A photo CD costs about $17 extra here.. which doesn't seem too bad when considering it's probably one of the cleanest digitization processes you can get (especially with 3 cats always roaming around your computer equipment :P ). Sounds like quite a deal you found.. I still have issues about ordering online, myself. I work in communications security, it's almost like doctors hating to go see a colleague no matter how sick they are. :) I'm not sure what kind of darkroom gadgets they have there.. I've seen the darkrooms (they're pretty hard to miss with the huge signs lit up that say 'DO NOT OPEN - DARKROOM WORK IN PROGRESS') but I never went in (usually just passed through on my way to other classes). I'll definitely ask around when I go drop the paperwork off, though. Hopefully they don't just have B&W chemicals. :) - darkpen

chuckle Probably a good bet. There may be a microfracture in the cell itself ('course, it might have been caused by the temperature, but still). Usually what happens, is the batteries drain very very quickly (a battery that lasts 10 hours only holds its charge for about 2 hours at -10C, much less in colder temperatures), but after they warm up they get their strength back. Lithium batteries are especially vulnerable to this, because lithium cells relies heavily on heat to function. So for winter shooting, you're usually much better off with cheap, alkaline batteries, which hold their charge a little longer in the cold. - darkpen

The exchange rate hovers around $0,62 CDN for $1 USD. And about $1.14 USD for 1 Euro (the Euro keeps going up but stays about on par against the USD lately). As far as going digital goes, that's what I was originally planning on, but it's almost as expensive as analog if you want to go manual - and I didn't want to start off paying $1500 for a camera. At least, with developing, I can spread the cost over quite a while, depending on how much I shoot (of course, I have credit cards, but I refuse to carry a balance over $10 - which really seems to piss off the companies lately.. but that's another matter completely :P ). I'm going back to school for my masters in September though, so I'll be able to take a darkroom class and use their facilities to start developing myself.. even if I can just develop B&W it'd be rather nice (B&W costs more than color film here - about $8-10 a roll [compared to $5 for your usual Kodak Gold color films] and an extra per print). - darkpen

Very neat! Gotta love sea life.. it's so.. weird and beautiful. grin - darkpen

They're up! (a few of them, anyhoo) I put them into separate posts.. "First roll" and "2nd roll". I put 7 pics of the first one up, and 6 from the second. - darkpen

It's very good and kinda hard without hearing the music.. but I like it. I'd say it works at it is, but without knowing if the band's in a dark gothic or industrial or metal or neo-classical genre, it's hard to say if it really suits it or not. Although (to me, anyway), the lightness areas draw my attention more than the darker ambience (not that it has any effect in particular, but for dark and moody, that Turning The Worm pic did it more for me). Ironically, though, my opinion might be moot because even though I love dark music, my 4 favorite bands have rather poor album covers.. heh. - darkpen

Yep.. on matte or glossy 4x6, and it's not even 1-hour. And there's a surcharge per print if I want a small white border around the picture (5x7). If I go to the 1-hour lab it's about $20 (before taxes). Sucks, huh? - darkpen

Very nice colors and detail.. I like flowers. :) - darkpen

I'd love to start doing that.. it really seems like the best way to study a subject. I just worry about the cost though (developing costs me about $15 a roll after sales tax at the cheap place). Until tax time is over, I'm a bit strapped. Right now, I'm going through about a roll and a half per weekend, which isn't too bad. I'll definitely take up on your suggestion as soon as I can, though. ;) - darkpen

Very nice, looks like home. grin And cold temperatures will drain batteries very quickly.. it increases the electron flow (among other things). - darkpen

Very cool! I like it a lot. That would make an awesome poster, too. - darkpen

LOL.. that's awfully cute. :) - darkpen

Thanks mizz :) Sorry Jordy.. it's a Tulip festival. :P - darkpen

Cool, I'll give it a try this week. Watch your mailbox if I have trouble. :) The Ottawa area's actually got lots and lots of cool stuff to shoot, for whatever kind of photography you're in. Plus, since we have four distinct seasons here, you can shoot the same thing again and again and it'll look different. Plus, we have tons of festival (one of the coolest being the Tulip Festival.. I'll try to take pictures of the dresses made entirely out of flowers :).. so it's actually a really nice place, if you don't mind the 3-5 months of winter we get. :) - darkpen

Ok, I know which ones you mean. :) Those are all gov't buildings. I'll go get shots of them sometime this week or next weekend (more likely on the weekend, it's a high traffic hotspot on weekdays). The arched windows I thought you meant are old cannon portholes under the Parliament building. They're sealed nowadays, though. - darkpen