Recommended film for MF people photography?

jp498

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I'd throw in the suggestion of TMY2 for B&W choice. In my TLRs, it is plenty detailed for 15x15" prints. There is no real need to use a slower film for more detail. It's presently quite affordable in propacks of 5rolls from B&H, freestype, adorama, etc... If you want slightly different results, develop it differently. Works nice with xtol, pyro developers, d76, tmax developers, and more.
 

michaelbsc

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Exactly what I'm doing with Plus-X in 120. I bought a few bricks for the freezer, and I'm going in to full fledged mode with FP4+. Better to shoot film from a healthy Ilford than to cry about Kodak. If by some miracle Kodak's film is spun off and Plus-X comes back, I'll evaluate it then.

Still looking for APX to hit the streets again.
 

craigclu

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I'd sure try HP5+ in PyroCat at some point... It gives beautiful skin tone separation that adds dimension very nicely. Eyelashes jump out sharply from edge effects but it's kind to skin lines at the same time. I've settled on the MC variant and rate at 200.
 

AlbertZeroK

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I buy from freestylephoto.biz, but get most of my film from adorama which tends to be just a big cheaper. In fact, i just picked up $250 in 120 film from Adorama to fill my fridge back up and get loaded up for the spring ssytem.
 

smiling gecko

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for color i have taken a liking to ektar 100 and for b&w i like the ilford/harmon fp4+ AND kodak 400cn.

in the past i shot lots and lots of ilford xp/xp2 for model portfolios and portrait settings for the incredible lack of grain and decent tonality...i think the newer iteration of the kodak 400cn gives even better skin tones and better tonality than the latest xp2...YMMV...(note to self: get off duff and but some 400cn to run through my p67 and new-to-me 105mm f2.4)

sg
 

TheFlyingCamera

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The Kodak NC color neg films (Portra 160/400) would be my absolute first choices. Then Ektar 100. The only reason to prefer the 160 NC over the Ektar is that the 160 NC has some slightly more subtle color, whereas the Ektar has been optimized for saturation. It's still fairly neutral, stronger in blues and reds. The Fuji stuff, while excellent, is really strong in the greens/yellows, which can lend an unnatural tint to a bridal party and give you fits trying to color balance a truly white dress against flesh tones.
 

benjiboy

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I agree with Scott, Kodak Portra is made for people photography it produces natural skin tones, subtle colours, and soft contrast.
 

Friar Tuck

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Hello All, I've only joined this forum today and this is my first post. Can I add a slightly different angle to the discussion, do you all home process your roll film or take to a lab? I have, in the past, process B&W film at home and different developers produce differing results depending on the film stock. What film/developer combo is used? I am planning to shoot 120 roll film and scan the negs (B&W). Any colour shots will be lab processed. Your comments and views would be appreciated

Andy
 
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haring

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WOW! I will get a roll of the Ektar 100 for sure!
 
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haring

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Yeah! When does it make sense to process your photos at home? How much it would cost to set up a home made dark room?
 

hpulley

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haring said:
Yeah! When does it make sense to process your photos at home? How much it would cost to set up a home made dark room?
Click to expand...

You don't need a darkroom to process film, just a changing bag, developing tank, some beakers or measuring cups, a thermometer and a timer or watch. You changing bag keeps the film dark until it is in the developing tank which keeps it dark while it is developed.

You only need a darkroom to make prints. I recommend making your own prints too but you can start by doing your own developing.

It costs under $1/roll to develop B&W film yourself. Color can be a little more depending on the quantity of chemicals you can buy but still under $2/roll.
 

TareqPhoto

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Hey Andy,

I process all my 120 B&W films at home, i send 2 i think to the lab to see the difference, too bad that only one came fine as the other was failed roll because i didn't exposed it at all [i think due to my Mamiya 7II not working], but all my color films go to the lab and they do a great job in that.

I hope i can start to shoot Large Format sheets but i don't know how to develop that at home, i will ask about the tools i need then will give it a try, and i scan all my films B&W and color, but here in this site they want wet prints over digital ways, i may start to print next year, i was planning i will start print this year but i changed my plan, this year is a year of "Large Format", so i hope next year is the "Print".

Good luck!


Tareq
 

xenophon

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Regarding film choice, I guess one should not forget to take into account the role of scanning (for those with "hybrid" darkrooms). In that context, traditional silver-based BW films have one major shortcoming: dust-removal by infrared-capable scanners cannot be applied.

This is a major problem for me, as my TMX and FP4 6x7 negs sometimes come back from tha lab sprinkled with lots of dust, which require manual retouching. I guess that chromogenic BW films (i.e. Ilford XP4) are better in this regard.
 

jp498

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I don't have much dust on my film. I keep my darkroom fairly dust free. Negatives stay clean in there when drying, sleeving, printing. Nice dust free prints. My only source of dust is the scanner. I could move that to the darkroom, but there is no room.
 

xenophon

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hpulley said:
Develop and print/scan it yourself and the dust problem is solved...
Click to expand...

Easier said than done, but I guess it's solid advice!

Who knows, maybe it's just that with the global recession in general and the film-development recession in particular, most labs in my part of the world are cutting corners and quality suffers. Pity.

With greetings from Athens,

Xen
 

benjiboy

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hpulley said:
Portra 400NC/VC are gone of course, just 400 now but haven't tried it yet.
Click to expand...
It hasn't "gone" yet Harry most retailers are still selling N and C and don't yet have any of the new stuff, or if they have want to sell the older film first.
 

hpulley

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benjiboy said:
It hasn't "gone" yet Harry most retailers are still selling N and C and don't yet have any of the new stuff, or if they have want to sell the older film first.
Click to expand...

True, they are still on shelves and will likely be there for some time. And on eBay for many years to come I'm sure in the expired market. I should buy some VC and Ektar to shoot side by side and see how they compare since it seems Ektar is now the only choice for high saturation and vivid colors. That said I normally prefer the normal colors anyways so if they'd just cut the VC out and given us NC I wouldn't have been that upset.

Strangely I haven't had a hankering to shoot much color MF lately, just B&W. Only color film I have at the moment is 100' of unperforated 35mm Kodak Gen 2 (Portra 160NC) I'm slowing working my way through. And some Fuji FP-100C instant.
 
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