Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ted, Nathan, & Gerry, Thanks for the kind responses and further inquiries. Sorry I wasn't more specific about the film and its processing. (BTW - Ted, your website is an inspiration and have placed it on every Christmas list I have access to. If I don't receive it as a gift this Christmas, I will be talking to you about a purchase in early January 2000). I feel rather sheepish saying this in the company of the LUG, but I don't have a darkroom or access to one. I feel that has restricted me to consumer level print films. (Maybe this an "amateur" mindset I need to break). For color print, I've been using Fuji 400 and rather like it, except for the low light stuff. For low light color, I've tried the Kodak Max 800 (based on a very positive review in Popular Photography, FWIW) and Konica 3200 to mixed results. The Konica was butchered at a "custom lab", which was a shame, having contained the last Disneyland Main Street Electrical Parade. The Max 800 just it's grabbing me. Surprisingly, the Kodak Black & White + (C41 process) stuff I've been shooting at low light is giving me the most satisfaction. I just feel I'm not using the Leica to its potential by not being better with color film. I would love to blame the processing (mostly at a mini-lab), but that seems a copout. I know it's not the equipment and the film is just the medium, which leaves me. While I would love to have a Summilux-M 35, it will probably have to wait until I set-up a darkroom. (Focus, John. You're drifting into a focomat thread...) So my re-focused questions are: - - With no access to a home lab, do I switch to a professional-grade (refrigerator) film? If yes, which are recommended? Best sources and prices? (BTW, how do you handle the stuff?) - - Do I stop messing around with minilabs for development? How to chose a good lab in rural Oregon? Are there reasonable mail-order alternatives? - - If I move the purchase of a home darkroom up before a Summilux-M 35 (damn things will be all snapped up, I fear), how do I achieve satisfactory results with color? Thanks for input and tutalige, John Beal II, Oregon