Colour 120mm film and battery

[batmat]

Just to add a little thing about E6 film, they are a lot less forgiving than C41 or b&w. This means that your meter should really be working well if you don't want to overexposed or underexposed your film. I think even one stop up would ruined the photo. But this films give awesome colors and I am pretty sure lots of landscape photographer still use them a lot.
For your light meter, I've read that the use of a 1,5 V battery will disorder the light meter, some others batteries might work better (http://www.weincell.com/ for example, they are 1.35V) , or it exists battery adapter called MR-9 but they are quite expensive... Good luck

[arubaato]

Internat'l shipping fees are a continual source of concern for customers and retailers. Right now it seems the choices are cheap, or reliable and trackable. In general responsible retailers opt for the latter IMO. I know that for inexpensive relatively damage-proof items it's tempting to drop the merchandise in a padded envelope and slap some stamps on, but one person's inexpensive relatively damage-proof item is the next person's gotta-have-it-ASAP stuff.

I am NOT questioning Helen or Adorama and have the highest regard for both, but right now UPS, while not cheap, offers speed, reliability, a very good online package tracking system and they're responsive if a package is mislaid en route. USPS and other less expensive internat'l shipping options do not. That said, I understand it really doesn't make sense to buy a 20.00 filter and pay twice that in s&h. Perfectly reasonable.

This is why I'm so reluctant to buy from ebay US despite the amount of good quality second hand gear there.

sorry to get off topic.

I'm also think about going to 120 film, but the costs involved with processing and scanning etc looks prohibitive...

[ameerat42]

No trouble getting it in Syd. Surely there'd be mail order here (Adorama? For film? Heck!) I get mine thru Ted's Camera Store. Do you have one in Perth? Am.

[ameerat42]

Sorry. 2nd post. Arubaato, about $8/roll and $6 to develop neg only. Scan? When I feel like it. Am.

[Analog6]

I bought some on eBay, it worked out about $10 roll for Fuji trannie film

[swifty]

Ameerat42: where in syd are u getting processing of negs for $6?? The cheapest I've seen is $10.

[GlennSan]

Ooohh.. don't forget me when you guys next organize a group buy from the states.
I've been eyeing a few items that would benefit from bulk buying.

We need a pack mule. I used to go to the US frequently for work and would always go to B&H in NYC and buy slabs of film (20 rolls/120 and 50 rolls/35mm) at a time and carry them back in hand luggage myself. Averaged around $3.50 AUD per roll (Ilford HP5 & FP4) and not much difference between 120 & 35mm. Compared to $8-14 AUD in Australia, that's a big saving. Shipping INSIDE the US is dirt cheap and very efficient. If you know anyone going there, buy from here on the net and ship to their hotel in the US for hand-carry back home to Oz. I've done that with work colleagues a few times as well. If I get to go to US again this year for work, I'll put up a post and happy to be the mule !

I'm also think about going to 120 film, but the costs involved with processing and scanning etc looks prohibitive...

Most of my 120 is B&W D&P at home because of the cost. Very cheap to do that yourself. I have the occasional roll of colour done and when I lived in Sydney it wasn't a whole lot dearer than 35mm. About $15-20 per roll D&P from what I recall (Pennant Hills camera house, opposite train station). Different story here in Bris sadly. Not as many small labs do it and the pro lab I used (Prolab south Bris) swallowed $90 for two rolls D&P & scan to CD. Would love to get my own coolscan 9000 but don't have the $$ for one...

No trouble getting it in Syd. Surely there'd be mail order here (Adorama? For film? Heck!) I get mine thru Ted's Camera Store. Do you have one in Perth? Am.

Am - once you go to larger volumes, the price difference can be significant - see above. Agree there's no point for the occasional roll though, just buy local. Photo trader magazine always has ads for film stockists in AU who mail order quite happily.

[ameerat42]

Ameerat42: where in syd are u getting processing of negs for $6?? The cheapest I've seen is $10.

Swifty, Camera House, Pennant Hills. Dev only, though, not print. Cheapest around a few suburbs and easy enough 2 get 2.

GlennSan. I bought a pack of 5 of 120, Fuji 160 Pro for about $8/roll, bit I can't remember xack-tly ($40, I think), but I remember a single roll at first cost $11.
Am, and Am.

