Last year, I managed to accumulate over a dozen rolls of 35mm film to get developed. I usually do the developing at home — it’s cheap and in my opinion, doing color ink your sink is even easier than black and white. But it takes so much time, and scanning them is such a drag. I still use an Epson flatbed that feels like a dinosaur. So I decided to give Memphis Film Lab a try, because their Grandma’s Closet special is such a deal.
I wasn’t disappointed, because these look substantially better than the scans I can do at home. And for $6 a roll, I’m willing to be pretty flexible in what’s “acceptable”. I wouldn’t use this particular service for any real important film work, but for a summer of dog pictures and snapshots, it’s a deal.
I do wish I would have went for the higher quality scans — in my head, I was going to pick my favorites from the low resolution scans and rescan the ones I really loved. Out of 12 rolls, I had more favorites than I know what to do with and the stacks of negatives are still tucked away on my desk (and that ancient Epson is hidden away in my closet). I am already planning on buying up some film for this year, so chances are I will never touch those negatives again.
Between the rising price of film and getting back into digital, I told myself that I wouldn’t be doing any film in 2022, but just looking at these is making me think twice. We’re all tired of hearing it, but there really is something special about film. I didn’t have to do a speck of editing of these, and they were all budget film stocks, nothing special like Portra or whatever.
With spring coming along, I might just have to treat myself to a roll or two of something nice.
