Your favorite (available) film, and why...

Horatio · Apr 11, 2020

I’m getting back into film photography after 20-something years. None of the B&W films I once liked are available, and it seems a lot are dying off (Fuji, Agfa). At the moment I’m playing around with Ultrafine Xtreme, and it seems promising, at least for 120 format. So, what’s your favorite?

Peltigera · Apr 11, 2020

The film I like the most is Ilford FP4+ but the film I use the most is Fomapan 200. The reason I do not use my favourite most of the time is price - I am on a pension an need to consider price.

Black Dog · Apr 11, 2020

I love Fomapan too-it's like an Aldi Agfapan. Incidentally, Agfapan has reurned as Rollei RPX. Also if you use 35mm, then buying a bulk roll and rolling your own will save you a lot of money. Plus you can load whatever length you want.

Väinö Louekari · Apr 11, 2020

My favourite is Ilford Fp4+. It is a robust film with fine greyscale and in my experience works fine with any developer. And I am accustomed to it.

NortheastPhotographic · Apr 11, 2020

You really can't go wrong with FP4+ in any format. It's beautiful, consistent, and flexible. In color, the new E100 from Kodak is a stunning redesign of an old standard. I develop Provia and Ektachrome weekly and the difference in the base is pretty stark. E100 is flat flat flat where as Provia curls like crazy. They both produce beautiful results but I find E100 easier to scan for that reason, and I prefer the color pallete in many cases.

I've decided to cheat on FP4+ a bit though as I ordered 10 rolls of Berger Pancro 400 in 120 from Catlabs. Gonna run it in 510-Pyro.

BradS · Apr 11, 2020

My favorite is Tri-X....or TMY, no wait, FP4+ or HP5+....or Delta 100....or Fomapan 100.

Well, any of those is fine by me. All of them are excellent!

Ariston · Apr 11, 2020

Honestly, I would not be able to tell the difference between most B&W films (in a hybrid process). I may be the only one willing to admit it... or maybe I'm the only one whose eyes don't work well enough to see the difference! I use UFX 400 because it is cheap in bulk, and I like being able to load short rolls (36 frames are too many!)

Color is a different story. I use different stocks depending on what I'm shooting. I wish I could get it in bulk.

Kodachromeguy · Apr 11, 2020

How about Tri-X 400? It changed a bit when Kodak developed a new coating machine (line?), but otherwise is still the good old Tri-X that we used for decades. This is a Nash Metropolitan at a garage near Childress, Texas. Hasselblad 501CM, Tri-X at EI=250. Note the kitties in the shadow at the left.

Kodachromeguy · Apr 11, 2020

Here is alternative for an old fashioned-looking emulsion: Fomapan 100 Classic. Nice stuff, a bit grainy, but with medium format, it makes no difference. These are steps to the abandoned Mercy Hospital in Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA. Fomapan 100, Fuji GW690II camera, tripod-mounted.

John Bragg · Apr 11, 2020

Ilford HP5+ has it all for me. Great shadows, highlights well controlled and fantastic microcontrast in the midtones. I prefer it @ ei200. This example developed in Ilfosol 3. Also Ilford are a terrific firm and very supportive of their customers. I can order direct and sometimes do. (Kodak take note!)

Milestone by E.J. Bragg, on Flickr

Derelict car by E.J. Bragg, on Flickr

MattKing · Apr 11, 2020

T-Max 400 (TMY-2) is a wonderful film - best I have ever encountered - as is T-Max 100 for those times when slower is better.
That being said, anything from Kodak or Ilford is excellent.
The other options are liked by many.
My only concern with any of the store brands like Ultrafine or Arista is the increased potential of the stores changing their supplier or the manufacturers changing their product.

Alan9940 · Apr 11, 2020

For me, it depends on format...

For 35mm, I like a few different stocks: EFKE 25, Adox Silvermax, and Ilford Delta 100. For MF, I generally use either FP-4+, HP-5+, or Tri-X, depending on my needs. For LF, it's FP-4+ or Fomapan 100. I use more Foma 100 than anything else for 8x10 because it's fairly inexpensive. I use all these stocks because they produce the tonality I like to see in my prints. I do consider grain level, but that's not a critical factor for me.

Donald Qualls · Apr 11, 2020

For some time, I've been using Arista .EDU Ultra 100 and 400 for almost everything. It's been confirmed to be Fomapan (bright blue in the developer or prewash, a little less blue through the rest of the process to the end of wash), but it's sold below Fomapan pricing, at least in the USA. Both films push well up to two stops, if needed. They also work well in multiple developers -- I used Parodinal a lot before my shutdown, occasionally Caffenol C, currently have Cinestill Df96 monobath, and in the past I've used home mixed D-23, Dektol 1+ 9, and HC-110 (Dilutions G and H, mostly).

Just about the only B&W films I'd buy now, other than these two rebranded Foma stocks, are microfilm-derived ultra fine grain types, like Adox CMS-20, and Tri-X for when I need to really push for some reason (I get EI 5000 with Tri-X in Super Soup). Nothing against Ilford, the couple times I've used their stuff I've liked it -- but budget matters and I don't see enough difference to make it worth the price to me.

radiant · Apr 11, 2020

My favorite: any developed film with good frames in it.

DWThomas · Apr 11, 2020

In medium format I shoot mostly 400TX, HP5+, and FP-4. I had shot a lot of Acros and PlusX years back, loss of PlusX pointed me to FP-4. Since Acros has apparently been resurrected, I may include some of that in the future.

