Medium Format Processing

WoZZeR

WoZZeR

WoZZeR

Associate
Joined
19 Jan 2007
Posts
2,065
Location
Northampton
Hi chaps

I've had 4 films processed so far from my RB67 and much as I like the local camera shop am a little underwhelmed with the processing, the negatives are probably OK, but the 'pro' scans are truly dreadful, a 6 year old compact camera would do a better job.

So, any recommendations for a mail order processor or scanning service?

I am toying with the idea of developing the film myself and getting a decent scanner but this could be expensive.

What do you MF chaps do/use?

Cheers :)
 
I process all my own black and white films myself. Colour negs and slides get sent away to peak at present. I do own the necessary equipment to process that at home too, but it's substantially more involved.

I scan all mine myself using an epson V750 pro. It's good enough for printing up to 10x8 and definitely fine for posting on flickr. A good scan off the epson where the film stays flat can probably pull off 30x20 but it's quite hard to get the film perfectly flat. For images that I really want to print big, I'd send away for proper drum scanning.

These are off my RZ67 and these off my 645. The RZ had a focus screen height issue so focus is slightly out on some. This example from an old pentax 67 shot is 64mpx and when zoomed in to 100% you can read the phone number for the security firm off the sign. You can almost count the bolt/rivet holes too.
Newport Corn Exchange by Kyle, on Flickr
 
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I used Peak Imaging for mine.

Unfortunately unless you want to pay through the nose scans will always be disappointing. You'll only get 1200x**** JPEG images unless you pay ££££. If you're planning on doing a lot of stuff then the best bet is to either buy something like the V600 or V750 or get a macro lens and stitch shots together.
 
Whenever I look at the price of decent MF drum scanning I realize I'm probably better off with a Pentax digital MF 645.
 
D.P. said:
Whenever I look at the price of decent MF drum scanning I realize I'm probably better off with a Pentax digital MF 645.
Click to expand...

You don't need a drum scanner for web stuff. Plustek and Nikon make some really nice MF scanners. There's more to MF film than sheer resolution which makes it worth it to me.
 
I'm not interested in web stuff, a smartphone will suffice for that. I want to be able to print big otherwise I'll just stick to 35mm
 
Exactly D.P.. The other problem with those kind of scans is you have absolutely no control over the exposure, tint or any of the other standard photo editing techniques as all you get is a low resolution lossy jpeg, with overexposed highlights and underexposed shadows. The film itself has so much detail, none of it you can pull out of the scan you get sent, especially when that scan cost you about 50p extra per image.

I've been planning on doing something like this for a while now, but finding a decent reasonably priced light box has been a pain.

http://petapixel.com/2012/12/24/how-to-scan-your-film-using-a-digital-camera-and-macro-lens/

Not sure I can justify a V600 or V750. The massive benefit is you can now control your exposure and adjust the shadows and highlights in a similar way to traditional printing, both in the "scan" and in editing programs. You can then end up with an image you can print out big (I usually print mine out at 18x12" or bigger), rather than just show on the web.

The other option of course is to actually make a dark room and expose onto silver halide, but that takes lots of space, effort, time and money as well. If you're doing that then you probably aren't going to be asking where to develop your film as you'll be doing that at home! :p
 
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Cheers for the replies

I'll give Peak a go with my next film.

As I am trying to learn Film Photography, this is my first film camera, it is difficult to assess the image with dodgy digital prints and dusty scans.

As a short term measure I was wondering if the V550 Scanner would be OK for a beginner or I could try the lightbox idea with my 5D MK1 as we now have a Sigma 105 Macro lens, the results should be better than the scans I got last weekend.

Processing my own film sounds good as a project for the future.

Edit: Love your photos Kei, the B&W tones are very nice, very atmospheric.
 
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I use an Epson V550 for my 35mm scanning, it's very good for the money. I had a 16x18" print done from one of the scans recently and it looks great.
 
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