
I've used Filmdev recently (as have many members here) and have been more then happy with the results I've also used Photo Express on old out of date film
 
Hi Claire - First off, have a look at the processing and editing section on this page: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...ion-where-to-find-tutorials-resources.571044/

A lot of people on here develop their film at home, but if you're just dipping your toe in the water you may be better sending it off for development. Having said that, it's an easy process at home, requires simple and cheap equipment and is lots of fun :)

How old is the film? The general rule is to add a stop of extra exposure per decade. So for instance, you would set your meter to 200 for an ISO 400 film that expired in 2008.
 
FujiLove said:
Hi Claire - First off, have a look at the processing and editing section on this page: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...ion-where-to-find-tutorials-resources.571044/

A lot of people on here develop their film at home, but if you're just dipping your toe in the water you may be better sending it off for development. Having said that, it's an easy process at home, requires simple and cheap equipment and is lots of fun :)

How old is the film? The general rule is to add a stop of extra exposure per decade. So for instance, you would set your meter to 200 for an ISO 400 film that expired in 2008.
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Thats handy to know thanks @FujiLove
 
If you can set the speed of the film on your camera the general advice seems to be to overexpose the film by 1 stop for every 20 years past the expiry date. B&W film is pretty forgiving though so if you can't manually set the film speed it should still work.

Filmdev are great. They offer mail order processing and will scan your film and then make the scans available to download online. I've only had small scans from them as they are suitable for using on the web. If I have any shots that are worth printing I can s an myself or get a local lab (peak imaging in Sheffield) to scan the selected negatives at a higher resolution.
 
I second Mathew's comment above - overexpose B&W film by just one stop per two decades of expiry (or half-a-stop per decade if you'd prefer :) ).

If the camera is a Sure Shot compact @Ladystrange then it's likely that you won't be able to set the film speed manually though as the camera will read the speed automatically from the DX coding marks on the film canister (although, if you fancy it, you can "hack" the DX coding marks to fool the camera into thinking it's a different rated film). Out of interest, how expired is the film and what is the ASA rating?
 
I cant remember the age of the film but will check when I get home. Yes @FishyFish it is a Sure Shot so I'm not sure what scope I'll have for manually setting it up but I'll give it a bash. I've no manual for it so it'll be good craic!!
I have developed film in the past although a long time ago and as part of a group so I'm not sure I'd be confident enough to try it myself.

Thank you all so much for the warm welcome and the great advice. I'll let you know what the age is on the film later on, thanks again :)
 
Peter B said:
Looks like Canon used the Sure Shot name for a number of cameras, but scroll down the linked page and see if you can identify yours. This will then take you to a copy of the manual for that camera. And have fun!
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/canon_point_and_shoot/canon_pointandshoot.htm
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Jez I never thought of looking for a manual online, thanks Peter. This one is a Sure Shot 'Date' and I dont see anything similar on the list, but now I know they're out there I'll do a Google search on it.

The film is dated 2010, it's a Kodak Professional BW400cn. The ISO is 400. The last time I used film on a regular basis was way before I got interested in 'photography' rather that just taking pictures if you know what I mean so I've no idea if this is a good film or not. But sure it'll be fun finding out!

Thank you again so much for your help, this really is the best bit of the TP forum!! :cool:
 
Ladystrange said:
Jez I never thought of looking for a manual online, thanks Peter. This one is a Sure Shot 'Date' and I dont see anything similar on the list, but now I know they're out there I'll do a Google search on it.

The film is dated 2010, it's a Kodak Professional BW400cn. The ISO is 400. The last time I used film on a regular basis was way before I got interested in 'photography' rather that just taking pictures if you know what I mean so I've no idea if this is a good film or not. But sure it'll be fun finding out!

Thank you again so much for your help, this really is the best bit of the TP forum!! :cool:
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Unless the film has been stored badly (somewhere warm for instance), then you'll probably be ok shooting it at box speed, I reckon.

Good luck, and don't forget to share the results! :)
 
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dated 2010? That is practically new. I would shoot that at box speed and develop normally. Film has a lot of latitude which will cover any slight degradation in the film.
 
Yep, as @FishyFish suggests, if it’s been stored kindly, then shoot it at box speed.

