Hi, I am a high school student, recently been getting into photography. I just got back from a trip to france with 20 rolls of exposed film. I already sent off the 13 rolls of slide film (sensia) to kodak, but now I'm debating what to do with my 7 rolls of TMAX 400. I have never done any darkroom work before, but this fall I'll have a chance to use the darkroom at my school (I have to buy my own chemicals). But these pictures are important, so I don't think it's a good idea to develop them myself, as the chances of screwing up would be very large. So, I have two options:

a) Send them to a drugstore, getting machine-made 4x6's. I could then play around with making enlargements in the darkroom. Also, I need to mention that 2 of the rolls were exposed at 1600, so they'll need to be pushed 2 stops. Can drugstores do this? How much more (generally) would it cost?

b) Send them a pro lab to get them developed w/ a contact sheet. This would cost more, and my only results would be a contact sheet until I got around to mastering the darkroom. At the pro lab, one 4x6 print is $6, a tad much (6x36=$216). Maybe I could then bring the negs to the drugstore and get them printed...

Any advice? Will the drugstore labs ruin my film? Or would the negatives be the same either way I went? Am I correct in assuming that I would probably screw updeveloping my first rolls? Any help is appreciated a ton!

peace -martin

-- Martin Ceperley (martin@ceperley.com), July 08, 1999

Answers

Yes, in this situation I would trust only the pro lab. When you get the contacts back, you might get one or two enlarged just to see what they look like, and you can compare them with your results when you start your own enlarging.

Developing your own films is really easy, but you should start with non-critical films.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), July 09, 1999.

I really don't think your chances of screwing up are "really large", or even moderately large. B&W processing is easy; just follow all the steps, and make sure your chemicals are fresh. But why not shoot a couple of rolls now that you're back home and practice with those? You don't even have to wait till school starts- all the equipment you need to develop 35mm film (not counting chemicals, which you'd have to buy anyway) can be bought for around $75. You can load the tank in a changing bag, then the rest of the work is done in the light.

I say go for it! If you're still not feeling confident, then you can send your important stuff out.

"Think you can, or think you can't. Either way, you'll be right"- Henry Ford

-- Dave Beekman (beekmand@up.lib.mi.us), July 11, 1999.

Buy some more Tmax 400, walk around and take a couple of rolls of snapshots, trying to duplicate the conditions you took your important rolls under. Put all your exposed rolls in a refrigerator, in the canisters. When you take film out of a refrigerator, wait an hour before opening the canisters. This fall buy some Xtol and the other chemicals they suggest (Tmax seems most forgiving, to me, in Xtol). Practice your developing with the snapshot rolls. When you've got it worked out develop your good rolls. A drugstore lab will probably send your Tmax out to another lab which may not screw it up but will likely not do as well as you could. Next time use XP-2 or T400CN (B&W film that is developed in color chemistry) if you don't want to do the developing

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), July 12, 1999.

Martin. i definetely would not sent the film to a drugstore type lab. there is alot of stuff to learn about film processing, alot of trial and error. you might start processing your film and do great, then all of a sudden 2 mos down the road and encounter a problem and have no idea why. the professional lab i use does not put the film through a roller transprot system ( VERY IMPORTANT!!! ). just a question you might want to ask. they also only charge 4 bucks for a 4x6 6 gets me a 5x7 when you do send it out, you might want to only send 1 of the rolls and see what happens... if it is good, youv'e lost nothing. if it comes back lousy, you only lost 1 of your precious rolls, and not all. Sean

-- Sean (Zbeeblebrox42@yahoo.com), July 12, 1999.

the responses above are the best. but if you still would prefer to have it done professionally, shop the pages of Shutterbug. i am sure that there are labs that can do it cheaper than the price you mentioned. jm

-- jim meisenbach (batcat4@bitwisesystems.com), July 18, 1999.

if i were you, i would go out and take a couple of rolls and try with thoes. follow temp/agitation carefully. try to use stainless tanks. we all start at the same place. i would never trust my negs to a lab.

-- gil (gil-garcia@worldnet.att.net), July 18, 1999.