Recommended 5x4 Film for trip to India

gbillett · Dec 6, 2014

Hello

After a gap of at least 6 years since using film I am planning to undertake a project using 5x4 film with the Ilford Titan pinhole camera. This will be on a trip to India, specifically Varanasi, using the work of Michael Ackerman as inspiration. I am out of the loop regarding available film, could anyone recommend a film with fairly wide latitude and least reciprocity failure as well as confidence in the quality control of the emulsion itself. Preferable 400 iso I guess to make the exposures reasonable. The obvious is HP5+ but do others use Adox/Efke/Fomapan/Rollei/Kodak/anything else?

The shooting conditions would range from good light to possible misty mornings, where the mist is burnt off by day.

The final neg would probably be scanned but I might wish to wet print the best negs.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Geoff

www.geoffreybillettphotography.co.uk

LJH · Dec 6, 2014

You'll need to weigh up reciprocity issues versus rated ISO. Is the end exposure faster with Acros 100 (with its much better reciprocity performance) than a 400 ISO film with poor reciprocity?

whlogan · Dec 6, 2014

TriX @ 800 and develop it in Diafine which is a compensating developer. Better results cannot be found anywhere else, my friend.... anywhere! Your highlights will be clamped a slight bit and your shadows will be opened up as you really wanted them to be. Whatever else could you ask for? Your gradation scale will be long and smooth as well.

Logan

gbillett · Dec 6, 2014

Acros Exposure at 16 ev

Thanks for your reply. So Acros, with a subject ev value of 16, would equate to approximately 1 sec exposure with no reciprocity at aperture of 206. Would this leave little room for error with exposure? Or is my maths wrong? :confused:

Geoff

Poisson Du Jour · Dec 6, 2014

Acros by a mile, it's ideal for pinhole photography and the only one I use in my Zero Image 6×9 multiformat. An exposure of 1 second is most unlikely to introduce reciprocity. My exposures are up to 40 minutes (not that I give two hoots about reciprocity give enough the experimental and unpredictable nature of pinhole imaging...) And you can push it two stops without any drama.

gbillett · Dec 6, 2014

Thanks for the reply. Whats the reciprocity characteristics of TriX? A quick search on google provided confusing answers. To keep it simple so I can quickly compare, what would the exposure time be at iso 800 for ev 16? This is the TXP 320 - doesn't look like the TriX 400 is available in 5x4. It also looks like Diafine is almost impossible to get in the UK. Only 1supplier stocks it and it looks to be currently unavailable. What else would work with TriX 320? I have used Pyrocat HD ( Prescysol ) and HC110 diluted semi stand. Are those replacements?

gbillett · Dec 6, 2014

Thanks Poisson, its not the reciprocity factor which concerns me with the timescale ( I read reciprocity only becomes an issue after 120 seconds ) but whether in bright light, common in India even in their winter, the exposure times might be too short to be accurate without a shutter. Or am i being too precious about the exactitude of the pin hole process. The more I read the more it seems to be very flexible rather than a science. What do you dev it in?

gbillett · Dec 6, 2014

Acros 100 looks not to be available in 5 x 4 :-(.

blue4130 · Dec 6, 2014

Since you have been out of the film game for so long, I'd go with Tri-x 320 or ilford HP5+. Both have been around for eons and have tons of reliable information on the web. For a trip like this, I myself would want to take out as many variables as possible so I'd go with Tri-x and d76 1:1 as that is what I am most comfortable with.

paul_c5x4 · Dec 7, 2014

gbillett said:
Acros 100 looks not to be available in 5 x 4 :-(.

Sure it is. It might not be available in all markets, and you may have to hunt around for the best price. Here are two links for you:

USA: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Sheet-Film/ci/7170/N/4232859723
UK: http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/products/6010/fujifilm-neopan-acros-100-4x5-in-20-sheets

analoguey · Dec 7, 2014

OP, unless you're visiting over the next month or so you might not find the misty mornings you're looking for. (@Vaaranasi/Kaashi)

gbillett · Dec 7, 2014

I'm flying early January to Kolkata, visiting Gangasagar Mela first to shoot with DSLR and planning to get to Varanasi in the last week of January where I will stay for a month. Misty morning will be nice but is not everything.

I ordered a Holga 120 WPC last night to give me more flexibility. Medium format will be a little easier to use but I will take both formats.

The official Fuji website http://www.fujifilm.eu/fileadmin/co...nishing_data_files/manuals/NeopanAcros100.pdf makes no mention of 5x4 film. I have used 5 x 4 quickloads in the past. Both Ag and Silverprint do not stock 5x4 Neopan Acros 100. I reasonably assumed it was not available. I live only 4 miles from Firstcall's offices - thank you for the information. But where does their film come from? I remember it used to be available in boxes from the Japanese markets; is it still the same?

A similar film to Acros would be Ilford Delta with similar reciprocity characteristics - does anyone use that?

To increase the exposure speed to slightly longer times on bright days ( 1 second at iso 100 ) I propose to use a red filter which will increase contrast and extend the exposure times to approximately 8 seconds - more reasonable to blur movement and provide a sense of 'mystery' to an ancient city etc.

The trade off using new technology films is that the grain will be much less; Michael Ackerman's images were very grainy so less grain will lessen any charges of plagiarism.

I have a month to sort this - does anyone have any more thoughts. Thanks for all the advice so far.

StoneNYC · Dec 7, 2014

I may have missed it but I didn't see anything that said that you would be completely opposed to a color film, have you considered color?

Provia100f has a 2 minute reciprocity failure rate, since you're going to India there will be lots of color in many of the textiles and buildings that you might see and it could be interesting to also get some color work done. Although personally I think transparencies are the way to go because of the color saturation and how beautiful they look on a late table, if you prefer to use color negative film for its more generous exposure latitude, you may want to consider Portra400 or Ektar100 as possibilities.

As for B&W, I think HP5+ is perfect for pinhole work, Acros100 also has a 2 minute reciprocity failure starting point, but because it's pinhole you may want more latitude which HP5+ may provide you.

gbillett · Dec 7, 2014

Colour? yes, I have looked at many webpages over the last 2 days and have enjoyed some of the colour I have seen. A lot of images seem unsaturated which would not do justice to the colours there, but Ektar seems more saturated from what I have seen. Velvia seems even more saturated but exposure would need to be more critical. I had thought to use my DSLR conventionally for colour using pinhole exclusively for monochrome, clearly defining the 2 mediums in this way. But i will think about it.

Pinhole is to introduce an 'other worldly' sense, these holy places in India are considered to be 'tirthas' or bridges between the spiritual and temporal worlds, where people of a Hindu faith actually symbolically meet and mix with their gods. Varanasi is perhaps the most spiritual city in India where this 'bridge' is at its most vibrant, especially on the ghats by the Ganges. Monochrome pin hole seemed a simple and flexible abstracted way to represent that - but colour would introduce an 'emotional' flavour. Another variation!!

Does analoguey have any views, being a resident of India??

paul_c5x4 · Dec 8, 2014

Don't get bogged down with equipment - You run the risk of being overloaded and missing shots after futzing around trying to decide which camera to use.

I used to carry a small P&S digital with me when shooting 5x4. When it ceased working due to damp, it just became dead weight in the bottom of my (already overweight) bag.

Recommended 5x4 Film for trip to India

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