Film choices for box cameras, older folders, pseudo TLRs?

[Donald Qualls]

I'm a regular user of Fomapan (under the rebrand of Arista .EDU Ultra), but I wouldn't choose it for pinhole -- it has some of the worst reciprocity characteristics going. It starts needing extra time at 1/2 second, and then needs 2.8x for each stop instead of the more common 2.6x. By the time your metered exposure is up to a minute, you're at a corrected figure of 8 minutes.

For everything else i do with silver image B&W film, Foma 100 and Foma 400 fill the bill. Same emulsion in 35mm, 120, and 4x5, available in bulk rolls in 35mm (brings the cost down to about $3 for 36 exposures), and only a dollar a sheet in 4x5 -- in each size, about half the price of Kodak or Ilford films in the same speed.

 

[Wallendo]

I routinely use Arista EDU Ultra 100 (Fomapan 100) for this purpose. I also use that film for most of my medium format B&W photography so it is a film with which I am well familiar. I find that testing cameras with a familiar film gives me better insight than using expired or unknown films.

A 400 ISO film would be more sensitive to detecting light leaks, but a lot of old cameras were optimized for much slower films.

 

[37th Exposure]

I would think FP4+ is the closest you can get today to Verichrome which was THE film for box cameras and the like. I don’t know how much it has changed over the years but isn’t FP4 an old fashioned double coated film designed similar to Verichrome to have plenty of latitude? And the speed would be close to what was available in the day.
And wasn’t Ilford FP at least part descended from their Selo film (Ilford’s answer to Kodak’s Verichrome).

 

[Sirius Glass]

I would think FP4+ is the closest you can get today to Verichrome which was THE film for box cameras and the like. I don’t know how much it has changed over the years but isn’t FP4 an old fashioned double coated film designed similar to Verichrome to have plenty of latitude? And the speed would be close to what was available in the day.
And wasn’t Ilford FP at least part descended from their Selo film (Ilford’s answer to Kodak’s Verichrome).

I agree that Ilford FP4+ is the closest speedwise although maybe not as forgiving as Kodak Verichrome Pan.

 

[alexanderjmarkow]

Can't go wrong with T Max 400.