decent developing

Hi all,

after my last post and some thinking, I'm probably going with 400UC instead of

slide film to give myself some flexibility in terms of speed since my lens is

pretty slow. Problem is, there aren't many processing labs nearby (Livermore,

CA) that aren't expensive -- at the lab near school I paid ~$10/roll which is

alright. There are probably labs in the nearby Bay Area but I'm lacking in a

car. So around here (I've only been here a week or so) there are the standard

Safeway, Walmart, Target, CVS, Longs Drugs developing centers, and I suppose

there are various fairly economical mail-in options too. Any thoughts given

these budget/location constraints?

Thanks, you guys are awesome!

Jessica

Wal-Mart and have it sent it out to Fuji -- It's cheaper and better than their Frontier minilab. You'll see it listed as "2-3 day service."

Also, set your "ISO thingy" on the camera to 320, to clean up the shadow detail (i.e. overexposing by 1/3 stop compensates for manufacturing variations in the toe of the curve, per Ron Mowrey (retired Kodak film engineer), who is a frequent poster here).

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You really should shoot a roll or two of slide film, if only to get the experience with bracketing. You can drop it at Wal-Mart for out-lab service as well -- About $4.75 per roll for processing.

Laying out a 3-shot or especially a 5-shot bracket of slides on the light table will help you more than you realize to learn about proper exposure.

<p>I love Kodak 400UC! It has a fine grain and beautiful saturated color. I find I get more consistent results using 400UC than with Velvia. It is not as fussy about metering and lighting. Plus, it is a great film to shoot in noon sun. I have used Walmart and Walgreens for processing over 100 rolls and am generally very pleased. I can have great prints in an hour! Because this is a popular consumer film, the Frontier machines have default settings that get good results from it. I generally keep the prints as proofs and scan the negatives. Again, a fantastic film!</p>

<p>Here is one a many macro flower images I shot using Minolta manual SLR's and Kodak 400UC from my <a href="http://www.abqstyle.com/index.htm">Albuquerque Photos</a> website:</p>

<p><img src="http://www.abqstyle.com/flowers/pic4.jpg"></p>

nice shot donald. anyways i'm new to the board and live up in canada. a serious hobbyist not

a professional by any means lol. but i often use this lab called colourgenics and the results

have always been very positive. they have an online remote ordering system which has

available shipping options to you. i have never used the shipping however because i live fairly

close to the lab. their website is www.colourgenics.com. hope this helps!

jason