+1
More than cost savings, the thing I love about bulk rolls is short rolls. At the moment I have three bulk loader filled—Pan-F 50, Fomapan 100, and TriX.
I roll short rolls, as few as 8 or 12 when I'm shooting zone or know that I will not shoot 24 or 36 on a given day.
rodinal will not help you with fine grain. you can mix from scratch many finer grain developers that will be cheaper and you mix up the amount you need so no worries about it going bad. I mix up pyro-M. its cheap. lasts long and gives finer grain that is just as sharp to my eyes as rodinal.
I prefer the kentmere/ultrafine 400 over foma 400. smaller grain and a true 400 speed for me. I prefer foma 200 but its for me its really a 100 speed film. while its a lot more, tmax 400 is the top of the bunch in my mind for 400 speed films with delta 400 and tri-x right behind then Hp5, which I shoot in 4x5. all are true 400 speed films as well. I just never got along with foma 400 but its me as others like it.
i have some ultrafine 400 I dont shoot so if you want a roll or 2 to try let me know
john
Now I've seen some posts in this thread about the proper developer getting fine (enough) grain from Foma but the fact that they seem to shoot better a stop lower makes me want to go for kentmere or ultrafine instead. I would love to try a couple rolls of that, but do you think it's worth trying considering that at the moment I'd still be using Rodinal? My worry is that my choice of developer might not show me what the film can really do.
It's easy to overestimate the cost advantages of bulk roll film. Savings are modest, at best. One faulty cassette (the end cap pops off, for example) and there go the savings on that bulk roll. I roll my own HP5 and FP4 with good results in D76. I generally aim for 30 frames per cassette, which is the main reason for me to continue bulk rolling.
lets look at say HP5+One ruined roll and you lose the savings for the entire 100 foot bulk roll? Methinks you're either paying too much for your bulk film, or you've found an amazing deal on the regular 135 cassettes.
I reckon I'd have to ruin 6 or 7 to negate my savings.
It's easy to overestimate the cost advantages of bulk roll film. Savings are modest, at best. One faulty cassette (the end cap pops off, for example) and there go the savings on that bulk roll. I roll my own HP5 and FP4 with good results in D76. I generally aim for 30 frames per cassette, which is the main reason for me to continue bulk rolling.
Ultrafine Extreme 400 was a pretty good option, especially considering its price. Unfortunately, it has not been available in a very long time.Is the Ultrafine Extreme 400 film any good? It's cheap and if I can push it to maybe 1600 with OK results that would be great. I mainly want something less grainy than Foma with a bit better speed, something that I can push if needed and generally be a versatile film for me as it would be my first foray into bulk loading. Any advice will be appreciated.
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