Recommend me a 120 film

Ste_S · Dec 3, 2017

Hi folks.

I'm after a 120 film with high contrast and saturation. I don't mind (and in fact like) grain. Ideally I want to shoot at 400-800ISO. Suggestions ?

There's Cinestill but at £12 a roll in the UK, it's double the price of pretty much everything else. Portra 800 is also likewise expensive and has muted colours. Fuji 400H/Portra 400 are cheaper, but still have muted colours.
Ektar and Provia 100 give me the contrast and saturation I want, but at 100ISO they don't give me the speed I need for street shooting in the UK during winter.

Am i stuck with B&W where I have plenty of choice ? Ideally I want the colour version of Tri-X

Pioneer · Dec 3, 2017

Fuji Pro 400H?
Kodak Portra 400?
Kodak Ektar 100 (not so much grain but a beautifully saturated color negative film, maybe the best.)

I use all of these and enjoy them.

Bump Fuji Pro 400H to 3200 for street. Works very well and you will get a far more contrasty look.

BrianShaw · Dec 3, 2017

Ektar

macfred · Dec 3, 2017

Pioneer said:
Fuji Pro 400H?
Kodak Portra 400?
Kodak Ektar 100 (not so much grain but a beautifully saturated color negative film, maybe the best.) ...

What else ? +1 !

Sirius Glass · Dec 3, 2017

Kodak Ektar 100
Kodak Ultra Color 160 or 400 if you can find it.

Lachlan Young · Dec 3, 2017

Ste_S said:
Hi folks.

I'm after a 120 film with high contrast and saturation. I don't mind (and in fact like) grain. Ideally I want to shoot at 400-800ISO. Suggestions ?

There's Cinestill but at £12 a roll in the UK, it's double the price of pretty much everything else. Portra 800 is also likewise expensive and has muted colours. Fuji 400H/Portra 400 are cheaper, but still have muted colours.
Ektar and Provia 100 give me the contrast and saturation I want, but at 100ISO they don't give me the speed I need for street shooting in the UK during winter.

Am i stuck with B&W where I have plenty of choice ? Ideally I want the colour version of Tri-X

Are you optically printing or scanning? If the latter any colour neg can be contrast boosted quite easily. If the former, you'll need to learn register masking techniques, but it's still feasible. Can't say that Portra 800 has muted colour in my experience. It might have more to do with your exposure/processing/scanning/post-production than the film in and of itself.

halfaman · Dec 3, 2017

I have tried Portra 400 shot at 800 and pushed in the developing. Results are contrasty and saturated, very nice indeed. Porta 800 at 1600 and also pushed is very high contrast in daylight, I only did it once and find it a bit extreme.

I suppose you can get something similar with Portra 160 pushed the same way but never tried.

WilmarcoImaging · Dec 3, 2017

Ektar pushed 2 stops - not muted colors IMO
Portra 400 pushed 1 stop - not muted colors IMO. At the moment I'm postprocessing a roll of Portra 400 exposed at EI 800 with some of it exposed at night/street.

What is your intended viewing/display method? Online or hardcopy? If hardcopy, digital (inkjet) or silver based print?

More saturation/vividness and contrast are possible with your editing steps after film processing, if you are using digital output (online or inkjet).

The color version of Tri-X is Portra 400 IMO. Tri-X is as soft or contrasty as you choose to make it. Also true, to an extent, with Portra 400.

pentaxuser · Dec 3, 2017

Based on your own findings, stick to B&W

pentaxuser

MultiFormat Shooter · Dec 3, 2017

Ste_S said:
Provia 100 [gives] me the contrast and saturation I want, but at 100ISO....

Provia 100F pushes to EI400 well, giving you the color and contrast you like, with an additional two stops of exposure leeway. I would try a roll or two push to 400 and see how you like it.

Ste_S · Dec 4, 2017

Thanks for all the replies folks. I use a lab to develop and scan my films, and I mostly view them electronically with some prints.
The lab I use is reluctant to push C41 and with 35mm I tend towards more consumer film such as Fuji Superia 400 and Kodak Ultramax 400 shooting between 200-800ISO depending on conditions/results needed.

MultiFormat Shooter said:
Provia 100F pushes to EI400 well, giving you the color and contrast you like, with an additional two stops of exposure leeway. I would try a roll or two push to 400 and see how you like it.

This may be an answer. Would you not recommend pushing Velvia in the same way ?
I'm popping over the the lab I use tonight and I'll talk to them about E6 pushing - I guess the other alternative is under exposing Portra 400 to gain more contrast and a bit of gran.

WilmarcoImaging said:
More saturation/vividness and contrast are possible with your editing steps after film processing, if you are using digital output (online or inkjet).

While I do indeed post-process my scans, I'd like to try and get as close as possible to the results I want with the film rather than relying on post-processing to turn the film into something it isn't. If that makes sense ?

etn · Dec 4, 2017

If you want contrast and saturation, you might want to look into lower sensitivity slide films. Can you use a tripod for the shots you have in mind? if yes, go for Velvia 50.

Ste_S · Dec 4, 2017

etn said:
If you want contrast and saturation, you might want to look into lower sensitivity slide films. Can you use a tripod for the shots you have in mind? if yes, go for Velvia 50.

Sadly, no. It's for walkabout shots and candids where I'm going to be shooting at f8 or narrower and at 1/125+ mostly

MultiFormat Shooter · Dec 4, 2017

Ste_S said:
This may be an answer. Would you not recommend pushing Velvia in the same way?

Personally, I wouldn't recommend pushing Velvia that far. Fuji says you can push Velvia 100 to EI200. I pushed Velvia 100 to EI400, once (on accident, long story), and it becomes quite contrasty and loses detail.

On the other hand, I have pushed Provia 100F to EI400, and even in broad daylight, it works just fine.

Lachlan Young · Dec 4, 2017

Ste_S said:
Thanks for all the replies folks. I use a lab to develop and scan my films, and I mostly view them electronically with some prints.
The lab I use is reluctant to push C41 and with 35mm I tend towards more consumer film such as Fuji Superia 400 and Kodak Ultramax 400 shooting between 200-800ISO depending on conditions/results needed.

This may be an answer. Would you not recommend pushing Velvia in the same way ?
I'm popping over the the lab I use tonight and I'll talk to them about E6 pushing - I guess the other alternative is under exposing Portra 400 to gain more contrast and a bit of gran.

While I do indeed post-process my scans, I'd like to try and get as close as possible to the results I want with the film rather than relying on post-processing to turn the film into something it isn't. If that makes sense ?

Underexposure is not going to help with saturation on C41 films - though pushing will raise your contrast. Slight overexposure and a 1-stop push might be interesting.

Regarding 'post-processing', if you're not familiar with the extent to which the 'colour' of colour neg can be manipulated by analogue means at the printing stage - I'd suggest that you should look up what used to be done with dye transfer etc - and you can do similar things in Photoshop or similar. The world of colour neg printing does not begin & end at a 'straight' chromogenic print.

Finally, much of what you are describing in terms of colour & saturation may have more to do with the choices of the operator of the minilab Noritsu/ Frontier scanner than inherent properties of the film - and it may be possible to get to get the operator to adjust their approach for your films. The alternative would be to get scans made on a high-end CCD or drum scanner and see how they compare in terms of flexibility. Personally, I find a 16-bit TIFF file from a high end scanner a far better starting point than a JPEG from a minilab scanner, but it all comes down to what cost/time/quantity trade-offs you are willing to accept.

Recommend me a 120 film

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