Film?

jonasfj · Aug 14, 2014

Hi,

I'm a reasonably experienced 35mm shooter who just recently acquired a beautiful Hasselblad camera with a normal and a wide angle lens.

My question to you guys is which film you use and why?

My thought process right now is that I should go for slower film. If I want the grainy look of Tri-X developed in Rodinal, I might as well continue shooting 135-film.

I'm thinking TMax 100, Ektar and Fuji Pro 400H.

Please share your experience and thoughts!

Groet,

Jonss

TheToadMen · Aug 14, 2014

Fuji PRO 400H is an excellent film. I don't use Ektar so can't comment on that film. I saw very nice images lately from Kodak Portra 160 (street photography) so I got me some myself to try soon.

For B&W you could also try Ilford FP4+ (@100 ASA) and Ilford HP5+ (@400 ASA), a very reliable film.

Too old to care · Aug 14, 2014

I shoot mostly Tri-X, but sometimes FP4 and TMax 100, and I mostly use Rodinal 50 to 1. I sometime like just a bit of grain in my 6x6 photos, even Tri-X is not bad. Like you, when I want I want grain, I shoot 35mm. Some of my photos here represent these combinations.

aRolleiBrujo · Aug 14, 2014

Use any and use all, before it runs dry! Happy film photography! -Americo.R

gone · Aug 14, 2014

Grainy? Tri-X in Rodinal coming at ya. 120 is quite different from 35mm, but if you meter and agitate right, 35mm is fine too. First shot is 120, second and third are 35mm. Fourth one is a screw up :] These were at 1:25 dilution by the way, which is all I ever do.

Alan Gales · Aug 14, 2014

We all have our favorite films. My suggestion is to shoot a little of everything and find what you like. You have a nice camera to shoot it with. A Hasselblad is a joy to use.

polyglot · Aug 14, 2014

use whatever you like the look of

Personally I haven't been able to get TMX to work for me, but I've seen other people produce wonderful photos from it and there is nothing in current production with higher resolution unless you use document films (e.g. CMS20, Tech Pan) that are harder to get good continuous tone and dynamic range from. If you like TMX in 35mm, you will love it in 6x6.

I love me some Acros (practically no reciprocity failure - great for night photos) and Pan-F. 400H is nice film; Portra 400 is different but nice in its own way and has less visible grain than 400H. Portra 160 is even nicer still. There are no finer colour films than Ektar, but it has Super Ultra Mega Colour (think Velvia in a negative) so isn't much good for portraits of anything but clowns. Give some TMY2 (Tmax 400) a try, you might be surprised how good a print you can make from it in medium format. I have several 16"-wide prints made from TMY2 in Xtol, shot at 800 and 1600; they're sharp and basically grain-free.

ParkerSmithPhoto · Aug 14, 2014

Medium format TMAX 400 is virtually grainless, even at 16x20. It's amazing.

HP5 will have a touch o' grain at that size, but certainly not what you'd call "grainy." Anything smaller will be perfect.

I think it's actually a bit of a project to make 120 look grainy, so just buy a bunch of something and get to work. If you like tripod shooting and/or tend to work in bright light, get 100 speed, but if you like to handhold and/or work in flatter light, don't be afraid of 400 speed. Probably easiest just to keep working with Tri-X if that's what you are already shooting in 35mm.

eddie · Aug 14, 2014

The first thing you should shoot is whatever film/developer combo you use in 35mm. It's really the only way to get a baseline comparison, so you can see what the format change does for you, without introducing other variables.

StoneNYC · Aug 14, 2014

eddie said:
The first thing you should shoot is whatever film/developer combo you use in 35mm. It's really the only way to get a baseline comparison, so you can see what the format change does for you, without introducing other variables.

+1

chriscrawfordphoto · Aug 14, 2014

I shoot a lot of 6x6, in a Mamiya 6 (had a Hassy for years, sold it because my health issues made carrying it too hard for me). I shoot Ilford HP5 developed in PMK for nearly everything. I have done a lot with FP4 as well if you need finer grain, though the HP5 images print beautiful.

Nuff · Aug 15, 2014

As others have said, use the same films you use in 35mm. Don't forget that your shutter speeds on hasselblad will need to be faster than on 35mm. While on 35mm you would use 1/60 with 50mm lens, on blad you will need to use 1/125 with 80mm lens. I found 1/60 bit of a pot shot on my hasselblad, it's fine with bigger grain films, since it masks any vibration.

@polyglot, Acros has finer grain than TMX, as long as it's developed in fuji microfine. I'm not sure which equivalent developer it is in western world.

BradS · Aug 15, 2014

eddie said:
The first thing you should shoot is whatever film/developer combo you use in 35mm. It's really the only way to get a baseline comparison, so you can see what the format change does for you, without introducing other variables.

Exactly what I was thinking....

film_man · Aug 15, 2014

Try all of them. The same film will look different in 35mm and medium format so you need to try them all. Personally for colour I use Portra 160 and 400 but in B&W I will use every film Ilford makes plus a bit of Acros and TriX depending what look I want.

