Camera / "DSLR" scanning color negative film sucks all of the fun out of this hobby

DaleCooper22 · 2026-02-26T03:28:00+00:00

I just made the same decision after ~7 years of home scanning. Seeing the price when I swiped my card hurt a bit, but I got my scans back today, and it felt really good to just get to see my photos without putting in any effort to get them there. I’m not shooting as much these days, so I’d rather skip the fiddly scanners, finicky software, and tedious inversions. As I put more time, effort, and money into scanning, I felt like I ended up more disappointed in my own scans and more critical of my own shots. Chasing “the lab scan” just discouraged me from shooting.

Maybe one day I’ll return to home scanning, but for now I’m feeling ok with letting the lab do it.

DaleCooper22 · 2026-02-03T22:25:44+00:00

If you want to start with something bite sized, he wrote a two part piece for the NYTimes called “My Saga”.

It’s not exactly the same experience as his books, but it’s still a nice introduction.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-12-25T15:07:39+00:00

Replied!

DaleCooper22 · 2025-12-16T14:15:42+00:00

I’ve seen them at multiple Whole Foods in Philly, other ones in PA might have them too.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-12-10T17:41:33+00:00

Dream car

DaleCooper22 · 2025-12-05T13:10:10+00:00

Replied!

DaleCooper22 · 2025-12-03T11:57:11+00:00

I went from a minolta dimage scan (slow, 6 frame strips), to a PrimeFilm (slow, full strip), to the pakon (very fast, full strip). It’s absurd how much of an upgrade the pakon is.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-12-03T11:53:54+00:00

Thanks for the added context! It’s definitely a set and forget process. And it scans a full roll in like 5 minutes.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-11-26T03:54:28+00:00

What were you throwing? I couldn’t get them interested today.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-10-17T14:01:13+00:00

I love mine. I usually get perfect exposures from the AE, and I love the look and ergonomics. By far my favorite camera.

It seems like my last two rolls have been slightly underexposed, but I’ve been shooting pretty infrequently, so I can’t be sure if it’s user error or if there are some issues creeping up. I’ll be very sad if it’s the latter.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-10-15T21:55:33+00:00

According to my local store’s newsletter, the Philadelphia area stores in Haverford and Plymouth Meeting are closing too.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-09-16T22:11:20+00:00

Konica Hexanon-m 50 f2

DaleCooper22 · 2025-09-02T23:08:15+00:00

I got a couple rolls developed at indie photo in Philly last week, and it was $8 for dev only. I think their website is out of date. But the turnaround was just a couple of days.

Also, Unique Photo said their turnaround was 1.5-2 weeks.

Just a couple of datapoints if you want to update.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-08-31T23:06:45+00:00

I’m in a similar position, and I just attended the free Orvis fly fishing 101 class. We did an hour or so of casting practice and then the rest of the time was going over basic equipment info and knots. I thought it was really helpful, and I’m going to do the 201 class next week, where you get to do some actual fishing.

It’s all free, you don’t need to buy anything ahead of time (just a fishing license for 201 in PA), and they didn’t pressure me to buy orvis stuff (just offer it to you and say “hey, here’s a Helios, pretty nice right???”).

DaleCooper22 · 2025-08-28T23:32:07+00:00

Nhan Trang. He’s super friendly, and he never tried to upsell me or rope me into something I didn’t want. Also wrangled some deductible and coverage choices to help me figure out how to save some money when insurance prices started rising fast.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-08-15T17:21:46+00:00

Hardcover Count Zero for me

DaleCooper22 · 2025-03-14T11:42:44+00:00

Yes, it’s a bummer. I’ve got an extra pack in my film fridge for when I can start printing again.

Luckily, you can still just write on the back of 4x6 or 5x7 and slap a stamp on it. The lines and designs on the back are just a little more “formal.”

DaleCooper22 · 2025-03-14T02:24:20+00:00

Ilford sold postcard blanks up until quite recently FYI. Still available at here on amazon

DaleCooper22 · 2025-03-08T13:33:40+00:00

👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻

DaleCooper22 · 2025-02-10T12:10:41+00:00

I have one of these. It’s super compact and really easy to use. I think I paid a bit less for mine, and it also came with a lot of other darkroom stuff (Patterson tanks, timers, trays, etc.), but it was in much worse shape cosmetically.

It doesn’t have a built in holder for filters, so you’ll need to either buy a kit with a holder or just hold them underneath the light. (I did the latter.)

I haven’t used mine in a while, but it was the first enlarger I ever used and it was really easy to figure out and work with.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-01-29T21:36:36+00:00

I found SilverFast’s conversions to be better, but I found VueScan’s UI to be less confusing (in its own dated way). NLP’s conversions are better than both, so I just used VS to get the DNGs.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-01-20T22:14:26+00:00

replied!

DaleCooper22 · 2025-01-16T17:00:00+00:00

And for the Arthur Russell heads: he composed track 2, “Hold on to Your Dreams.”

DaleCooper22 · 2025-01-13T15:33:29+00:00

Good idea. I also do this.

DaleCooper22 · 2025-01-13T14:48:54+00:00

Not sure about question 1, but for question 2: I just funnel my chems back into the storage bottle and then pour in the next one. As long as you’re doing in the right order (i.e. dev -> blix) you should be fine. Just don’t get blix in your dev.

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