[GlennSan]

Swifty, Camera House, Pennant Hills. Dev only, though, not print. Cheapest around a few suburbs and easy enough 2 get 2.

GlennSan. I bought a pack of 5 of 120, Fuji 160 Pro for about $8/roll, bit I can't remember xack-tly ($40, I think), but I remember a single roll at first cost $11.
Am, and Am.

Same mini lab - spooky They would print my 120 6x6 frames at 4" x4" on 6x4 paper quite cheaply. Might even have been same price as 35mm. Can't exactly recall. There was also an excellent fuji minlab at Heathcote - did superb work.

$8 a roll local is not bad at all. I used to haunt the camera shops in Hornsbay mall - the paxtons(?) lowest level often had near-expired or expired 120 colour at half price so that kept me stocked for playing around...

[swifty]

ameerat42: Thanks for the info. Not really in my neck of the woods but its good to know where there's cheap developing. Maybe when I'm back from overseas with a dozen rolls or so then I might do the lot there. But I wonder how many x-rays machines a roll of film can go through without fogging hmmm...

GlennSan: yea.. I keep eyeing buying a bunch from B&H but pull out cos I can't decide exactly how many of each I wanna order and what else I can get at the same time to save on shipping. I got family in the states so technically I could ship it to their place and ask them to on-post it at cheaper rates than the B&H international shipping rates. But I don't really wanna trouble them so I'm stuck with Aussie prices for now. Lucky I bought a bunch from TOM here, on the AP classifieds and have only just got my 35mm film camera so am starting to work through it.
Can you believe Fuji Provia 400X sells for $40 AUD a roll!!!! Its $9USD at B&H.
Thanks for the offer for being a mule. Will look out for that. If I head that way any time soon, I'll also volunteer my cabin luggage space

Arubaato: I find 120 quite comparable in price compared to 35mm. In fact many 36 exp 35mm film is more expensive than their 120 counterpart. That said, you only get 16 exp out of 645 camera and about 12 exp out of a 6X6.
Flatbed scanning is quite affordable but can be annoying (I've never hated dust so much). I use a V700 with IMO good results. But like GlennSan, would love a coolscan 9000.
My biggest beef is with the size/weight of 645 cameras (and worse with 6X6 and 67 I'd imagine) but wow, are the results nice.

Smallfooties: sorry for this thread to have gone so off topic.

[arubaato]

Sorry. 2nd post. Arubaato, about $8/roll and $6 to develop neg only. Scan? When I feel like it. Am.

Am, where do you get your development done? $6 a roll is a really good price.

[arubaato]

a
Arubaato: I find 120 quite comparable in price compared to 35mm. In fact many 36 exp 35mm film is more expensive than their 120 counterpart. That said, you only get 16 exp out of 645 camera and about 12 exp out of a 6X6.
Flatbed scanning is quite affordable but can be annoying (I've never hated dust so much). I use a V700 with IMO good results. But like GlennSan, would love a coolscan 9000.
My biggest beef is with the size/weight of 645 cameras (and worse with 6X6 and 67 I'd imagine) but wow, are the results nice.

Smallfooties: sorry for this thread to have gone so off topic.

Coming from shooting digital to re-discover film, nearly $1000 for a V700 is not all that affordable, a coolscan is certainly out of reach for me. However I can see your point about the cost being comparable to 135 film. I wonder whether one day I'll be sick of it all and bite the bullet and get a proper scanner for myself.

[swifty]

I got my v700 for $700 but u don't need a v700 if u're doing 35mm only.
The better bang for buck flatbeds like the v600 are less than half the v700 if I remember correctly and there are many dedicated 35mm film scanners, not just the coolscans from Nikon.

[ameerat42]

arubaato. See page 1: my reply to swifty.

[hoffy]

Just to add to this story, I have been made aware of a person in the throws of setting up an internet, mail order, Film photography supply outlet. Their idea is to be similar to ag-photographic in the UK and freestyle in the USA.

It will be interesting to see if they can get it off the ground and to see how competitive their prices are when they do. Details are sketchy at the moment, as the person is still in the throws. Just hope it does happen.