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I'm not sure if this picture counts as a disaster. I am desperately looking to bring down the costs of shooting film. One method that I'm trying is to develop in Diafine and scan the resulting negs through Costco. The cost per roll then comes out to roughly $6 ($3 for the tri-x, $3 for the scan). Which isn't bad considering that NCPS charges $13 for the same service, $20 for the bigger scans.
How did it turn out? Not so great. Diafine is remarkably easy to develop in, plus I was able to shoot the tri-x at about ISO 1250-1600, with grain not being too shabby. The main problem is that way too many of the frames were scratched - I'm suspecting that my A&B solutions may have some floating powder grains in it. For my next run I'm going to run the chems through a strainer to see if I catch anything.
Comments and faves
ndjedinak (11 months ago | reply)
I actually think the "distress" adds to the shot, looks great!
I've been having film scanned at Costco for years... Never had scratching issues unless I scratched them myself. I do get occasional dust or detritus in the scan, but it's not terribly bothersome for $2.99 :)
Do you know the trick of getting the 26-megapixel scans?
ndjedinak.blogspot.com/2009/02/26-megapixel-f ilm-camera-a...
Also: ask them to turn off the autocorrection features...
I just started developing my own B&W at home... Haven't done it in YEARS. As in 25+. Easy, though, and other than my Minolta's meter acting up and myself flubbing some exposures the scans came out good. I just got my second roll back today, in fact! Fun stuff.
SL_Photos (11 months ago | reply)
hey, that is SERIOUSLY great reading. I'm super excited to give this a try, I just processed a roll of Fomapan 400 in Diafine so I can drop it off tomorrow. I'm almost in disbelief that they would actually do this.
As far as the scratching, I'm almost 100% sure that it was my chemicals that did it. It was the first roll from a fresh batch of Diafine and I swear I saw little particles floating around in my graduated cylinder. Tonight's batch didn't seem to have that problem so I'm hoping it goes away. The picture above was heavily edited in PS to get rid of the extra dust.
kediwah (11 months ago | reply)
Your best bet is to pick up a used scanner like a Nikon LS-4000 or LS-5000 (preferred). Even the Epson V600 is a good buy.
However, I just looked at prices of LS-5000s and they're ridiculously expensive on eBay. Like ludicrously expensive compared to what they used to be (500-1000$). Best bet, either Epson or the darkroom.