Help Identifying 120 Film

mwgllnt · Jul 17, 2017

I just bought a Bronica that came with five rolls of an unidentified 120 film. I'm guessing it is B&W. I've unspooled it to the other end, no identifying marks anywhere. I'm including some pics here of a roll that I (accidentally) sacrificed to try to figure it out. Sorry for the crappy quality. The back of the film is blue, if you can't tell. The backing paper is black. The packaging is silver. Any thoughts?

Pics: http://imgur.com/a/ZgtV7

pdeeh · Jul 17, 2017

Is the backing paper quite coarse?
This looks rather like shanghai gp3 to me.

mwgllnt · Jul 17, 2017

It is rather coarse now that I compare it to a roll of ilford. I just looked up some images of Shanghai, and it looks rather similar, especially with the masking tape that kept it closed. Good eye!

Chris Livsey · Jul 17, 2017

Shanghai GP3 definitely. I have a matching roll in front of me as I type.
You will note everything is rather rough and unfinished, the paper the print even the spool is not "refined" and the tape is almost a crude afterthought, good film though.

GP3 on GP3 Hasselblad 80mm f2.8 HC Pyrocat HD 15mins reduced agitation

EDIT

Forgot to add: if you shoot it beware the edge markings they intrude into the frame rather, not many on the roll but always on the best shot (not in this case obviously !!)

mwgllnt · Jul 17, 2017

Chris Livsey said:
Shanghai GP3 definitely. I have a matching roll in front of me as I type.
You will note everything is rather rough and unfinished, the paper the print even the spool is not "refined" and the tape is almost a crude afterthought, good film though.

GP3 on GP3 Hasselblad 80mm f2.8 HC Pyrocat HD 15mins reduced agitation

Perfect! That was easy. Yeah, I kept thinking how "generic" it looked. ha. I'll shoot a roll and see how it goes.

Thanks, guys!

Chris Livsey · Jul 17, 2017

mwgllnt said:
Perfect! That was easy. Yeah, I kept thinking how "generic" it looked. ha. I'll shoot a roll and see how it goes.

Thanks, guys!

No problem, make it harder next time.
Note my edit above on edge markings when you do !!

mwgllnt · Jul 17, 2017

Chris Livsey said:
No problem, make it harder next time.
Note my edit above on edge markings when you do !!

Haha. Will do. Thanks, again!

pdeeh · Jul 17, 2017

Shame it's gone.
The curl was so annoying but so incredibly cheap (i used to pay about £1.70 a roll in 10s) for such a good quality film that I could forgive the occasional edge-marking disaster.
Or the occasional roll which had been spooled with the film on the inside ...

MattKing · Jul 17, 2017

Could also be J & C (which might have been Shanghai).

Kevin Harding · Oct 28, 2017

pdeeh said:
Shame it's gone.
The curl was so annoying but so incredibly cheap (i used to pay about £1.70 a roll in 10s) for such a good quality film that I could forgive the occasional edge-marking disaster.
Or the occasional roll which had been spooled with the film on the inside ...

Shanghai GP3 is back now, though it's in high demand and a little pricier. I just received two packs of 30 rolls from a fellow in Suzhou, just outside of Shanghai. His name is Pierre and he's on the Large Format Photography Forum.

Help Identifying 120 Film

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