New to film photography, I need help in choosing the right film for my needs.

alabdali · May 20, 2014

Hello everyone,

I'm a new member and this is my first post.
I'd like to say thank you to the people behind this forum and also to the contributing members who keep it alive as a great resource for film photography.

Quick background, I have used a film camera for years as a teenager who didn't know anything about photography except for advancing the film and releasing the shutter (produced beautiful exposures though ), I then purchased a digital camera in 2006 and continued learning new things about photography.
In 2010, I started taking photography more seriously and while my skills, knowledge and outcomes have improved since then, the feeling that digital imaging was not for me grew stronger.
After a lot of research and self search I decided to revert to film photography. I sold my full frame digital SLR and purchased 2 Nikon manual focus, semi-mechanical bodies, 2 lenses (a 50 and a 35) and approximately 15 rolls of different types, speeds and brands of film.

My photography habits are as follows:
1. 50% daily life (including a lot of portraiture) , family and friends especially children and events ( birthdays, graduations etc. ), indoors and outside.
2. 25% landscape.
3. 25% Miscellaneous: Macro, Street, Night.

I have the following approach in mind; to buy and try every 35mm film out there (partially because of an inner fear that some of them will be discontinued someday and I'll never know how it was like to shoot with that film, like Ektachrome for example) , develop it (not personally due to current time restraints), get it scanned (using a an online service like thedarkroom.com), get 4x6 prints and compare the results. Then, choose some favorites and stick with them.
While I understand that it's gonna cost a small fortune, I'd like to know what do you think of this idea.

My heart is split between color and b&w as I like them both, I understand that this wouldn't help answering my question.
Also, if printing my work is my desired outcome, is shooting Slides still make sense?

I appreciate your thoughts and input in advance.

Thanks,
Saif.

omaha · May 20, 2014

Honestly, I don't think you could have framed that question any more broadly than you did: Color or B&W. Indoor or outdoor. Portrait or landscape or street or events. Etc, etc, etc.

You say you bought 15 assorted rolls of film. Seems like you already have your starting point.

jonasfj · May 20, 2014

I always say Tri-X (can easily be pushed to 1800 with reasonable grain), FP4+ in Xtol and for colour Portra 160/400/800 for portraiture or when you need the speed and Ektar for saturated colour (landscape, cityscape etc). Pro 400H is a little bit more saturated than Portra.

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Jeff Kubach · May 20, 2014

Welcome to APUG! Try Tri-X or HP5.

Jeff

TheFlyingCamera · May 20, 2014

If you want to play around and try different kinds of films, I'd create some projects for yourself that give you a reason to explore a particular film in depth, so you get to know it well enough that you can judge its success for you. Just shooting a roll here and a roll there back and forth between color neg, black and white, color slide, and so on is going to be an exercise in frustration and a waste of your money because there won't be enough consistency in the results you produce to be able to tell much of anything about what you're doing and does it fit your need. There are plenty of films out there that are very well suited to a specific task, and absolutely wrong for something else. I wouldn't use Pan-F for shooting sports action, and I wouldn't use Tmax 3200 for most studio portraits (although I have used it in the studio before for a nude series that worked extremely well).

I'm not saying don't experiment, and don't break rules (see my previous comment about Tmax 3200 and studio nudes). But give yourself a foundation from which to deviate so your experiments mean something. Film can be refrigerated and/or frozen, so you can always keep it around for a rainy day in the future while you're getting familiar with a baseline film.

snapguy · May 20, 2014

an opine

If you want my opinion, this is not photography. This is some sort of neurotic, knee-jerk testing that will lead to meaningless results. You need to test a few types of film and then engage your brain. You would be surprised how well that can work.

bernard_L · May 20, 2014

Don't waste your time testing a zillion films times a billion developers. Get to know 1 or 2. What they can do. How to deal with high dynamir range subjects (sunny) or low dynamic range. Produce images.

alabdali · May 20, 2014

omaha said:
Honestly, I don't think you could have framed that question any more broadly than you did: Color or B&W. Indoor or outdoor. Portrait or landscape or street or events. Etc, etc, etc.

You say you bought 15 assorted rolls of film. Seems like you already have your starting point.

Omaha, I agree with you. I admit that I'm confused because I'm coming from a digital camera mentality, where the sensor can play the role of so many different emulsions in different light situations for different photography genres - to much options, less photography, IMO.

