The Noritsu S1 -11

The image above is a piece of twenty year old technology. It is an incredible example of engineering that I saw today in full operation.

All me to back track for a moment.

This is Hanif.

He is part of the photographic team at Kodak Express on Kilburn High Road. These guys do a fantastic job taking my Kodax Portra 400, developing the films and scanning the images ready for printing.

Hanif today very kindly showed me his workflow.

This is as close as I will ever get to old school film processing. It was quite wonderful seeing the technology at work. I was amazed at how Hanif took the strip of 35mm Film, wearing white gloves to keep the negative clean.

He carefully examined the film before inserting it into the film Scanner, The Noritsu S1-11.

This machine did a pre-scan.

All the images appeared on the connected computer where tonal adjustments were made before the second pass through. The film was swallowed up by the machine and came out again after the second scan.

Once the scan is complete, the scanned files are then sent to the main printer for final production.

This process is not just down to the computer, Kodax Express Kilburn High Road represents a dedicated team of Photographic Experts who truly care about the end product, the final print.

As a loyal customer, I return time and again simply because they do a great job in looking after my images. I have always left their premise happy with my prints.

What I experienced today was a digital darkroom after the rolls of film have been washed and developed. The washing and developing takes places on another machine in another back room.

The Noritsu S1-11 does the scanning process very quickly. Decades ago, developing and printing one image was a time consuming job. Seeing an image appear was very magical.

I got a little taste today of an industry that has its roots in the hands on processing of film developing.

I have been shooting 35mm Film lately and seeing what happens to film is part of my photographic education.

I loved it.

Sharing this story has been part of my mission to expand my photography into something more meaningful. I see my photography now as visual stories.

Thanks for reading

Be sure to check out Kodax Express Kilburn High Road