Photography thred - The Bear and Badger

IanHamlett

Looks like it all went swimmingly. The quest for something that I suck at continues.

IanHamlett

I'm thinking about buying a £350 (or new console priced) negative scanner. I have more important things to buy but hear me out. I have good reason to believe this particular scanner will either keep its value or go up over the next year or so.

Anyone got an opinion?

Matt_82

Can you justify buying it? I mean, you bought a Sony so have more money than you know what to do with so there's that.

But do you need it? How much film are you using? Isn't the enjoyable part of shooting film the subsequent printing of your best shots, or is it just for storage? Does buying it mean your dependents miss out? Is the sale time sensitive or can you give it a week to see if you're just being impulsive?

If it's going to go up in value and you have the money spare then fire on. Can't say it's something I'd buy but I'm not really all that into film tbh.

IanHamlett

I don't have money to burn. This will clean me out until payday and I'll be living on beans on toast. I'm not in a rush for it but I will need something to scan with. I have virtually no interest in physical copies.

My thinking is I need some way to digitise my film. I also have my parent's shots from my childhood that I tried to scan but it was taking too long.

Using my Sony and extension tubes would give me great results, with little extra cost, but would be prohibitively slow for all my parent's negatives.
Buying a normalish scanner would be fairly cheap, with middling results, at middling speed but I'm still looking at losing a few evenings.
The £350 scanner would give great results at great speed since it can do a full roll in a few minutes, it's the kind they used to use in shops.

The downside is the massive upfront cost but I'm fairly sure the price will remain stable or rise so I can sell it in a year.

Matt_82

Why you setting up a darkroom if you have no interest in physical copies?

Well I think it's a good idea to scan family photos. Would you actually do it though? I decided to try restore a load of scanned old photos in Photoshop a few months back. Did half a dozen or so and got bored. If you'll do it, go for it. Only you'll know how likely it is that you'll actually get on with it.

If it's going to clean you out, why not put some money aside for the next few months and buy it in May? Use the time to get your negatives sorted or something in preparation.

IanHamlett

There are a few reasons I'm dicking around wit film. I like the look of medium format but I don't have the money to do that digitally. I got a couple of cheap 35mm to dip my toe in first. Getting darkroom chemicals only costs about the same as getting a few rolls developed in a shop and now I have a new skill that I can teach my kid.

If this continues to interest me then a £150 TLR doesn't look like such a bad idea.

I too spent a few evenings scanning old pics. The speed it was going I couldn't justify it.

This is the machine. Click to 8:30 to see it in action.

Matt_82

I haven't watched the whole video. Are all your family photos on rolls? All of ours got developed at Boots and got cut up into strips of 4. Does it deal with that? It also doesn't look like it takes medium format film so no use if you move to that.

That said, it does look pretty cool and probably a handy thing to have if you're going to be shooting a lot of 35mm. There are better places on the 'net to get advice on film scanners than here though. I've never even used one as the one at college doesn't work on the software anymore.

IanHamlett

No it won't do medium format. It will do short strips of 35mm. I'm gonna have a go of beano's scanner and do a few calculations from there. If it looks workable then I could just get a decent one of those for myself.

IanHamlett

I think I might go full-on and start buying film in bulk-roll cans and load my own film. I'd break even on the first 15 rolls of 36 shots then I'd save about 1/3 per roll after that. The total cost of shooting and processing a roll would be about £4 or 11p per shot.

Unlikely

How would you break even.

IanHamlett

I mean the cost of all the necessary gear to make 15 rolls of film would be the same as buying 15 rolls of film. That was assuming I was loading good quality film. I've found some mediocre film to use instead.

I've got almost everything now, just waiting on the reusable film canisters. All sorted for £50 and I should get 12 rolls out of the big can I have. 12 rolls of mediocre film would have cost me £48. The cost for my second batch will be more like £2 per roll.

Matt_82

It's our 2nd portfolio hand-in of the year at college on Friday. I had a few more missteps in this block than I'm used to and had a real down period in the middle but I managed in the end to hand in photographs I'm happy with.

Big thing coming up is our Personal Project which used to be named Graded Unit. Last year I was shitting myself but this year I'm looking forward to it. Should be good.

Anyway, here's the various stuff I've been doing for college and for fun:

acemuzzy

As ever, deeply impress work

acemuzzy

I'd go as far as to say you remind me of Maxine Caulfield

IanHamlett

Blinding stuff and really varied too. It's like the work of a few different professional photographers.

Matt_82

Thank you. Yeah I like the variety, although some folk will tell you that you have to specialise (which tends to means stop doing everything else). I couldn't do it, though. I'd get bored doing the same type of shots.

Roujin

You are pretty boss at photographing architectural features. Have you considered ever setting up a store online to sell prints of your work?

Also I love lady on the stairs with the lamp. Juxtapositioning is really good in it but I cant explain why, everything is just satisfyingly located in the frame.

Matt_82

Aye a website is definitely something I need to get on very soon. Selling prints isn't something that makes a lot of money though, unless you're well established. It's a very busy market with lots of talented people out there. Self-marketing is as important as quality of photos. And I'm not great at that stuff.

So that's more of a long term plan. In the meantime, it's weddings or photographing interiors etc.

cockbeard

Matt_82 wrote:

Where are these stairs, I swear I've seen them on telly a few times, might have been up and down them myself

Matt_82

They are in The Lighthouse in Glasgow.

cockbeard

Cheers Matt, some lovely shots in there, will pick up a copy of that book you mention for the missus she really wants to do some proper photography

Matt_82

Nikon really do have some dunces working for them.

hylian_elf

Hah that's bad!

Re your photos, I like woman lying on stairs the most. Great use of lead in lines and brilliant composition. Obviously the lighting is good too. You really do have a talent there. Very moody.

cockbeard

Sorry for spam, just going to dump a few of the missus' pictures, I'm not a photographer so don't know if she's any good, these are all taken on a phone. Wondered whether it's worth getting her a proper camera or not

g.man

They're good Cocko.

Matt_82

Some of the photos are 'hidden' behind some Instagram effects editing, but looking at shapes/framing etc they have potential.

hylian_elf

Yeah mate get her a proper camera. She seems to have "the eye".

GooberTheHat

Ask her what she wants though. I made the mistake of getting my wife a swanky camera, and I think it actually put her off a bit as it was a bit intimidating for her.

IanHamlett

She's got it.

cockbeard

I mentioned a rangefinder to her a little while ago, but she really seems to want a DSLR. I know that I think a lot of her shots look good to me, although she does seem to love long single point perspective shots, which means walking through a tunnel, the tube or narrow street can take ages. So thanks for the kind words, you guys know far better than I what constitutes good or not

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories