Analog film photography and cameras

Same here, I first took pictures with SLR, then try rangefinders. I began with a cheap Ricoh, then Canon QL17, then Olympus RC (top but for small hands), then Zorki, then Canon P, then Leica. If you like RF, you should jump right to Canon P, it is cheap and sturdy. No lightmeter, but honestly, apart from Leicas, you won't find any good build-in lightmeter. And all the best Voigtlander/Leica old lenses can mount.

edit: V600 is old and not very adequate, I think you will be limited very early. But for many years I have used an already old Epson Perfection 3200 (three gen before V600) and that was fine...

But for BW films, the cheaper and the easier would be to use your camera...

I only have my phone as a camera unfortunately. Definitely something to ponder over though.

I may well do that. It was on my list but I didn't want to spend that much if I didn't like RF's. The Canon is plentiful and cheap in the U.S., it would seem.

Is there anything worth getting for less than £100? Think learning basic photoshop/lightroom processing might be enjoyable to learn next

Maybe the Epson 3200 perfection photo ? Even a V600 ? It needs the film holders (for 135 and 120) and a scratch-free glass. Then basic learning of Epson scan and lightroom and you could begin.

Agree with this approach, all the B+W I share is scanned in this way.

Tri-X @ 1600

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Re: scanners.
I have an Epson v750 or 700, can’t remember. If I’m honest, I never use it unless I need an image in higher res. The medium scans from filmdev are definitely adequate for my blog.

It’s such a pain getting decent scans, and it takes forever - hence still getting lab scans.

I think the problem a few people have had recently is that their scans haven't been great - particularly from filmdev.

If people are having issues with Filmdev please speak to David (from Filmdev) before slagging them, at least give them the chance to resolve the issue.

I have never had any issues with their service and have recommended them based on that experience.

Might be a good idea to ask them to chime in her for a minute..

I have done just that.

I don’t think mentioning issues that I’ve had with sharpening to alert other people is ‘slagging them’

Agreed, that was a clumsy phrase. If there are issues with scans they can always be redone, I would recommend contacting Filmdev if your scans are duff, I'm sure they would re-do them gratis.

Yeah ive always had some great service from film dev tbh.

weird, my scans from filmdev have been improved for last month or so ..

I still recommend filmdev to everyone. £7 for decent dev and scan - no one else comes close. Over-sharpening is an occasional issue, but I still much prefer the results, especially for the price. Super quick turnaround, wetransfer link sent promptly, no faff payment etc.

Obviously know that its a very well know place, but Eye Culture in Bethnal Green has always been good to me, offer a service now for £8 where they develop, scan, and email via wetransfer within the hour.

I'm always very happy with the results

Just got this back Saturday, taken in Hastings a month ago. Shot on Nikon F90x - portra 400

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Snaps Photo do this for £4.20

You pay a little more for emailing of files though.

A couple on some very expired Elite Chrome, think I might bin the remaining rolls as it's pretty fucked

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1st one doesn't look too bad at all, 2nd one looks under exposed ?

I might bin the remaining rolls

y u no x-pro ?

In the never ending quest to find the perfect camera, I handled a Nikon FM2n the other day. It was marvelous. Made my Pentax feel positively agricultural. It really was wonderful. So I thought of buying an FM3a, but they're just really expensive versus a very similar FE2. So I think I'll buy an FE2. Looking at this over the FM2n mainly for its aperture priority. Any seriously good Nikon lenses I should be checking out? So far I've earmarked the 50mm 1.2 AI-s.

If there are issues with scans they can always be redone, I would recommend contacting Filmdev if your scans are duff, I'm sure they would re-do them gratis.

So, fair play to filmdev. They refunded me the dev/scan cost on the three orders I had problems with, something I hadn't asked for or expected. They're also going to re-scan the negs at large setting gratis.

They think the problem was down to contrast, rather than a sharpening issue. An engineer had bumped a contrast setting on the Noritsu up to max after a service.

They also mentioned the engineer had turned on red eye correction on the frontier, which I think @nefarious had an issue with ?