Film for a Canon A1 recommendation - Australia

My friends dad gave me his old Canon A1 camera and a couple of lenses.

So I thought I should get some film and take some shots.

I am 47 and remember film well enough, but I never ventured from point and shoot cameras. So I am starting from scratch essentially.

So looking online at eBay etc, it is easy enough to get some film. But what would you recommend. Keep in mind I am not looking to set the world on fire here, just enjoy learning.

Also where is a good place to get film developed with an option for getting a digital copy of the image in Australia.

Thank you.

The last film I really liked before going digital was Velvia. Its a slide film but you can still get prints from it.

why not try black and white and havee a go at developing it too??

Fuji Superia 400. Is cheap in the US. About $2 per roll, 36 exposures. For slower film speed and less grains, try the Kodak Ektar. About $3ish per roll, 36 exposures.

bildeb0rg wrote in post #18021930
why not try black and white and havee a go at developing it too??

That's usually more involved....the OP has to commit in film for him to buy all the chemicals and to learn how to develop his negatives. Even then, he has to digitize them...that's another story all together....

there are plenty of options available to you. I use Ilford 400, but Kodak still makes colour and b&w film

here is a list of all the film that ilford makes http://www.ilfordphoto​.com …3&t=Black+%26+W​hite+Films
and kodak film http://imaging.kodakal​aris.com …aphers/professi​onal-films

I would recommand you go in to a few camera stores and see what they sell and talk to the people behind the counter. If it's a good store they will have knowledgable people that can help.

but I would start with at least ISO 400 film. it's a general use ISO. just remember tho you can't change the ISO setting on the camera once the film is loaded.

I'll second the Fuji Superia recommendation. Good quality, doesn't cost much. And 400 is a very versatile speed.

The last five or six rolls I've shot have all been Superia 400.

bildeb0rg wrote in post #18021930
why not try black and white and havee a go at developing it too??

I would love to try that.

When I was a kid a family friend used to develop his own film and the process fascinated me

Thanks for your reply folks

TooManyShots wrote in post #18022053
Fuji Superia 400. Is cheap in the US. About $2 per roll, 36 exposures. For slower film speed and less grains, try the Kodak Ektar. About $3ish per roll, 36 exposures.

Jeez we get bent over in Australia.

$10.00 bucks a roll on ebay over here.

http://www.ebay.com.au …Fuji+Superia+40​0&_sacat=0

George Zip wrote in post #18022142
Jeez we get bent over in Australia.

$10.00 bucks a roll on ebay over here.

http://www.ebay.com.au …Fuji+Superia+40​0&_sacat=0

Heheheh....you can also shoot in 24 exposures too...

This isn't bad. I think the price went up now....

http://www.ebay.com.au …59f55e:g:6TEAAO​SwPhdVNm~T


This store also ships to Australia too...

http://www.freestyleph​oto.biz/

I think you have to shop locally if you want a cheaper price because shipping to Aus from the US is a bit expensive. Some ebay sellers charge you $10. Anyone in the US shipping a package to Aus is $22 First Class International mail....

It's not cheap here in the US either, especially with processing and if you want it digitized. Personally I prefer color slide film which I digitize but taking a photo of the slide with a macro lens. Actually works pretty darn well if you can get a nice neutral light source behind it. Better than just getting 4x6 prints from negatives or paying to get all those scanned - at least for my purposes.

Digital copies you get from inexpensive labs are usually (IME) really poor. Essentially just about OK-ish for viewing on a laptop.

For color slide film, Velvia is often a favorite because of the high saturation, but I like Provia for a more subdued look.

It's great to wonder what your images will look like and then getting them back perhaps weeks after taking them.

I used the A1 when I was younger (and developed and printed my own B&W), and the most surprising things about it when I started using it again was the max shutter speed (1/1000s) and only being able to set whole stops. The camera does meter in 1/3 stops in a semi-auto modes, but you can only set aperture or SS as whole stops.

I would suggest the B&W route too. It's usually not too hard to find someone selling up darkroom equipment on the Bay, and you really only need a dev tank with a 35mm spool. I would recommend using Ilford FP4+ it is a very nice ASA/ISO 125 film, well the older non plus was, and was the film along with HP5 (ASA/ISO 400) that I cut my photographic teeth on back in the 70's. As for digitising the negs there are some very cheap scanners available now in a reasonable resolution, or you can use a DSLR to do the job, there have been several threads recently on here that have shown good cheap DIY rigs for this. Or just go the whole hog, and do your own prints in the darkroom.

Alan

I will Nth black and white. Its so much cheaper to shoot because you can develop it yourself. If you don't shoot a ton I highly recommend using kodak hc-110 developer. It comes as a thick syrup that you are supposed to mix into a batches of gallons at a time but when you mix developer shelf life goes down a lot. So what you do is get a tiny syringe and measure out like 10 or 15ml of the syrup at a time for each batch of developing you do. In undiluted syrup form it lasts a super long time. I have never actually used up a bottle. Once it gets about a year old I tend to toss it and buy a new one, its cheap. I've heard of people successfully using 2 or 3+ year old hc-110 though.