StoneNYC · Aug 15, 2014

Nuff said:
As others have said, use the same films you use in 35mm. Don't forget that your shutter speeds on hasselblad will need to be faster than on 35mm. While on 35mm you would use 1/60 with 50mm lens, on blad you will need to use 1/125 with 80mm lens. I found 1/60 bit of a pot shot on my hasselblad, it's fine with bigger grain films, since it masks any vibration.

@polyglot, Acros has finer grain than TMX, as long as it's developed in fuji microfine. I'm not sure which equivalent developer it is in western world.

Interesting, honestly I didn't even realize Fuji made B&W developing chemicals...

Nuff · Aug 15, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Interesting, honestly I didn't even realize Fuji made B&W developing chemicals...

Not to mention they are cheap and good.
Fuji Microfine is the fine grain developer, Fuji Super Prodol (similar to D76, but much shorter times) is for pushing.
I got great results from them, Microfine costs around $3.20 for 1litre (good for 8 rolls) and Super Prodol is $2.60 per 1litre (good for 10 rolls). For me they are cheapest developers I can get.

I bet you will be even more surprised when you find out they make BW paper, but again it's Japan only. Why? I have no idea.

darkosaric · Aug 15, 2014

I use medium format (Rolleiflex and Diana F) not because I want more sharpness and smaller grain on final print - I use it because it is square format and has different look, it gives results that I can not get from 35mm. Any B&W film today is good enough, even cheapest ones.

StoneNYC · Aug 15, 2014

Nuff said:
Not to mention they are cheap and good.
Fuji Microfine is the fine grain developer, Fuji Super Prodol (similar to D76, but much shorter times) is for pushing.
I got great results from them, Microfine costs around $3.20 for 1litre (good for 8 rolls) and Super Prodol is $2.60 per 1litre (good for 10 rolls). For me they are cheapest developers I can get.

I bet you will be even more surprised when you find out they make BW paper, but again it's Japan only. Why? I have no idea.

Are the developers for japan only as well?

$3 for 8 rolls isn't that cheap when Rodinal is 11 for 250 rolls, lol, HC (Ilfotec or kodak) is $35-40 for 100+ rolls etc.

But is it like Microdol? Or something else?

Nuff · Aug 15, 2014

StoneNYC said:
Are the developers for japan only as well?

$3 for 8 rolls isn't that cheap when Rodinal is 11 for 250 rolls, lol, HC (Ilfotec or kodak) is $35-40 for 100+ rolls etc.

But is it like Microdol? Or something else?

Yes, they are Japan only, but if you have contacts, you can get them. I got fair bit since I traveled there a lot.
I'm in Australia not in USA. I have never used Microdol, is it fine grain? I guess it's similar then.
We don't even have HC110 here and Ilfotec HC is $68.20, that works out to be 50 cents per roll instead 26 cents (Fuji SPD).
D76 for 1 litre of solution costs $6.88 which is 3 times more expensive.

analoguey · Aug 15, 2014

Nuff said:
Not to mention they are cheap and good.
Fuji Microfine is the fine grain developer, Fuji Super Prodol (similar to D76, but much shorter times) is for pushing.
I got great results from them, Microfine costs around $3.20 for 1litre (good for 8 rolls) and Super Prodol is $2.60 per 1litre (good for 10 rolls). For me they are cheapest developers I can get.

I bet you will be even more surprised when you find out they make BW paper, but again it's Japan only. Why? I have no idea.

Aha! Are they available as powder too? Mixing instructions?
Whats the BW paper called?

(there seems to be Japanese tradition to save the best for their local market in manufacturing. I find it interesting.)

Sent from Tap-a-talk

Nuff · Aug 15, 2014

analoguey said:
Aha! Are they available as powder too? Mixing instructions?
Whats the BW paper called?

(there seems to be Japanese tradition to save the best for their local market in manufacturing. I find it interesting.)

Sent from Tap-a-talk

I don't know much about the papers, but you can check here
And yes, the developers are in powders.
Fuji SPD
Fuji Microfine

They also come in bigger quantities at discount. for example, 20l is only 1830 yen. Then the developer would cost 9cents per roll.

StoneNYC · Aug 15, 2014

Oh if it's only powder I won't use it anyway... Liquids only for me..

Regular Rod · Aug 15, 2014

eddie said:
The first thing you should shoot is whatever film/developer combo you use in 35mm. It's really the only way to get a baseline comparison, so you can see what the format change does for you, without introducing other variables.

Plus one more...

Having done that it would not be a ruinous exercise to simply buy a roll of everything you can find that is current and not yet withdrawn from the market, use them, consider the results and then choose for yourself.

An often overlooked consideration is how the film is to work with. Some films make glorious negatives but are unbelievably awkward to get flat on the negative carrier, or a nightmare to coax into the developing tank spiral...

RR

miha · Aug 15, 2014

Fujihunt chemistry, like their Negastar Pro liquid film developer is available here in Europe.

analoguey · Aug 15, 2014

Nuff said:
I don't know much about the papers, but you can check here
And yes, the developers are in powders.
Fuji SPD
Fuji Microfine

They also come in bigger quantities at discount. for example, 20l is only 1830 yen. Then the developer would cost 9cents per roll.

Thats great!
Thanks.
Wonder if Yodobashi ships out? (will have to look up the translated details on the desktop)

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