Black & White Film Suggestions?

menthel & would you recommend FP4+ as a film to experiment with? Whats the tonal range like for you? If you don't mind me asking :}
 
IamAshlyRose said:
Ilford FP4 Plus at 125ISO.
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Used this film in college for black and white practise. Although I paid for it myself and it was ever so slightly more expensive, it produced some wonderfully smooth pictures. I used it for portrait work on a Minolta Dynax 7000i and loved it.

Only critisms is that whites are very white if you understand me. It's very easy for colours to wash in together using this film.
 
farrance said:
Used this film in college for black and white practise. Although I paid for it myself and it was ever so slightly more expensive, it produced some wonderfully smooth pictures. I used it for portrait work on a Minolta Dynax 7000i and loved it.

Only critisms is that whites are very white if you understand me. It's very easy for colours to wash in together using this film.
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Thank you for the advice & feedback. I'll try it out & perhaps overexpose just a little to compansate for the whites? I'll see when I get my paws on it :}
 
IamAshlyRose said:
Thank you for the advice & feedback. I'll try it out & perhaps overexpose just a little to compansate for the whites? I'll see when I get my paws on it :}
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Surely underexpose a litte? if you overexpose you will shaft the whites and have no detail in them at all?
 
Having recently started developing + scanning myself I've tried a fair few films.
Favorite by far has been FP4+ in ilfosol 3, beautiful grey tones and the negs didn't curl at all making them a pleasure to work with.

I stay away from tri-x like the plague, I never like how it turns out. T-max on the other hand has given me some lovely shots, does have a bit of a curling problem though!

still yet to try fuji's offerings, not used them yet as i started on superia 200 as I had a load of it and despised the stuff.
 
timreeves said:
still yet to try fuji's offerings, not used them yet as i started on superia 200 as I had a load of it and despised the stuff.
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Acros is a lovely film from Fuji, nice smooth tones with very little grain :love:
 
timreeves said:
I stay away from tri-x like the plague, I never like how it turns out. T-max on the other hand has given me some lovely shots, does have a bit of a curling problem though!
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Interesting, T-Max 400 is one of the straighest films I have ever used. It needs slight flattening after drying (as does everything), but it dries reasonably straight! (in 120 and 35mm)
 
robhooley167 said:
Surely underexpose a litte? if you overexpose you will shaft the whites and have no detail in them at all?
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Yeah I meant underexpose. Ignore me if I'm not making sense hahaha. I'll bracket each stop by a stop or two whilst shooting on the the test rolls to see what exposures are working best with that film. These are only experiments afterall :}
 
timreeves said:
Having recently started developing + scanning myself I've tried a fair few films. Favorite by far has been FP4+ in ilfosol 3, beautiful grey tones and the negs didn't curl at all making them a pleasure to work with.
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Thank you for your answer :} did you not find any troubles in the whites with the FP4+ as aforementioned?
 
Shooting, developing & scanning these films are going to make a wonderful little summer project for me :} Just want to thank everyone for their advice, recommendations & suggestions thus far ~ keep them coming! I find reading others' experiences interesting & informative.
 
I've had the same thing with the highlights in FP4 actually, which is why I've only ever used a few rolls of it. I thought it might have just been me being silly with the exposure, but apparently not. I've seen people get some really good results using it at 12ISO with constant agitation though, I might try that next time I get the chance.
 
Mm, interesting. Perhaps I'll just shoot one test roll of FP4+ altho I shan't eliminate it. Ideally I want to find a new film thats not as grainy as the Ilford HP5+ & has a nice tonal range.
 
Fomapan 200 is cheap at the moment and fairly fine grained, 100 will be even more so. It's a very sensitive emulsion though, so will scratch easier than HP5.

Just out of interest, what don't you like about HP5? I've been using it for everything for the past couple of months at various speeds and have never found it to be very grainy at all.
 
I've been very happy with Rollei Retro 100 in rodinal/R09, nicely contrasty and not too grainy. AFAIK Rollei Retro 100 is the same film as Agfa APX-100, but has (until recently) been available cheaply from places like AG Photographic.

I got 10 rolls and a bottle of r09 for less than £30 including postage. Cheap enough to shoot lots quickly and get a good feel for it without you wishing you'd splashed out on something more expensive.

Rodinal R09 is a handy developer to have in because of it's long life. If you run out of your usual or it dies on you, the Rodinal can see you through until you can get to the shops!
 
here's some pics with white in. They do pop a little, but not in a bad way imo, the sky in the first pic was pretty boring on the day and I was surprised how much detail it got out of the clouds. Again in the second pic the whites are quite bright but not at the loss of any detail
0063Medium.jpg

0049Medium.jpg
 
Joenail said:
Fomapan 200 is cheap at the moment and fairly fine grained, 100 will be even more so. It's a very sensitive emulsion though, so will scratch easier than HP5.
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I have to disagree with that, I found Fomapan 100 to be very course grained for a 100 speed film even in 120.
Yes it is cheap however, but it's cheap because the quality control leaves a lot to be desired. It does work well in some situations but as a general film i would go with something else like Fuji Acros and pay the difference.

