Best 120 color film??

zydeholic · Apr 4, 2009

Yes, I know, an unanswerable question.

Here's the deal. I've been shooting color slide for a very long time. Someone once told me color negative film is more forgiving as far as exposure latitude. I'm willing to try some, but don't know my stuff.

Here's what I'm looking for, in this order:

good exposure latitude
saturated colors
easy/inexpensive to get processed (neg only)
inexpensive to buy

Even though expense is at the bottom of the list, it is still a consideration.

zydeholic · Apr 4, 2009

I guess I should stipulate: for shooting pinhole.

keithwms · Apr 4, 2009

Shooting pinhole with colour film is going to get you into some serious chromatic aberration. But anyway, why not shoot something fast enough to avoid reciprocity issues. I would suggest just about any colour 160 or 400 film.... rating it at a half stop or so slower than box speed. E.g. fuji pro c at 125 or 100. Fuji pro h at 320. Or the comparable kodaks. By he way I rate 800z at 640 or so and like it as well- you'll [probably] not be enlarging a pinhole shot much anyway.

Enjoy!

zydeholic · Apr 4, 2009

Thanks.

Does the color neg suffer from reciprocity failure more than color slide?

tony lockerbie · Apr 4, 2009

I don't know about the neg versus tranny reciprocity issue, but the buzz word for negative is latitude..... it has plenty. Bear in mind though, that the latitude is much more biased towards overexposure, typically 1 stop under and 3 stops over will give you acceptable results.
As Keith has mentioned, you should go for a 400 or 800 speed film, which will give you shorter exposures anyway. A lot of the pro film has a softer colour saturation for the wedding/ portrait market, ie....NPS, NPH and the Kodak Portra NC. You don't mention which size film you are using, but if it is 120, then go for the saturated film such as Kodak Portra VC, as you will need all the contrast you can get with the Pinhole.
Tony

fschifano · Apr 4, 2009

If you want to go with the Kodak products, you have several choices. The Portra line of films comes in 160 and 400 speeds with two color palettes, NC and VC, and a single 800 speed version. I can tell you from experience that the 160 and 400 speed materials are gorgeous. I especially like the NC versions for the slightly muted color palette. I've not used the 800 speed version. Here's the tech sheet: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/e4040/e4040.pdf.

Alternately, from Kodak, there is the relatively new, and newly available in 120, Ektar 100. This is a high contrast, high saturation film. See the tech sheet here:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/e4046/e4046.pdf.

Unfortunately, neither publication offers any advice regarding reciprocity failure compensation. Bet your bottom dollar though that the color balance will get screwy once you get above or below the recommended exposure time range.

Any C-41 material is going to offer a greater dynamic range than an E-6 material, and one heck of a lot more exposure latitude. Over exposures are well tolerated, under exposures less so.

zydeholic · Apr 4, 2009

I do mostly landscape. Is the Portra going to work well for that?

keithwms · Apr 4, 2009

Sure. But again, I'd be tempted to rate it considerably slower for a bit more well defined colours. By the time you factor in that and reciprocity, I don't know, you might be bumping the exposure by a stop to get what you want. Hard to say.

It'd really not occur to me to use an 800 print film for landscape, normally speaking. But for pinhole... sure why not. You'll be enlarging very little, right? If ISO 640 keeps you away from reciprocity issues, then it might be the ticket. I am thinking that chromatic ab. plus multicolour reciprocity issues may make for an intractable problem if you get into long exposures.

nickandre · Apr 4, 2009

If you're shooting 120 there's no better a time to try Ektar when it comes out this month. The reciprocity issue isn't as well defined by film as age of film design. Look at the Kodachrome reciprocity! I know ektar is pretty good w/ reciprocity. It has given me good colors, better than the last films I tried (Fuji 200 and Reala and Superia 100.) A wise man once said "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

zydeholic · Apr 4, 2009

I think I might try a couple of rolls of that Ektar if I can find it in the stores yet. I can't find a price on it yet, but I'll keep looking. I've seen a couple of reviews of it saying that it's really 50 or 64 asa, and I sort of intended on over-exposing it anyway.

Might try a roll or two of the others too. It's all about experimentation, hey? Just needed some help narrowing down. Thanks everyone.

Here's one of my pinhole shots. Looks like I used to shoot a lot of Kodak E100S.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30086577&l=df44eaba14&id=1542973032

Oh, hell, here's the whole album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004495&id=1542973032&l=27f20d0fa2

This is my best pinhole work. Had a trip to Ireland planned, hurriedly built the camera, and did the field testing over there. It helps when there's awesome things to shoot.

