jan_zaborsky

From what I know, Delta 100 and 400 are new type emulsions designed to be less grainy than classic ones (eg. HP5 and FP4+). If you overdevelop them, you can see that their grain reminds of interlocking triangles, unlike classic emulsions. I develop them (all but HP5, as I havent tried it yet) in ID-11 and am happy with the result. As I stated already, I havent tried HP5+ yet, but Ilford doesnt recommend pulling, and if, then only down to ISO 250 with development in Perceptol. It should be easily pushed, though, up to 3200.

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I am sure you have got a good friend, start with him/her. I am sure you will do some great portraits with him/her, since you know each other well. And you will not be embarassed that you could anger someone with possible sub-par photos.

X-ray and films: in pro-photo shops I often see film boxes to protect from X-rays. They are covered in lead, which is an impenetrable barrier for X-rays.

 

budget: you can live on a LOT LESS than 100 USD a day here in central Europe. For a couple, 100 bucks can last a week or two down here. Heck, I have even been to Spain and we (me and my girlfriend) spent only 400 USD in 6 weeks.

 

Have fun, I hope I will be able to do a similar trip sometime in future.

 

jan

I made some quick research about the kiosk (since I am currently writing a feature about digital and analog photography for my magazine) and the info is as follows:

 

a) yes, it will process color negative films

 

b) you come and drop the film in, then come back a bit later to select the photo size, crop and number of copies

 

c) although the sources vary in indication of time needed (headlines give anything from "less than five minutes" to "seven minutes"), most agree and quote Kodak representatives on the fact, that it should take at most 15 mins.

 

d) the process will not give you negative back, but a CD with burned scanned images instead.

A month ago I needed only film developed ASAP, they say it takes some 15 minutes to develop and dry properly. Anyway, less than half an hour later it was ready to go. No prints, mind you.

 

If, as Ilkka Nissila says, they dont give you negatives, it is a scam. Why would I shoot film if I didnt want negatives?

 

From what I have gathered, Kodak plans to introduce such kiosks for photos from digital cameras and mobile phones. I would say it wouldnt work for normal film & prints, at least not in 5 minutes.

I agree with Bernhard Mayr. I like to use XP2 and the prints NEVER came back with a hue, not even when pushed to 1600. I always have it developed in a Fuji lab, I assume they use Fuji Frontier machine since they carry FDI logo.

 

On the other hand, I also like to use Kodak Portra, and it ALWAYS has a colored (green/blue/magenta) hue on prints, even when developed in a Kodak lab. And they say that Portra should be much better suited to print on color paper... Moreover, it is quite difficult to print Portra in a darkroom due to a heavy color cast of its base.

 

One last thing: ask for a B&W paper, some labs carry it (though they are becoming scarce) when you print either XP2 or Kodaks C41 films, saves a lot of trouble. And even better, try and find a lab that has a savvy personnel, the difference in the print quality is usually not in the film nor in the machine, but in the guy making them. Some dont even know they can adjust the machine to make perfectly B&W prints from C41 monochrome films...

If you plan to make prints at home, I recommend XP2, it is very easy to print yourself, Kodak is suited mostly for printing in a lab and has a very strongly colored base that is difficult to filter out properly in a darkroom. I used both Kodak Portra B&W and XP2 (at 400 and pushed to 1600). Portra is more difficult to print properly by yourself and exposures take much longer than from other negatives.

 

I have received prints from XP2 from lab were that very great indeed (no color cast even on color paper, that is), you can make them even better under enlarger. Portra prints from lab usually have a slight blue/green/magenta cast, depending on quality of a lab. Ask for B&W paper in a lab, but beware, not every lob stocks it.

 

Filter dont make a difference for chromagenic films (XP2 and Portra in my case) in my experience, go ahead and use them. I like to use orange Hoya filter for portraits, combined with no grain of XP2 results in some great pics.

 

XP2 prints identically like normal films (I use Ilford Deltas 100, 400 and 3200) in a darkroom, Portra (I assume T400CN is similar, since it should be the same family) suffers from the aforementioned strong cast of the film base. Dont start with printing these films, it is a pain in the ass. XP2 is a breeze compared.

 

Last but not least: developing a film by yourself is not that difficult, I have started to do so half a year ago and I quite enjoy it. You can get (I feel) more contrasty negatives from classic silver emulsions than from C41. On the other hand, C41 are more flexible and forgiving to under- and overexposure.

 

I learned printing step-by-step from Ilford guide, you can find it on their page http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html, scroll down, you find the guide under the heading Processing.

 

Good luck and have fun

As the others suggest: start with B&W. There is an excellent tutorial to developing your first B&W film and making your first B&W print on http://www.ilford.com/html/us_english/bw.html. It will prevent you from making the most frustrating beginner mistakes. Good luck!

My experience with XP2 Super and Portra B&W, both in 35mm: XP2 is better suited for wet darkroom, you can print it on Multigrade without much problem. Portra is more tricky, it has a darker purple base and prints quite problematically in wet darkroom. Some labs also have problems printing it - if you let them print B&W Portra on colour paper, black colour has a tendency to get a strange green/blue hue. But that depends on lab, actually. On the other hand, XP2 prints sometimes come out a bit yellowish, especially when you push the film to 1600.

 

If you plan to print Portra yourself, you will need multigrade filters (3 and 4 work best in my experience). The photos also need much higher exposure under enlarger compared to XP2 due to denser base. I usually enlarge to 13x18 cm, and roughly comparable exposure times are 15 secs for XP2 to 1 min (with grade 4 filter) for Portra. This weekend I have been doing enlargements from Portra, for a 20x30 cm the normal exposure time was 4 minutes...

Both have no visible grain, anyway, so they look a bit different than your silver B&W film, e.g. when I compare Portra prints to Ilford Delta 400. Something to take into account when choosing a film. Overall, I would say if you plan to make the enlargements yourself, take XP2 Super, if you let the lab do it, go for Portra and choose a good lab, with B&W paper when possible.

I spent wonderful two weeks in Sicily and Aeolian Isles this summer and came back with some 15 rolls of film. If you want something really ancient, try Siracusa and Valley of the Temples near Agrigento, both old Roman colonies. There is a plenty of historic sites along the Eastern coast. For landscapes, try wonderful coastal village Cefalu, or Taormina, even coast near Palermo is quite wonderful. And if you want something really wild, go for volcanoes, both Stromboli and Etna are quite active currently, but you can get to the very summit of both with a guide (or you could in June, when I have been there). Dont get fooled on Etna by going only to Torre di Filosofo, which is some 600 metres below the summit. There are guided tours to the very top, only tourists dont know about it. You have to find a guide (they have a wooden booth right next to the parking lot) and cost 180 EUR per group, haggling is possible :-). Group is max 10 people, so it is advisable to find several friends, it will be cheaper. If the weather is nice, the view from the top is amazing, you can see coast and a large portion fo both coastal and inland Sicily, Etna is 3,300 m tall! Not to mention that the whole top of the volcano is covered in black ashes, looks like a moonscape, but has a very clear air, so photographs come out absolutely sharp. And hey, there are millions of white butterflies flying over the ashen moonscape! Well, you can clearly see, what was my favorite photography object this summer :-) I dont have the photos scanned, sorry, so I cannot post any examples. Have a great time, though.

 

BTW, driving in Sicily in big cities (Palermo, Catania, Messina) is horrible and seems quite dangerous. Just like in the whole Italy, actually.