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beginner to film: 35mm...

Dean Taylor

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Format
35mm
hello

A beginner film user--35mm/Nikon F100--asks for your pick on 35mm film

choices, both colour and b/w.

Object for b/w: street (both day and night captures)

Object for colour: 1) primarily macro, outdoors 2) please mention indoor-

use 35mm colour if pertinent difference exists.

thank you!

Dean Taylor
 
Ilford PanF+ is pretty much all I use.
 
Black & White: Kodak Tri-X, Ilford HP5+
Color Print: Kodak Portra 400
 
For street shooting you're going to want a reasonably fast film so you can zone focus, or at least not worry about nailing focus, by keeping the aperture down to f/8 or (at most) f/5.6; Tri-X and HP5+ are the obvious choices, and both can be pushed well beyond box speed for night shooting (I've done two-stop pushes with no problem with both of the above, and I've heard of people going beyond that).

Color's harder, as you get into additional questions of individual preferences in terms of color rendition. You'll probably just want to try some different emulsions and see what you like. Assuming you'll be using a tripod for macro work, slower films will give smaller grain and better resolution in most cases.
 
Dean -

You're going to get differing opinions from almost everyone, based on what his/her personal preference is. Generally, if you stick to one of the big 3 (Kodak, Ilford, Fuji) you're going to get consistent quality and predictable characteristics. There are also some less-expensive offerings from Foma, Kentmere and Arista, some of these being re-badged films from one of the big 3.

For B/W street photography, 400-speed films like Kodak Tri-X or Ilford HP5+ will be the most flexible and give you the classic B/W film look. In low-light these can easily be pushed to a higher ISO and still give quality results. I also use Kodak TMax400, which has a cleaner look (to my eye) and tighter grain. I believe Ilford Delta 400 is a similar type of film to TMax400, but I've never shot it.

For nature photography, especially Macro, I use slide films like Fuji Velvia or Provia (100) which give great color saturation. Not so good if you're photographing people. Also, slide films are less forgiving of underexposure, so you need to be accurate with your metering and avoid higher-contrast scenes. Color print films tend to be more forgiving, and Kodak Portra is pretty widely used - nice for general shooting and people/portrait photography especially.

For an idea of what a skilled nature photographer can do with 35mm slide film, check out the work of the late Galen Rowell. I believe he used Fuji slide films and he was an expert at using graduated filters in the field to overcome high-contrast scenes and get the look he wanted.
 
You will want to try several and that can be fun.
You cant go wrong with Kodak Portra or Ektar 100 for color print.

Developing b&W at home? They are all fun, but Kentmere is hard to beat on price especially if you are learning.

Lab developing B&W? Consider ILford XP2 develops in color chemicals.

I would start with a few rolls of these and expand from there till you find that they all have different uses. Variety is one thing that makes film fun. Its like getting a new imaging sensor every week!

I recommend buying several
 
hello

We just ordered various Ilford items:


Ilford Delta Pro 3200 High Speed, Black and White Delta Professional Film, up to ISO 1250


Ilford Pan-F Plus Ultra-Fine Grain Black and White Film ISO 50


Ilford HP-5 Plus 400 Fast Black and White Professional Film, ISO 400


as well as:


Kodak Ektar 100 Color Negative Film ISO 100

Regarding the Ilford: do they work well with one processing protocol--i.e., one batch each of (Ilford) developer, stop and fixer--or, have you found them to be...'testy,' needing a more customized plan?

And, for you Ektar users, which chemicals are preferred?

thanks again, APUG!

Dean
 
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Ilford Pan-F+, Kentmere 100, Tri-X
Ektar 100, Portra 160
 
Acros 100 für night shots because of low reciprocity failure.
 
Hi Dean

The mono can be developed in any general purpose fine grained developer, the delta needs more fixing than the PanF.

Fixing and washing you need to be careful with.
You don't need stop or hypo clear just more water.
Down load the data sheets for each film.
Brouse Ilford and Kodak sites as well.
Keep liquid temperatures between changes close.
Use lots of surfant in final water.
Don't think of pushing film unless you never want a quality print.
 