Fomapan 100 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostsnstuffphotography/6007806797/in/set-72157627661683114/

Fuji Acros - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ghostsnstuffphotography/6939054725/in/set-72157627661683114

The other shots from Fomapan on my flickr use a different concentration of Rodinal, These two use the same
 
robhooley167 said:
I have to disagree with that, I found Fomapan 100 to be very course grained for a 100 speed film even in 120.
Yes it is cheap however, but it's cheap because the quality control leaves a lot to be desired. It does work well in some situations but as a general film i would go with something else like Fuji Acros and pay the difference.
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Agree with Rob - it's not bad for what it is, but indeed QC is a bit lacking and the emulsion is very easy to damage. I think the results look okay though, however the two rolls I have aren't likely to see much camera because I too have a preference for Acros (although I need to sort out how I can make it more contrasty at the developing stage).
 
Joenail said:
Just out of interest, what don't you like about HP5? I've been using it for everything for the past couple of months at various speeds and have never found it to be very grainy at all.
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I have nothing against HP5+ film.
It's just that it's the only black & white film I've ever shot with & whilst I'm curious & eager to learn more I might aswell try new films. Perhaps it has something to do with my dev'ing? But I find HP5+ a little grainy {albeit not always} & as I shoot with large apertures a lower ISO would help compensate for my exposures. I'm still going to be shooting with HP5+ regularly but I want to experiment with other films & perhaps it'll provide me with a new favourite film to work with ~ who knows? :}
 
robhooley167 I think some of your work in Fuji Acros 100 has gorgeous tonal range. Definitely going to shoot a couple of rolls & see how I do with it :} thank you.
 
I understand what everyone has been saying about the vibrant whites in FP4+ & I'm not sure I like the look of it. I don't tend to look for high contrast in my negatives, just a nice range of tones, lights & darks but not tooo dramatic.
 
if negatives come out with loads of contrast ,it might be because they have been overdeveloped ,( maybe underexpose a bit as well )
dont forget expose for the shadows develope for the high lights :D
 
timreeves said:
here's some pics with white in. They do pop a little, but not in a bad way imo, the sky in the first pic was pretty boring on the day and I was surprised how much detail it got out of the clouds. Again in the second pic the whites are quite bright but not at the loss of any detail
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Timreeves, are you sure that much detail is lost on the negatives too?

My Epson scanner regularly insists on clipping pale shades and on some films I need to adjust the histogram before it scans on every single frame. It's amazing, it looks like highlights are bleached out, and you think "fair enough, that part was a lot brighter", then you manually adjust the tolerances and all sorts of detail becomes visible.

Technology is far too smart for it's own good.
 
IamAshlyRose said:
robhooley167 I think some of your work in Fuji Acros 100 has gorgeous tonal range. Definitely going to shoot a couple of rolls & see how I do with it :} thank you.
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Thanks Ashly, i've only shot a couple of rolls of it so i havent had chance to do it justice yet :D It's a fantastic film and the tones are smooth as anything. You will be hard pressed to find a much finer grained ISO 100 film :)
 
offline said:
I've been very happy with Rollei Retro 100 in rodinal/R09, nicely contrasty and not too grainy. AFAIK Rollei Retro 100 is the same film as Agfa APX-100, but has (until recently) been available cheaply from places like AG Photographic.

I got 10 rolls and a bottle of r09 for less than £30 including postage. Cheap enough to shoot lots quickly and get a good feel for it without you wishing you'd splashed out on something more expensive.

Rodinal R09 is a handy developer to have in because of it's long life. If you run out of your usual or it dies on you, the Rodinal can see you through until you can get to the shops!
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I bought two rolls of Rollei RPX 100 since they were going cheap at Firstcall Photographic (would definitely recommend them by the way, if the price is right and you don't mind the delivery charges). Only got through one but i have no complaints at all, very nice film. Plays nice with Rodinal too.

I also got two rolls of Retro 80S. Shot one and... the whole thing was very dim. Could barely make anything out, the scanner was having none of it. Seems that nobody actually knows the development times for it, which is a shame because i'd rather not mess another one up :p
 
Yes Rollei Retro 100 or Agfa APX100 is a very nice film as well, especially in Rodinal, not as smooth as Acros but still very nice :)
 
I'm going to experiment with the following films first ➝

Ilford PanF 50 ISO
Fuji Acros 100 ISO
Ilford XP2 400 ISO

That an alright range to begin with? :}
Have I missed any out? Thank you for the advice everyone & continue to recommend more films that'd be good to experiment with if any happen to enter your mind.
 
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robhooley167 said:
Thanks Ashly, I've only shot a couple of rolls of it so I havent had chance to do it justice yet :D It's a fantastic film and the tones are smooth as anything. You will be hard pressed to find a much finer grained ISO 100 film :)
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Thank you :} Fuji Acros 100 is definitely on my little list of new films to try!
 
If you want a roll of fomapan 100 to test, i'll stick one in the post for you. I'm unlikely to shoot it so i might as well give it to someone to try out :)
 
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