There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
__________________________________ "Are there services online that you like where you can mail film in to get it developed? If you've used any of these services, I'd love to hear about your experience." __________________________________ I try to support my local labs when I can (processing usually costs $5 a roll) However, the labs I have tried online and trust are: The Darkroom Labs (https://thedarkroom.com/) Richard Photo Lab (http://www.richardphotolab.com/) The Darkroom Labs has awesome service and a very nice deliverable. However it's up to par in my experience with my local lab - I found this out after my first roll. I wasn't able to fine tune a look with them, they simply delivered nice scans- but I didn't have a say in how I want my photos to be delivered. Richard Photo Lab I trust with my most cherished rolls and professional work. Their customer service is superb and will have an open lane of communication with you to develop your "look". They take their time to fine tune your scanning deliverable to make sure it's what you want. Each scan is delivered equivalent to a 22mp photo. I am most happy with their service so far. However it costs $10 more per roll than The Darkroom (I supposed the extra cost is to make sure your images come out the way you want it). I spent $80 on 3 rolls from my last job.
Richard Photo lets your choose between having Frontier scans or Noritsu Scans. The difference is that Frontier is an older scanner and is more timely as they scan one photo at a time. Most traditional long term film photographers I have been told like this scanner better. But if you're like me and moving from digital to film, you'll like the Noritisu scans. This is my choice and they are able to scan more photos at once. Noritsu scans also deliver best scans for commercial use.
OVERALL- I have been a professional photographer for over 10 years primarily shooting digital. However I am gradually moving towards shooting film exclusively. I have an A7RII and RIII for my professional work and find it difficult these days to pick them up over my film cameras. It's a labor of love and if you're willing to invest your time and money into that love of photography I would strongly urge you to continue with this journey (in moderation). I have to admit, I think I moved too fast at times but that's the artist in me. You'll have to make that decision for yourself. But from my experience, I believe it's boosted my level of photography significantly since I picked up my first film camera. That's coming from an professional photographer with years of digital experience. Being that you only have 24-36 shots on 35mm rolls will force you not snap away happily like you would with digital. You have to think about your shot and consider your composition heavily since each photo you take costs money. In addition, learning and discovering different film stocks is really fun as well. There's a character and feeling I get from different stocks from Kodak, Fujifilm, Ilford and Cinestill that I never got from digital (even with film emulators using lightroom with vsco and others). Digital to me is more manufactured- however there's a soul to film photography that I think will open up a whole new world for you!
I am documenting my film journey/experience with a little youtube channel I made with my gf, if you're interested. Just look up "Adapt Analog" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDRngXI0Gro&t
It's not much, I just mainly show the photos I've taken and document who scans my photos. I'm in 2 quick videos so far. This first video shows the scans I received from Darkroom Labs with my test roll.