Another Round with the F100 – Further Experiments with Film

I think getting back my first couple of rolls of film from a professional lab (Indie Film Lab) is rather timely given my post earlier this week about one of my first portrait sessions. I have been sharing with you my journey into shooting film, letting you hear about the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I shot two rolls of film a couple of weeks ago when I went to visit my dear friend who I have known since college. I left my digital camera at home and challenged myself to shoot film the whole day. Then a couple of days later I went out just after sunrise to shoot some images along Germantown Ave in Chestnut Hill. With knots in my stomach I decided it was time to ween myself off of Walmart development and send it to a professional lab. After hearing about how nice the folks were at Indie Lab I decided to ship them off to them. And the wait began …..

I just got the scans back last night from Indie Film Lab and I will admit that I do see a big difference between them and Walmart. In my development options I think I just picked the standard for everything. But I am seeing that I actually like a slightly darker image. I am glad that I can work with the folks at Indie Lab to specify how I want my images processed. However, I am still trying to of decide though if I like shooting Kodak Portra 400. I want to keep shooting with one film so I can learn how it performs in different scenarios, how to shoot it, and how I want it processed. But I will admit there is a box of Fuji  Pro 400H in my fridge that I am dying to try just to see the difference.

All images below shot with the Nikon F100 and the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens on Kodak Portra 400. Developed at Indie Film Lab.