Starting with medium format...

I have in my possession a Yashica Mat-124G. I have been shooting

digital for the past few years and this will be my first real

experience with film of any kind.

 

My current thought is to start off with Kodak BW400CN film. I don't

have any local labs that can process 120/220 film with any

reliability so I need recommendations on the following:

 

- Labs that will process my film and that are good to work with

remotely.

 

- Best method for shipping film to a lab while protecting against

heat.

 

- Recommendations for paper. I was thinking of trying Endura

Metallic. This is also a lab consideration I suppose.

 

- Scanning - Because I am already digital, should I opt for scanning

rather than having prints made and if so, what should I be looking

for?

 

Or, am I just way off base and should be considering something

altogether different?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Joe Nieters

Joe,

 

Hi! I'm only an amateur, and I have by and large gone digital, but my advice regarding MF b&w would be to skip the T400CN and, if you are comfortable, start processing your own b&w. You will have to either print true b&w at a studio, make your own darkroom or get a lab to do it for you (lots of money for b&w, especially with MF negs), but I think it's worth it. You get the most control in making your negs; you learn more about photography; and you can feel proud knowing you controlled that part of the process. Do institutions such as community colleges/universities or community centres have darkrooms for public use?

 

Scanning MF negs, from what I have read, is hard on the pocket because most negative scanners cannot handle them; the few that do cost an arm and a leg.

 

Re labs, tell everyone where you are, and then people can make recommendations that better fit your location.

 

Good luck on MF b&w; even though it is more work, I think it's worth it to go all the way and develop/print your own. As an amateur, I wouldn't even bother shooting MF colour anymore; digital is good enough.

 

Best,

Andre

I use A&I in LA and I'm in Florida. You can buy prepaid processing at B&H for A&I and they are cheaper than buying from A&I. I just send via 1st class mail and have had few problems.

Scanning MF yourself is a pain and a sink of time, but it is a good way to get MF quality from MF.

 

The good news is that it looks to me that the Epson 4990 can get most of what's on the film (when I got back into MF, the Epson 2450 could not, resulting in the purchase of a Nikon 8000). If you plan on making 6x enlargements with it (up to 13x13 on a 13x19 printer), you will be very very happy. 9x enlargements (cropped 13x19 images) may be beginning to be getting into the range where the infelicities of the film and scanning are noticeable to grain sniffers, but will be a lot better than 6 or 8MP digital.

 

The bad news is that to get MF quality from MF, you really need to use ISO 100 films such as Fuji Reala or the Fuji "100F" slide films.

My experience with ISO 400 films is that they are a lot worse than ISO 100 films.

 

"Or, am I just way off base and should be considering something altogether different?"

 

Not at all. Until 12 or 16.7MP digital is affordable, scanned MF will provide far better image quality than digital.

Joe - I used my husband's Yashica 124 Mat last year for a photography class I was taking. That was my first experience with medium format. I was fortunate to be able to process everything in the school lab. I absolutely fell in love with that camera. I'm not in class now, however, I use a lab about 25 miles from me to process my work. Although it's within driving distance, I just mail my rolls of film to them and they return them via mail. With the cost of gas now, it very convenient to handle my processing this way. Don't worry about temperature - never had a problem. I usually use b/w 100 film - rarely color. Paper depends on the lab. I always have the lab scan the negs. It's costs about $10 for each roll of film, but it's worth it. I hope you enjoy the camera as much as I do.

For $30 worth of equipment and chemicals you can develop the negs in your bathroom.

 

For cheap film, I've used a bit of Arista.edu Ultra from Freestyle Photographic. For $1.35 (or something like that) per roll, you can't beat it.

Joe, where are you located? That will help in suggesting a lab for you.

Thank you for the answers so far.

 

I am located in the Lake of the Ozarks area of Central Missouri, about 45 miles south of Jefferson City, Missouri.

 

My thoughts for considering BW400CN were exposure latitude as I get use to the camera and common C-41 processing for more lab options.

I use an Epson Perfection 4180 with Doug Fishers Medium format film holder and get quite nice results:

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~dougfisher/holder/mfholderintro.html

 

Total cost for both is slightly over $200.

Congratulations... I'm a film junkie with only a digital point and shoot...but I did recently pick up a used Mamiya TLR on Ebay and I'm LOVING it...both color (Kodak ultracolor) and B&W (mostly ilford delta).

 

Luckily I found a pretty decent lab around me in Chicago that does development and 5x5 prints for what I consider a reasonable price (~$15) and same day service..... but I have heard good things about mailers available from B&H if you don't have a lab nearby...

 

On a slight aside...could those suggesting home development...give me a breakdown and a rough cost of just what one would need for developing.... I am definitely interested in at least doing that since a darkroom is currently not a possibility.

I think it would be worthwhile considering developing your own B+W film. The upfront cost is not that large, and you can develop the films straight away.

 

When I got into MF (classic cameras), I got into developing film at home. The most expensive bit was the changing bag (~ $20) - I picked up a brand new tank for 1 euro at a camera fair, and the chemicals, like Rodinal, are dirt cheap. I enjoy the developing side, and I get results as good as or better than when I sent it out to the lab.

 

After that, scanning is fine,, since you're already comfortable with image processing. A decent flatbed is a good start, providing you don't want to do huge enlargements.

 

Enjoy the adventure.

 

Paul

Joe, I think your stratup choice film is good, though I would recommend you not to fellow its ISO 400 rating. Both the Kodak and IMHO better Ilford XP-2 Super seems to do better when exposed at ISO 200 or so.

 

I do suggest you incorporate Scanning into your workflow as it will allow the image to be used as per your other images. I would think that you must have already develop your own digital workflow, and the Scan can be incorporated simplt as another source of image.

 

As for paper, these film do best on Lab machine with special B&W only paper. Look for them in a lab, ask if they serve it up.