Questions from brand new RF user

[bwillis]

hey all. just rec'd first RF, R2M today.

whats favorite film for general candids and landscape - color?
do you generally use a polarizer as with a SLR?
any books in particular tht you've found useful for starting out?

processing - i live in a real backwater GA town. who do you send your 35mm film out to for processing?
i assume many of you then scan your negatives to reach digital?

[Anupam]

Candids and street - Fuji Reala for negatives and Sensia for slides.
Landscapes - Fuji Velvia 50. I send film out to fuji using their cheap mailers. Takes about two weeks to get slides back. Negative film gets processed at the local drugstore and black and white gets processed in my bathroom.

-Anupam

[back alley]

i use black & white, the delta films from ilford but tri-x is probably easier to get and pretty forgiving.
i never use a polarizer.
i like books about photographers more than books about photography.
i process my own negs and then scan/photoshop.

welcome to the forum.

joe

[JeremyR]

As for a polarizer, you can use one, but of course it's going to be a little trickier than with an SLR, since you won't be able to see the effect of the polarizer while it's on the lens.

[popstar]

Welcome! I used to live in Fitzgerald (Ben Hill County), so I understand backwater, rural Georgia. There are a few other members on RFF from Georgia...

Like many here, I tend to use black-and-white film mostly. The biggest reason is so I can develop my own film. I used to be intimidated by the idea, but it is much easier than I ever imagined. Highly recommended if you've never done it. You can obtain all the necessary equipment for well under $50.

For color, I like Kodak's 400UC film. If there is a one-hour drugstore/Wal-Mart around, they can process the film. (In fact, WM carries the 400UC film at a really good price.) You may want to consider just having the shop process the film and scan the images to CD, without prints. Several of us here do that as well.

I rarely use a polarizer on my rangefinder. As for books, I'd recommend doing a search on books here on the site. There have been many book threads in the past with enough good recommendations to keep anyone busy for years.

Good luck! RFF is a great place with helpful people. Hope to see you around again soon.

[gb hill]

Welcome to RFF & enjoy. There's not that many books for rangefinders . Type Rangefinder in the wikipedia for a good description of how a RF camera operates. The best reading & learning will be right here in these RFF forums. Many knowledgable photographers here. There is one book though called Rangefinder by Roger Hicks & Francis Shultz but I heard it's not that great.

[SolaresLarrave]

bwillis,

First thing... are you Bill, Bull, Bob, Bart or Bernard? Just wondering. Any name will be better than just bwillis.

Now, about your questions, the kind of film you can use in that camera is mostly slow, from ISO 50 (available in color as Fuji Velvia, or in B&W) to ISO 400. Don't try using anything faster unless you plan on shooting in extremely low light. I want to emphasize this because RF cameras are usually limited in that they don't have a very fast top shutterspeed. Your camera probably goes all the way to 1/1000 of a second. I guess you'll rarely need anything faster, but in any event, not having a 1/4000 bars you from using a roll of ISO 800 film during the day and outdoors under the Georgia sun.

Hence, try slow film, both in slide (Fuji Velvia ISO 50 or ISO 100, or Kodak Elitechrome ISO 100), or negative film (Kodak ISO 100, or Fuji Superia or Reala, also ISO 100; if you find Superia ISO 200 then snatch it, because it does come in handy).

If you really are in a backwater town, see to get mailers from Snapfish to develop your negative film. Contact them at their website, which is Snapfish.com, and ask for mailers. They develop the film and post your shots in an online gallery to which you have a password. That way, if you want electronic copies, all you need to do is click and save.

Now, if you have a Wallyworld or a pharmacy or any kind of minilab around, leave your print film there and ask for negatives and a CD, no prints. That'll lower your developing costs.

Now, the very best way to lower your film expenditures is learning to develop your own. It's easier to do it with B&W film, and all the how-to is spread around in the web, in a variety of sites. I learned to do it that way, but I also checked with a fellow RFF member, who replied to my questions most patiently. We are good at that, by the way...

As for polarizers... I'd rather use a Neutral Density filter instead, and only on extremely sunny days. Otherwise, it's pretty much unnecessary.

Regarding books... this forum does a better job than many out there. The Hicks and Schultz's book mentioned above is a nice history, but offers just a little in the way of photography. Nothing works better than do as joe does: get books about photographers instead of photography books. You need to learn on your own, but to do it, need to soak up visual ideas first. Check our gallery, because it's chockfull of really good images.

Now... get out and shoot!