I’m not suggesting this is in any way the best solution, but in the worst case if it’s been stored badly and you can’t force the over exposure manually, you could ask for the development to be “pushed” by a stop. This will affect the dynamic range of the resulting frame a little though, but not hugely.

Most likely scenario though is that you can just shoot it as normal :)
 
FujiLove said:
Hi Claire - First off, have a look at the processing and editing section on this page: https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...ion-where-to-find-tutorials-resources.571044/

A lot of people on here develop their film at home, but if you're just dipping your toe in the water you may be better sending it off for development. Having said that, it's an easy process at home, requires simple and cheap equipment and is lots of fun :)

How old is the film? The general rule is to add a stop of extra exposure per decade. So for instance, you would set your meter to 200 for an ISO 400 film that expired in 2008.
Click to expand...
You taught me something thank you.
 
If I remember correctly, the name 'Date' usually meant that whichever model of Sure Shot it was had a 'data back', which when set would 'stamp' the date (and time) onto the film when a photo was taken. The question is, which model of Sureshot/Sure Shot is it?

This can sometimes take a bit of working out as the same model camera was often marketed under a different name depending on which country it was sold in. Have a look at the following link and see if your camera looks the same as any of the ones pictured on here, you can then see what the name was in the EU or UK and then see if you can find a manual for it. http://global.canon/en/c-museum/series_search.html?t=camera&s=film Hope this is useful. (y)
 
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The film you have is a chromogenic black and white, so is developed using colour chemicals which means you'll have to send it off to someone for development. Good thing about this film is that when scanned you can still use the infrared dust removal such as ICE.
 
Mr Badger said:
If I remember correctly, the name 'Date' usually meant that whichever model of Sure Shot it was had a 'data back', which when set would 'stamp' the date (and time) onto the film when a photo was taken. The question is, which model of Sureshot/Sure Shot is it?

This can sometimes take a bit of working out as the same model camera was often marketed under a different name depending on which country it was sold in. Have a look at the following link and see if your camera looks the same as any of the ones pictured on here, you can then see what the name was in the EU or UK and then see if you can find a manual for it. http://global.canon/en/c-museum/series_search.html?t=camera&s=film Hope this is useful. (y)
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This was extremely useful @Mr Badger thank you. I think I've found it although I wont know for sure until I get home from work, but I think this is it!

http://global.canon/en/c-museum/product/film142.html

Again I cant thank you guys enough for all your help, and I will of course share the results, hopefully I wont mess it up too much!! LOL
 
No problem, Claire, best of luck with it. I don't think you can go far wrong with those Canon Shure Shots, if it's anything like the ones I've used you have to press the shutter button half way to get it to focus, then press the rest of the way to take the photo. Pressing in one go doesn't give some of them time to focus properly. (y)
 
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Mr Badger said:
No problem, Claire, best of luck with it. I don't think you can go far wrong with those Canon Shure Shots, if it's anything like the ones I've used you have to press the shutter button half way to get it to focus, then press the rest of the way to take the photo. Pressing in one go doesn't give some of them time to focus properly. (y)
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Yep, the one or *cough* two I've had all worked like that :)
 
Still haven't got around to getting the film into the camera yet!! I need a battery and of course it's not standard, it's one of those dual battery packs, like 2 batteries together. My local chemist has a great section on all things camera so they've said they can order it, if they cant get it I'm sure I'll get it online! I'm itching to get started now!
 
If it's the 2CR5 Lithium type one then you can easily get them from ebay and Amazon, I bought some made by Energizer last year and they seem to be fine. Independent traders such as BatteryForce also sell them https://www.battery-force.co.uk/batteries/batteries-called/2cr5-batteries.html and I'd imagine the Panasonic ones they sell would be OK too.

Do check this is the type of battery you need before buying though, as the Canon Sure Shot range used all sorts of different batteries depending on the model at the time! Hope this is useful.
 
Mr Badger said:
If it's the 2CR5 Lithium type one then you can easily get them from ebay and Amazon, I bought some made by Energizer last year and they seem to be fine. Independent traders such as BatteryForce also sell them https://www.battery-force.co.uk/batteries/batteries-called/2cr5-batteries.html and I'd imagine the Panasonic ones they sell would be OK too.

