35mm film development

[Auburn910]

Hey everyone. I am new to the board.


My question is in respect to having my film developed with a new camera (Sea & Sea MX 10 with strobe) i recently purchased. I see Kodak has several labs they dub Kodak Sea (http://www.kodak.com/US/en/consumer/sea/index.shtml) where they claim to achieve better processed film than taking to the local drug ..

So for anyone with experience in having film developed can the local drug . reach good quality? Are you able to request they add red or magenta colors to the exposure process or is this not needed.

I am a rookie here, so my questions might not be fully developed. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Forest

 

[MarkH]

Hey everyone. I am new to the board.


My question is in respect to having my film developed with a new camera (Sea & Sea MX 10 with strobe) i recently purchased. I see Kodak has several labs they dub Kodak Sea (http://www.kodak.com/US/en/consumer/sea/index.shtml) where they claim to achieve better processed film than taking to the local drug ..

So for anyone with experience in having film developed can the local drug . reach good quality? Are you able to request they add red or magenta colors to the exposure process or is this not needed.

I am a rookie here, so my questions might not be fully developed. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Forest

I wouldn't, but that's my personal preference. I think it makes the background water look almost brownish.

 

[HowardE]

Hey everyone. I am new to the board.


My question is in respect to having my film developed with a new camera (Sea & Sea MX 10 with strobe) i recently purchased. I see Kodak has several labs they dub Kodak Sea (http://www.kodak.com/US/en/consumer/sea/index.shtml) where they claim to achieve better processed film than taking to the local drug ..

So for anyone with experience in having film developed can the local drug . reach good quality? Are you able to request they add red or magenta colors to the exposure process or is this not needed.

I am a rookie here, so my questions might not be fully developed. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Forest

Hi - Welcome to ScubaBoard.

I seriously doubt that a local drug store could achieve the results you're looking for. You can always have a serious lab make re-prints of the photos that are good, or can easily be fixed with color corrections.

Since you're shooting with a strobe, your colors should be fairly accurate as it is... that picture on the Kodak website is definitely without a strobe

So - I wouldn't go with the local Walgreens or CVS, but rather find a regular photo lab with people that look at what they're doing.

 

[MarkH]

I wouldn't, but that's my personal preference. I think it makes the background water look almost brownish.

To clarify my post, I mean I wouldn't go for the "Sea Processing".

 

[herman]

Here is what I suggest and what I use to do. The magic in film processing is in the printing, not in the actual development of the film into a negative. It makes little difference who processes the negatives, they come out pretty much the same. On the other hand it's very important that the person doing the printing understand what you need. As a beginning photographer your not going to get many keepers so why waste money on expensive and slow processing. Go ahead and have it done a local lab and if you find shots you really like, have them done at a Kodak lab or a high end local lab where you can talk with the processor.
The MX-10 is quite capable of really nice photos. Just remember to keep close. Closeup lens and the macro lens do really nice jobs.

 

[HowardE]

Herman's points are very good. My usual ratio is 1-2 keepers for every 10 shots. So why pay for nice prints, when you may only have 5-6 good ones in a roll of 36.

 

[RonFrank]

Hey everyone. I am new to the board.


My question is in respect to having my film developed with a new camera (Sea & Sea MX 10 with strobe) i recently purchased. I see Kodak has several labs they dub Kodak Sea (http://www.kodak.com/US/en/consumer/sea/index.shtml) where they claim to achieve better processed film than taking to the local drug ..

So for anyone with experience in having film developed can the local drug . reach good quality? Are you able to request they add red or magenta colors to the exposure process or is this not needed.

I am a rookie here, so my questions might not be fully developed. Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Forest

Developing film is not an ART, it's a process. No one is going to ADD color to your film during a development process. The ONLY alternative development that is standard is pushing or pulling film, and that is just changing the amount of time that the negative is exposed to the developer.

I'd use the cheapest lab you can find for developing. Keep in mind that while Costco may not have a highly paid artist at the wheel, they do have $200,000 processors. The art is in the printing, not the development, so who cares who does it as long as the lab is keeping their chemicals refreshed, which is automated in high end processing.

I'd also recommend that you have the negatives scanned to a CD or DVD after the development. Than you can take advantage of digital processing techniques for printing. As to where to go for printing, you should find a professional lab in your area, or there are plenty online as well.

Good Luck,

 

[PapaBob]

I'd also recommend that you have the negatives scanned to a CD or DVD after the development. Than you can take advantage of digital processing techniques for printing. As to where to go for printing, you should find a professional lab in your area, or there are plenty online as well.

Good Luck,

A second to Ron's suggestion. I would go to Costco (or your local equivalent) and have them process and burn a cd. Then you can review the pics on your computer and even adjust them if you are into Photoshop or other image enhancement software. You can always burn a cd with your keepers and print them later.

---Bob

 

[HowardE]

Photo printing does vary quite a bit between stores. I took a few of my photos, and made TIFF's uncompressed and brought them into Walgreens, Sam's Club, and my neighbor and his local photo lab (store). I printed 4x6 and 8x10 of two photos at each location, so 4 photos each.

Of the three, each print looked considerably different, and mind you I copied the photos onto a CF card, and used the same card at all 3 locations. My personal opinion, Breck Photo - with it's mitsubishi printer had the closest match to my screen image, as far as colors, clarity, and sharpness. Breck Photo charges $12 for an 8x10 though, and walgreens and sam's are <$2.00 for an 8x10. (I know one walgreens used a Fuji 1 hour type machine)

I would still find that to the average person, any of the 8x10's would be suitible for framing, and with several attempts, I could adjust my colors to compensate for the issues with the calibration of the sam's or walgreens printer.

I know this isn't film related, but it is along a similar vein.

That is... The photo professionals know what they're doing, and check their equipment often to produce excellent results in the photofinishing. Be it film or digital, a professional photo lab will in most cases do the best job at printing.

 

[RonFrank]

That is... The photo professionals know what they're doing, and check their equipment often to produce excellent results in the photofinishing. Be it film or digital, a professional photo lab will in most cases do the best job at printing.

Agreed, and of course they also will be the most expensive, by magnitudes. However if you want to display your images, get the best print possible, and pay the few extra bucks.

One thing that will make printing at cheap locations easier is if you get the ICC profile for the printer they are using, and do your color corrections using that profile.

You must be using a color aware application like PS, and it helps to have the monitor calibrated as well.

I print my own images, and have an archival printer (Epson 2200) that does a beautiful job. IMO if you do much in the way of photography getting a photo quality printer, and spending the time necessary to get good results out of it is rewarding.

Chow!