Which film?

KevMP

KevMP

Messages
129
Name
Kev
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,

I'm currently in the process of selling up my DSLR gear in the aim to make me a little more concious of what I'm photographing and how I'm going about doing it. To do so, film photography seems like a sensible option as I will have a limited number of frames to get the shot that I want.

Anyway, I digress, I am looking at a minty mint Leica M6 with a Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f1.4. What I am after is a really nice film to be using in it. For B&W, something with high contrast, yet, not too much grain. As for colour, something that has a warm feel about it?

I have shot bits of 35mm in the past but you guys have much much more experience in the field so I'm hoping for a bit of advice. So, throw suggestions this way please!! :help:

Cheers,

Kev
 
Portra 400 for the colour film.. just look through some of the more recent posts in the Show us your film shots thread to see why.. ;)
 
For colour film, Portra 400. B&W... a lot of it depends on the developer and time to develop, but I find T-Max 400 to have very little grain. Most t-grain film like T-Max tend to have very controlled grain.
 
Ilford Pan F (50 ISO) is a lovely, very fine grain black & white film with a good amount of contrast, although this can vary according to development. If you are printing yourself, you can also alter the contrast using Ilford's multigrade filters.

I haven't shot in colour for many years, so can't really make any suggestions.
 
Last edited:
I know everyone is raving about Portra 400 (i've yet to try it to be honest but i will soon) but I still love Kodak Ektar 100, beautiful warm, vibrant colours.
I have the Voigtlander 40mm but use it with a Voigtlander R3a, produces some stunning images.

Andy
 
I've been doing a bit of research on the Portra 400, it looks like it is exactly what I'm after! It seems there are a few options for B&W so more searching is needed!
 
Carl V said:
Ilford Pan F (50 ISO) is a lovely, very fine grain black & white film with a good amount of contrast, although this can vary according to development...
Click to expand...

:agree:

Ilford Pan F+ for me too... Lovely film! :)

(There's a shot posted using it in the 'show us yer film shots' thread)
 
Thing is who is doing your processing because whatever film you use you need it to be processed consitantly the same way.I used to (and still will if necessary) do all my own processing.That way I had control of everything. I used to find different colour casts even from the same labs.
 
If you're looking for a contrasty b&w film I'd reccomend using Rollei Retro 100. You can pick up to 36ex rolls from AG Photographic for 20 quid - bargain!

The contrast can be a little hard to control at times though & a lot of the time I end up printing it with a 00 or 1 filter.

-J
 
Welcome :)

Film's much more fun, you won't be disappointed.

Black and white, at the moment Tri-x gets my vote. Flexible and can be smooth or grainy, you decide, having said that my experience is on 6x7 medium format only.

Colour, portra gets my love :)
 
Your BW film choices are many. You'll get recommendations as varied as there are posts. It's one of those things you need to experiment with and decided for yourself.
 
AlanSmithee said:
Your BW film choices are many. You'll get recommendations as varied as there are posts. It's one of those things you need to experiment with and decided for yourself.
Click to expand...

Thats the best thing, just buy a few different rolls and you soon see which ones you prefer.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I'm enjoying the film corner already, you guys really are helpful! I will definitely look at the Portra, now I just need to get together a short-list of B&W films to try!
 
I shot a roll of Kodak Tri-x 400 last week and devs in Paterson Aculux, I'd describe it as contrasty and grainy, but a nice grain, kinda how I think classic B&W should look. Ilford Delta films have much less grain and I got some out of date Kodak T-Max 100 and dev'd in FX39, I couldn't see any grain on that even with a loupe (made it a sod to focus on the enlarger).

I wouldn't call rollei retro contrasty but I used Aculux again and only agitated every minute, you developing methods can have a pretty big effect on the outcome (something I keep meaning to experiment with).

Adox films have a very retro look to them, smooth tones and grainy, not a contrasty look but I'd say worth trying a couple of rolls as they are cheap.
 
AlanSmithee said:
Your BW film choices are many. You'll get recommendations as varied as there are posts.
Click to expand...

And in a similar vain to those "what camera" type threads, you'll just get recommendations based on what people personally like and/or have tried (see my post above - I'm no exception to that!). So best thing to do is indeed just buy a variety and shoot them.
 
Another vote for Portra but with b/w depends on what you will be shooting.
PANF is only really practical with a tripod or if you live on the sun.

FP4 or TRI-X are more practical, and if you are scanning you can get any effect you want in PS or Lightroom/CaptureOne with the built in styles.
Grain is only really an issue if you are enlarging much above A4.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top