Dean Taylor said:
... if pertinent difference exists.

thank you!

Dean Taylor
Click to expand...

Hi Dean,

First things first. The film you ordered is fine for a start, there's enough variety there to start getting a feel for how things work. Your answers will come when you actually use it and print it.

As cliche as this may sound, you have to define "pertinent difference" for yourself.

The wildcards here are: your skills and your preferences.

Ilford, Fuji, and Kodak simply don't make any bad films, period.

Second, IMO, the best place to start for developing info is the films maker.

For example http://www.ilfordphoto.com/products/producttype.asp?n=3&t=Black+&+White+Films

Poke around there and find the right data sheet for each Ilford film, follow the instructions. They work perfectly.
 
Hi Dean

The Ilford films can all be developed using the same chemicals but the development time will be different for the different film types. Ilford published an excellent step by step guide to developing your first B&W film - see http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/200629163442455.pdf. It explains everything and also includes development times for various common film/developer combinations. Everyone has their own preferred developer, but ID-11 diluted 1+1 (1 part developer to 1 part water) is simple and works well for me.

HP5+ would be my choice for street photography since ISO 400 allows you to shoot handheld over a wide range of lighting conditions. It's quite grainy, but that - to me - is part of the aesthetic.

Good luck!
Andrew
 
Film choice is a very personal thing. Try a few of the better films. You will soon settle on something. I prefer Kodak Portra 160 for color. I have mixed feelings when it comes to black and white. I really like the look of Tri-X, and a 400 speed film is very handy for a lot of things. But I also like the fine grain and sharpness of TMax 100. There is something about the look of TMax 400 that I don't like - it's sort of cold and mechanical, but I certainly can't quantify that. You see what I mean by the choice being a very personal one.
 
Dean,

I'll advise you to leave colour negative development to a good lab. It isn't difficult to do yourself, but it needs discipline and being able to control temperature to a higher degree than B&W.
I'll suggest to you as a beginner to read some good basic book on photography including development of B&W films. See here for an example: http://www.booklovers.co.uk/booksearch_ID.asp?ID=124393

Also to use only one B&W and one colour film to start with. Learn one film at a time.
And have fun!
 
Kentmere 100 in 100 foot rolls, is a great value... $30 or so. Wind your own. Fuji Acros 100. Tri-x 400 is great and you can push it to 1600-3200 and beyond by underexposing and overdeveloping.

The spec sheets for Tri-x are here:

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/f4017/f4017.pdf

When using 400 speed film, set your F100 exposure to meter at 1600 or 3200 on the F100 button on the top left "iso". Shoot your roll of film and then when done develop based on these times in a developer of your choice:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxFXmxpbQzBYTlAxX0hlenJQR2c/edit?usp=drivesdk
 
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I prefer 400 ISO for street and b/w in general. I could use it as 800 with f1.5 and 1/30 in low, no daylight or as 200 with filters on top of it for sun/shadows, f5.6-8 1/250.
HP5+ and Kentmere 400, bulk, good price and easy to process, print from it.

Color... any film I could find cheap...
 
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Hi Dean,
I have used nothing but Fomapan 200 and 400 for a few years now, great film and no quality issues, and it gives me a different look to the so called big three, I use it at box speed developed in either Rodinal/RO9 at 1/50 or D76 at stock and in both 120 and 35m
Richard
 
I use Agfa Vista+ for colour - it is an excellent film actually made by Fuji and it costs £1.00 per cassette. I am lucky in having an excellent processor in town.


For mono I use Fomapan 200 Creative (bulk film so I can roll very short cassettes for testing cameras) which I develop myself using ID11.
 
Let me try: it should read £1 GBP.
 
Hi

The C41 process is not that difficult all it needs is a calibrated thermometer, a plastic bowl and an electric kettle, but critically barrier gloves. The colour developer is not a nice chemical, some of the mono compounds are not good either, if you have a septic tank and well dispose the mono stuff as hazard waste.

If you push film the negatives wont print well or easily, unless you don't like shadows. your prints are better at half the ISO on the box...

Lots of people used to drop film of at pharmacy.

Noel
 
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