Film Photography - Silly Questions

Robert Davies

Robert Davies

MobiFan
I know we have a few film photographers among us here on MobiTog - I just wondered if I could use this thread as a place to ask my silly questions regarding beginning film photography. The same questions I've asked on other (non-iPhone) photography forums have either been met with total apathy or hostile comebacks! I know that MobiTog is a very friendly and helpful place so if anyone with the know-how of film photography would be happy to indulge a very VERY amateur beginner I would be very grateful!

Firstly - I'm trying to be very diligent when taking photos with my 1970's Minolta SLR, so far as keeping a notebook and pen with me to note the film/ISO/aperture etc so that I can refer back to it later (this is something I found hard to get in the habit of, since I'm so used to just processing photos with automatic effects with my iPhone). I have however just found the UK version of http://www.lomography.com and was interested in trying out a few different films. But - and here's the silly part - some of the films are advertised as "Lomography Film" - link here. Surely I can use these films in my normal 35mm camera? I'm guessing the Lomo site is just trying to pimp their own cameras by saying "Lomography Film." aren't they? What exactly are the differences between the films other than the ISOs?

Also, on the lomography site, they offer film processing with a mailer, also offering Cross Processing which is something I dearly want to try soon. But when I was nosing through the options, I noticed that B&W processing is an extra £2. Now (another very silly question ahoy) - if I used B&W film to start with, would I have to ask for the B&W process, or would a standard printing yield B&W pictures anyway? Similarly, if I bought the X-Pro film they're selling on that site, would a standard printing process give me X-Pro results, or would it have to be physically cross processed to get that effects.

Again, I am very sorry for the very silly questions here - but as MobiTog is a friendly place and for some reason the internet seems devoid of a guide to help aspiring amateur film photographers, I thought it best to post here. Thank you and :oops::oops::confused:
 
well...i have used film..briefly. I have not been to the lomo website to read all about there stuff but I think I can answer some of your queries anyway.

1: Lomo camera's are often medium format. If you want to use Lomo branded film inyour camera then you just need to make sure it's the right format (in your case 35mm, not 120 roll)

2: Black and white film costs more to process as it is less in demand than colour film. (at least that is my belief). There are black and white films that you can buy which are processed using the same method as colour film and their development costs are obviously less, but the film might cost more, not sure. Ilford do a b+w that fits this bill, think it's the XP stuff. You can't send a normal b+w film and not ask for it to be processed correctly...it just wont work I think...

ok, update...just went to look at what they call Xpro....that is a colour film and the images they show look cross processed to me. I doubt that such obvious insane colour errors would be normal if it were processed as it's supposed to be, of course, I have no experience in this area so might be completely wrong...but I doubt it.
 
In a previous life I used to process film on a daily basis. Then black & white film was a lot cheaper to buy and process than colour film - but that was a long time ago. As Bryan surmised, B&W film is much less in demand these days and so probably more expensive all round. I lost interest in film when I went digital so I couldn't say what the present situation is.

I did however, watch an interesting documentary on Lomography recently. I would imagine that, because the appeal of that movement is towards images full of colour effects and faults derived from cheap plastic cameras, that maybe their film and processing is geared towards those effects too. I would check very carefully before putting any Lomography film in your Minolta SLR.

Good luck.
 
Thank you very much for your help all! I'm enjoying the (very) steep learning curve and the anticipation of waiting for my film rolls to be developed is brilliant! iNOLOGIST & Richard - thanks for your tips, I'll be sure to double check the films/processing at the time, and thanks for the suggestion of the book, much appreciated :):thumbs:
 
This is a lovely friendly site. We use to process our own black and white films and print them and they were cheaper then. Please correct me but i thought the processing was different when delveoping colour and bw. Would have thought you wouldn't get pure black and white ie grey. Please correct me if i'm wrong.
 
In my day processing colour and b&w did involve different processing. I may be wrong but I believe some later b&w films could be processed using Kodak's E6 colour film processing.
 
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