R.Gould · Apr 11, 2020

pretty much tha only film's I use are Fomapan 400/200 in both 120 and 35mm, and developed in either id11 or Rodinal

mohmad khatab · Apr 11, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
For some time, I've been using Arista .EDU Ultra 100 and 400 for almost everything. It's been confirmed to be Fomapan (bright blue in the developer or prewash, a little less blue through the rest of the process to the end of wash), but it's sold below Fomapan pricing, at least in the USA. Both films push well up to two stops, if needed. They also work well in multiple developers -- I used Parodinal a lot before my shutdown, occasionally Caffenol C, currently have Cinestill Df96 monobath, and in the past I've used home mixed D-23, Dektol 1+ 9, and HC-110 (Dilutions G and H, mostly).

Just about the only B&W films I'd buy now, other than these two rebranded Foma stocks, are microfilm-derived ultra fine grain types, like Adox CMS-20, and Tri-X for when I need to really push for some reason (I get EI 5000 with Tri-X in Super Soup). Nothing against Ilford, the couple times I've used their stuff I've liked it -- but budget matters and I don't see enough difference to make it worth the price to me.

+1

Dali · Apr 11, 2020

Arista.EDU 100 (aka Fomapan 100) & Kodak Tri-x in 35mm film format, Arista.EDU 100 & Ilford HP5+ in120 film format. I finally got the right development times to get the right contrast in Microphen and I doubt I could find better elsewhere.

NB23 · Apr 11, 2020

There is no bad film.
Love foma 100 for its true film look: grain, contrast and tonal reproduction.
TMX3200 is among my all time favorites.
I’m also on my last rolls of tmax100, of which I had about 500 rolls. Amazing film.

grainyvision · Apr 11, 2020

The two films I use the most of are FP4+ and HP5+. FP4+ is just absolutely perfect. Good amount of attractive grain, excellent tonality with slightly raised contrast, and always gives exactly the kind of midtone response I like... as in, it doesn't get "stuck" in the midtones like I've seen with films like Delta films. HP5+ gives similar tonality to FP4+ when you push it a stop or two, though of course a lot more grain. FP4+ also pushes well to 200 and even 400, but it loses shadow detail a lot quicker than when pushing HP5+.

Although it's extremely finicky to work with though, one of my "weird" favorite films is the surprisingly dirt cheap Arista Ortho Litho. It's an absolute bear to work with. Easy to scratch, only available in sheet film unless you enjoy pain like me and cut it to 120 format yourself, and really works best with some custom mixed developers/"pre-bath" to bump up the speed and decrease the contrast. Regardless of the pain, I've never seen a film take pictures in quite the same way. The contrast curve just doesn't exist elsewhere. High contrast highlights and low contrast shadows if you process it right and shoot it at ISO 12, or capable of higher contrast results with microscopic grain at ISO 6. Example picture attached (in 6x4.5 format)

Sirius Glass · Apr 11, 2020

Kodak Tri-X, Kodak Porta, Ilford HP5+, Ilford FP4+, Rollei IR 400

mooseontheloose · Apr 12, 2020

For years I mostly relied on Fuji Acros for slow speeds (50-100), and HP5+ (from 200-1600). Then I added Delta 400 (it has a natural speed boost to 640 in Finol). However, when Fuji discontinued Acros, I started shooting other 100 speed films and discovered that I really like FP4+ - I don't know why I waited so long to shoot it! Unfortunately I bought a lot of Acros when it was discontinued (little did I know that Fuji would bring it back as Acros II), so I really need to shoot through all that before buying any more film. I also like shooting infrared on occasion, and I like the Rollei films for that (Retro 80s, Retro 400s, Superpan) as they can all be shot as regular black and white, or infrared, just with a change of filter. Of course you can buy the Rollei Infrared film as well, but it's pricier than the others.

Autonerd · Apr 12, 2020

Ilford FP4+ and HP5+. Flexible and forgiving and cheap in 100-foot rolls. Great stuff.

The only drawback is... two different developers. I switched from D76 to HC110 because HC110 is easier to deal with, but with HP5 the Dilution B development times were too short and I didn't love the results in Dilution H. So I bought more D76 for my HP5, and use HC110 for FP4+. No matter, D76 is handy stuff to have around...

Agulliver · Apr 12, 2020

My favourite is Ilford HP5+ and if price were no issue I'd use it across 135 and 120 almost exclusively. It can be shot at any speed from 200 to 6400 (processed accordingly) with great success. It is the most versatile film I've ever had the pleasure of using - even more so than Tri-X which itself is bloody good. But the cost of Fomapan 100 and 200 is so much lower that I use them in spring and summer in both 120 and 35mm.

I buy my 35mm B&W film in 100 foot rolls, and often buy 120 in bricks of 5 or 10 to save money here and there.

Adrian Bacon · Apr 12, 2020

Horatio said:
I’m getting back into film photography after 20-something years. None of the B&W films I once liked are available, and it seems a lot are dying off (Fuji, Agfa). At the moment I’m playing around with Ultrafine Xtreme, and it seems promising, at least for 120 format. So, what’s your favorite?

my all time favorite is fomapan 200 followed very closely by hp5+, then fomapan 400, then delta 3200 and panf+ 50 for black and white. Fomapan just has that look that I like.

for color slide, the new ektachrome all the way. It dries flat, Fuji does not. Color-wise, it’s incredible.

for color negative, Kodak gold 200, then Portra 400, then Portra 800. Gold 200 is what most of my childhood was shot with, so for me, it’s nice.

Your favorite (available) film, and why...

Horatio

Peltigera

Black Dog

Väinö Louekari

NortheastPhotographic

BradS

Ariston

Kodachromeguy

Kodachromeguy

John Bragg

MattKing

Moderator

Alan9940

Donald Qualls

radiant

DWThomas

R.Gould

mohmad khatab

Dali

NB23

grainyvision

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Sirius Glass

mooseontheloose

Autonerd

Agulliver

Adrian Bacon

Your favorite (available) film, and why...

Moderator

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