Obviously, I'm seeking the help of more experienced people to get things straight and have a better "starting point" because my approach seems all over the place

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alabdali · May 20, 2014

jonasfj said:
I always say Tri-X (can easily be pushed to 1800 with reasonable grain), FP4+ in Xtol and for colour Portra 160/400/800 for portraiture or when you need the speed and Ektar for saturated colour (landscape, cityscape etc). Pro 400H is a little bit more saturated than Portra.

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Thanks, I have the TriX, I'm gonna try it next after I finish the roll of Hp5+ I'm currently shooting.

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alabdali · May 20, 2014

TheFlyingCamera said:
If you want to play around and try different kinds of films, I'd create some projects for yourself that give you a reason to explore a particular film in depth, so you get to know it well enough that you can judge its success for you. Just shooting a roll here and a roll there back and forth between color neg, black and white, color slide, and so on is going to be an exercise in frustration and a waste of your money because there won't be enough consistency in the results you produce to be able to tell much of anything about what you're doing and does it fit your need. There are plenty of films out there that are very well suited to a specific task, and absolutely wrong for something else. I wouldn't use Pan-F for shooting sports action, and I wouldn't use Tmax 3200 for most studio portraits (although I have used it in the studio before for a nude series that worked extremely well).

I'm not saying don't experiment, and don't break rules (see my previous comment about Tmax 3200 and studio nudes). But give yourself a foundation from which to deviate so your experiments mean something. Film can be refrigerated and/or frozen, so you can always keep it around for a rainy day in the future while you're getting familiar with a baseline film.

Thanks, I hear you saying that it's going to be a costly experiment that's not well controlled in the first place to produce accurate results, which makes a lot of sense.

From what I've read so far in comments and messages, it seems to me that I'm better off with sticking with no more than 6 types of film, color and b&w combined, develop my own b&w and go from there.

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alabdali · May 20, 2014

Jeff Kubach said:
Welcome to APUG! Try Tri-X or HP5.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff! Seems like an exciting place already!

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alabdali · May 20, 2014

Snapguy and Bernard_L, thanks for your input guys.

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cliveh · May 20, 2014

Black & white, street photography, FP4, D76, Multigrade developer, Indicator stop bath, Amfix, RC gloss.

TheFlyingCamera · May 20, 2014

alabdali said:
Thanks, I hear you saying that it's going to be a costly experiment that's not well controlled in the first place to produce accurate results, which makes a lot of sense.

From what I've read so far in comments and messages, it seems to me that I'm better off with sticking with no more than 6 types of film, color and b&w combined, develop my own b&w and go from there.

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I'd keep it even simpler than that - build a foundation on a single film and a single developer for black-and-white. After you've used one film with one developer for a while, and you understand what that does, For color, you can be a little looser (but not much) in that you don't have to worry about the effect of developer on your film, because all color negative films use the same developing chemistry for the same time and temperature, regardless of film speed or brand. Ditto with transparencies (slides).

markbarendt · May 20, 2014

Photography isn't about finding "the right film" or "the best film"; in fact it would be incredibly tough to find a bad film made by Ilford, Kodak, or Fujifilm.

You do need to understand though that like your old DSLR's ability to mimic a zillion styles, that digital post process allows the same flexibility and that can easily hide the differences between films. I use a pro lab for paid gigs, they don't care what film I shoot Superia or Gold or Portra or FujiPro; as long as I expose well they can make them all match my standing target preferences/style. One would be very hard pressed to tell the difference between a print from any of those films after the lab is done. Same is true for B&W prints.

wblynch · May 20, 2014

Well put Mark.

I have found that the differences between flms are so slight there is no practical difference at all.

My $.02

removed account4 · May 20, 2014

i think it might be a fun thing to try every film and every developer that exists, and paper too
but at the end of it all you might realize that if more time was spent using maybe one developer and maybe one film
and maybe 1 paper ( if you print yourself ) or building a relationship with a lab ... you could learn ...
and have a better understanding of it all ...

printing slides ? electronically ( scan + print ) or chemically ?
not many places are able to print slides chemically ...
you might just stick to color negative and it is more forgiving than slides too ..

Mainecoonmaniac · May 20, 2014

Just go to Flickr and search for some films that folks shoot with. You'll probably find a film and developer combination that you'll like also. The information is already out there, just take advantage of it. You can also contact the members on more info about the film.

thegman · May 20, 2014

Hi Saif,
I agree with the advice to focus (no pun intended) on making images, rather than testing films. But a few thoughts anyway...