Looks like a have another roll shot in a Holga that was Fuji RMS. Colors looked mega saturated in those, but it wasn't pinhole.

Man, it's nice to find an active pinhole list. I used to be on the list-serve one, years ago, but it seems to have died. The ones on Facebook and Yahoo Groups don't seem to have much activity, or much interactivity, and no experienced people offering help.

Thanks everyone.

alanrockwood · Apr 5, 2009

Zydeholic,

I especially liked your Cisterdan Abbey photo.

zydeholic · Apr 5, 2009

Thanks. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems the wide angle distortion might have enhanced the image. It has a tendency to make verticals converge towards the center.

keithwms · Apr 5, 2009

zydeholic said:
Thanks. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it seems the wide angle distortion might have enhanced the image. It has a tendency to make verticals converge towards the center.

That effect is because your film plane is not curved, right?

nickandre · Apr 5, 2009

I saw a speed test on ektar that rated it at 100 ASA. That's what I use. Overexposing it will probably not hurt too much.

My favorite pinhole cameras are the coffee cans. They're 5x7 size and you stick a piece of photo paper in there and open it up. It gives a lot of distortion, which looks pretty cool.

PhotoJim · Apr 5, 2009

If you want some cheap and cheerful film. B&H and Adorama (and, I think, Freestyle) have Fuji Superia 100 in 120. It's under $3 a roll. It's a good quality film and well worth shooting. I actually use it as my everyday colour negative film in my Bronica. (I occasionally shoot the pro emulsions, but the Superia is awfully good.) If you want to save some money while you experiment, you might want to give it a try. I don't think it's sold natively in the North American market, which is why it's hard to find. It might be Japanese market film.

zydeholic · Apr 5, 2009

keithwms said:
That effect is because your film plane is not curved, right?

Correct. The camera is essentially a wooden frame around a roll-film back for a 4x5 camera. Enough wood to install a tripod mount, and have a groove on the front to use the lid of a 4x5 film box as the front. pinhole is taped to a hole in the lid. 1" focal length to a 2"x3" film plane.

Would I divide 25mm by 4 to get the comparable focal length for a 35mm camera?

nickandre · Apr 5, 2009

Ultrafine online has superia and reala at just under $3.

zydeholic · Apr 5, 2009

PhotoJim said:
If you want some cheap and cheerful film. B&H and Adorama (and, I think, Freestyle) have Fuji Superia 100 in 120. It's under $3 a roll. It's a good quality film and well worth shooting. I actually use it as my everyday colour negative film in my Bronica. (I occasionally shoot the pro emulsions, but the Superia is awfully good.) If you want to save some money while you experiment, you might want to give it a try. I don't think it's sold natively in the North American market, which is why it's hard to find. It might be Japanese market film.

I can get Superia at one place but another place says it's discontinued. It would be a shame to get enamored with one film, only to have it go away so soon. Does Realia give the same results?

Tom Miller · Apr 5, 2009

Try Fuji Reala. Freestyle has it for $3.49 for a roll of 120. It is the best I've found so far for pinhole work. I gave up on Kodak color films for pinhole when they went to Portra.

rst · Apr 6, 2009

zydeholic said:
... Would I divide 25mm by 4 to get the comparable focal length for a 35mm camera?

No, field-of-view-wise it would be similar to a 12mm lens on a 35mm camera.

Cheers
Ruediger

zydeholic · Apr 6, 2009

Ok, thanks. I was squaring 2, then dividing by that.

Ric Johnson · Apr 7, 2009

zydeholic said:
Man, it's nice to find an active pinhole list. Thanks everyone.

If you want to find an active pinhole site, make to sure open www.f295.org

winger · Apr 7, 2009

Ric Johnson said:
If you want to find an active pinhole site, make to sure open www.f295.org

I was just about to point him there. Great forums with lots of advice for pinhole and related stuff.

2F/2F · Apr 7, 2009

I'd look into Superia 100 or Reala 100. They are cheaper than professional films and have saturated color. Freestyle carries both of them. $3 per roll for Superia 100, and $3.50 per roll of Reala 100.

zydeholic · Apr 7, 2009

I have tried twice to join the f295 forum, 6 months ago, and then last week. Both times they have not responded, have not responded to emails, have not responded to emails sent by other members on my behalf, and both times deleted the login I was using. It's a bit maddening.

Is there some secret to getting through?

Best 120 color film??

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