Do check this is the type of battery you need before buying though, as the Canon Sure Shot range used all sorts of different batteries depending on the model at the time! Hope this is useful.
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Yeah that's the ones @Mr Badger, thanks a million. :)
It very helpfully says on the underside of the battery cover what it takes. I dont know how people coped with changing them though, as the cover is screwed on, must remember to carry a screwdriver at all times LOL!!
 
I don't know the camera, but for many a 1p piece will do the job. 5p sometimes a bit thick... where will we be when they drop the brown coins... (had to reword that twice!)
 
If it's the model in the link, it looks like it has a large screw slot where a small coin would work. This is an improvement on some of the earlier cameras (I have a SureShot Supreme, which has a 'hidden' battery compartment secured by a couple of small screws that need a real screwdriver - not sure what they were thinking!). You probably won't need to open it very often, though - the manual suggests the 2CR5 is good for '35 rolls of 24-exposure film with 50% flash use', so you should get more than 20 rolls of 36.

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/canon/canon_sureshot_prima_twin/canon_sureshot_prima_twin.htm
 
Retune said:
This is an improvement on some of the earlier cameras (I have a SureShot Supreme, which has a 'hidden' battery compartment secured by a couple of small screws that need a real screwdriver - not sure what they were thinking!). You probably won't need to open it very often, though - the manual suggests the 2CR5 is good for '35 rolls of 24-exposure film with 50% flash use', so you should get more than 20 rolls of 36.
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I've got a couple of those Shureshot Supreme cameras (you've got to love that f 1:2.8 lens) and I know exactly what you mean, the two battery compartment screws are that small they look the same as the ones used to hold the various bits of the camera together, to the extent that it almost feels like I have no right to even think about undoing them, let alone change the battery!

However, as you say, the battery was reputed to power the camera through 36 rolls or more of 24 exp film, or 5 years use, whichever came first, so it probably explains why the battery cover screws on my cameras don't show any obvious signs of frequent use! The original owner probably never had the need to change the battery in all the time they owned and used the camera, as it was probably bought by the 'casual user' market to use at their granddaughter or grandson's wedding or that family 'holiday of a lifetime' to the USA, etc., then after that it was left in a draw in the sideboard and only ever used on high-days and holidays.

I seem to recall that the standing joke in photography circles in those days was that the average roll of film from a 35mm compact camera had a Christmas tree at either end and a beach in the middle!
 
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Mr Badger said:
However, as you say, the battery was reputed to power the camera through 36 rolls or more of 24 exp film, or 5 years use, whichever came first,
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Blimey - when I was a student I got through 3 36 exposure rolls each day...
 
I was actually thinking about the Christmas tree thing earlier! The good thing about batteries like the 2CR5 is I think they were only available in lithium, which generally means they remain sealed - my SureShot also had a long-dead battery installed, but it had done no harm as alkalines might well have done. Incidentally, I wonder how long the lithiums in the old Kodak Disc cameras lasted? - I don't think they were even user-replaceable on the more expensive models.

I don't think I could have afforded to shoot 3 rolls of film a day (or even a week) when I was a student! But some years later I went though serious quantities of Fuji Superia when I picked up a large wad of free vouchers intended for tourists in London that gave a heavy discount on processing at Boots (at the time, some branches ran decent Frontier labs).
 
I think perhaps student grants and budgets might have been more generous when Stephen was a student? Mind you, I believe that in those days only about 12 people a year were deemed to be intelligent enough to attend university, so the country could afford it! ;)
 
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I was one of the lucky ones on a full grant of £340 a year. I invested in a Watson bulk film loader and 30 meter tins of HP3. Plus at that time I only drank tea - by the time I'd reached my second and third years I did also have drinking chocolate, but that's another story.
 
I had a similar right of passage on apprentice wages in the early 1980s, investing in a Computrol bulk film loader, and a tin of Barfen E6 whenever I could afford it. It didn't half focus attention when loading it with 100 feet of film that'd just cost you most of your weeks wages!

And you try and tell the young people of today that ... and they won't believe you. :D What must we sound like, but it was the way things were.
 
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