I think, despite what you'll read, many films are not discernibly different. And once you get into scanning, printing, different developers, the small differences there are can be overwhelmed by other factors.

I've used lots of different films, and with Ilford/Kodak's 400 speed films, I can't tell the difference. Some I can, like Fujifilm's Pro 400H vs. Portra 400, generally the difference can be quite noticeable.

What I'm saying is that a lot of films are basically the same, however it's still fun to try lots out. You've got them, you may as well use them.

But just try to picture what you want to achieve.

Although I shoot more colour than black and white, some scenes are going to look better in b&w, i.e. if the colours are flat, but the light is still interesting.

Imagine what you want your photos to look like, and pick film accordingly. But really, I think the differences in many films can be overstated.

StoneNYC · May 20, 2014

You'll have LOTS of opinions, took me 3 years to weed through the muck... This was my final choice... Forget kodak

Ilford Delta100 in Rodinal developer - day exterior
Ilford HP5+ (400) in Ilfotec DD-X developer - low light/interior, pushes well to 800 and 1600
Fuji Velvia100 - landscapes
Fuji Provia100f - people

Done... Don't mention scanning here but that's probably what you will do after developing them.

Do the B&W yourself, send out the color to Praus in upstate NY or Dwayne's Photo in Kansas.

Buy all chemicals from B&H except Rodinal, buy that from Freestyle photo.

There is your formula...

Google what you don't know

And here is your list to get you started developing at home.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/wl/771A833B26

tkamiya · May 20, 2014

I would do something like this....

Pick a manufacturer, Kodak or Ilford. Try one that is traditional grain and another that is tabular grain.
In Kodak's lineup, that would be Tmax400 and TriX.
In Ilford's lineup, that would be Delta400 and HP5Plus.

Process it in whatever developer you pick. See which one you like better. There are very obvious differences in traditional grain film and tabular grain film. This is not which one is better proposition. This is entirely YOUR preference. Between manufacturers, there aren't that much difference, especially if you are just starting out.

Color, I have no idea.....

Rolfe Tessem · May 20, 2014

For B&W, Tri-X or HP5+, which ever is cheaper at the moment -- they are essentially equivalent. HC-110 self developed is the easiest no-brainer solution. For C-41, I used to be a film snob, but I've discovered that the cheap stuff sold at Wal-Mart -- usually Fuji 200 -- is just as good. It has a little more contrast than the Kodak Portra or Fuji 400H, but is very good. If scanning, this can be well controlled.

yulia_s_rey · May 20, 2014

TheFlyingCamera said:
I'm not saying don't experiment, and don't break rules (see my previous comment about Tmax 3200 and studio nudes). But give yourself a foundation from which to deviate so your experiments mean something

+1.

Choose one film, any film, and write down notes every time you press the release or are processing a roll. It's [photography] is just like music. Here in New York City some of the best drummers play on 5 gallon paint drums.

fotch · May 21, 2014

Hi Saif and welcome to APUG.

pdjr1991 · May 21, 2014

yurisrey said:
+1.

Choose one film, any film, and write down notes every time you press the release or are processing a roll. It's [photography] is just like music. Here in New York City some of the best drummers play on 5 gallon paint drums.

+1. i keep a black book with my negative binder and write notes every time i develop and print. For color film i highly recommend Kodak's Ektar. it is a relatively new film (reformulated professional film using an old amateur films name) and will be here for decades. its saturated much like how slide film used to be. Skin tones won't be too accurate. If your going for that use Kodak's Portra. For black and white i highly recommend Fujifilm's Acros 100. Fujifilm has discontinued some film recently so that may be a concern. Tmax seems to be a favorite but i hate it.

New to film photography, I need help in choosing the right film for my needs.

alabdali

omaha

jonasfj

Jeff Kubach

TheFlyingCamera

Membership Council

snapguy

bernard_L

alabdali

alabdali

alabdali

alabdali

alabdali

cliveh

TheFlyingCamera

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markbarendt

wblynch

removed account4

Mainecoonmaniac

thegman

StoneNYC

tkamiya

Rolfe Tessem

yulia_s_rey

fotch

pdjr1991

New to film photography, I need help in choosing the right film for my needs.

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