BTW welcome to the forum too!

[manfromh]

Originally Posted by SolaresLarrave

bwillis,

First thing... are you Bill, Bull, Bob, Bart or Bernard? Just wondering. Any name will be better than just bwillis.

Bruce Willis maybe


I mostly shoot tri-x, which I develop and scan mysef. If I happen to shoot color then its Fujicolor 200 (very cheap), which I have developed at a local lab. I scan those negatives myself also.

[Trius]

He's from Georgia, so I'd say it's Bubba Willis? Whutcyu talkin' bout, Willis?

Welcome to the forum.

If you get film processed at the local drug store or Wally World, be prepared that you might be disappointed with the quality of the scans and/or prints. Very, very few minimum wage employees are craftspeople in a lab. There are exceptions, of course, but they tend not to be around for long.

[bwillis]

thanks all!! its bryan tho i do get called bruce A BUNCH. sadly, only over the phone tho. have been called bub, but not bubba. went to school w a bubber. Jeez if i was bubba, might be only RF user in WORLD named bubba

great help from all.

many thanks

[bwillis]

shoot, i'm just over in albany. there is a nice shop here, dixie theatre and i'm going to talk to them today as they hv a bit of exper w RF

[rbiemer]

Bryan,
Welcome aboard!
I live in a small town here in NY state and what has worked OK for me is the Kodak BW400 CN film: it's a C-41 B&W film so I can drop it off at the local minilab and they dev and scan for me. Not the best quality scans but until I get a scanner of my own, this has been a decent compromise for me.
For color film I mostly use Kodak UC 400.
I have found that by sticking to (mostly) one film speed, I get better consistency.
I don't use a polarizer on my RF cameras but a neutral density has been very useful.
Rob

[ferider]

Welcome Bryan,

Great camera choice.

I shoot landscapes mostly, no polarizer, Fuji Reala 100 and Superia 400 are my favorite films - not expensive, very versatile and great to scan. I live in a very populated area with lots of camera stores but get negatives developed from Longs or Ritz Camera. Some on-line services are good as well. I scan most photos myself, and only get wet prints when I want larger than 8x10.

Best,

Roland.

[aizan]

kodak portra nc, all speeds.
no polarizer.
you'd probably like this: http://www.amazon.com/Leica-Advanced.../dp/1579906370

[.JL.]

Originally Posted by bwillis

hey all. just rec'd first RF, R2M today.

whats favorite film for general candids and landscape - color?
do you generally use a polarizer as with a SLR?
any books in particular tht you've found useful for starting out?

processing - i live in a real backwater GA town. who do you send your 35mm film out to for processing?
i assume many of you then scan your negatives to reach digital?

Hi and welcome,

I shoot mostly mono film, with Ilford HP5+ and Delta400 being my favorites. I develop them in my school's darkroom.

For colour, I use Fuji Reala, and Velvia for landscape (with a tripod and probably not 35mm RF). The negatives are processed at my local lab inside the supermarket, and the reversals I let the pro labs do it.

I scan my mono negatives for web only; the final output is a FB print from the darkroom. I can't do darkroom printing for color, so I scan the film and control the output in PS. I can have them printed from the pro labs if needed.

[dazedgonebye]

I still think that one of the best strategies for a new shooter is to shoot good Kodak and drop your film at a mini-lab. I know it's not necessarily the best processing, but you'll want to concentrate on proficiencey with the gear at first.
Next, add a decent scanner and stop having the mini-lab do prints.
Next, if you want, start souping your own black and white.

There's a lot of debate around about the quality of pro and consumer services, and I have no doubt that you'd get more consistant and perhaps just better results if you mail your film to a pro shop, but unless you are making money at this, I think you'll value convenience and economy pretty highly.

Walmart is your friend (socio-political-idealogical differences aside). They sell Kodak 400UC which is very good color film and they have the mini-lab to do your processing.

Give yourself some time with this workflow and then decide if you need/want to add time and expense of potentially higher quality solutions.

Enjoy your R2M. I love my R3A.

[dostacos]

Originally Posted by bwillis

hey all. just rec'd first RF, R2M today.

whats favorite film for general candids and landscape - color?
do you generally use a polarizer as with a SLR?
any books in particular tht you've found useful for starting out?

processing - i live in a real backwater GA town. who do you send your 35mm film out to for processing?
i assume many of you then scan your negatives to reach digital?

I shoot kodak BW400CN black and white C41 processed film almost all the time.