film recommendations

whitewash

whitewash

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ok ive just bought myself a film SLR body and now im looking for some film to run through it does anyone have any recommendations on good film to fit my purpose....

basically im gonna fit a 50mm f1.8 lens to the front of it and use it at gigs, parties and stuff and generally much about with it, using black and white film, so im presuming im gonna need somewhere between 400 and 1600 to do this.

any recommendations

also places to get B+W developed and the results scanned to disk would be great

thanks

jamie
 
Ilford DELTA 400, all the advantages of shooting B&W with fine grain and can be processed by any high street doohicky thing. They even make a 3200iso version.

/edit ooops Gandhi is right, it's XP2 that can be developed in the high street shop not Delta, you'd have to send Delta film away or do it yourself!
 
XP2 is a grand b&w fiim as you can fiddle with the iso rating and it has tremendous resilience. It's also processable under c41 chemicals, so you can take it into boots and run it through their minilabs. I would say that you're gonna need a minimum of 800 for the gig work, just be prepared for the grain!

As for scanning. DON'T get boots or jessops or the such like to do it, you'll get back crappy jpegs scanned at 72dpi. They're really only intended so you can print 6x4 or display on the web or a tv. Have a google for places that do decent scans, the ebst ones(drum) aren't cheap.

When I get back into shooting film (soon) as a sideline my proposed workflow is gonna be.......

Shoot standard B&W or reversal film,
Develop film at home,
Scan at home (I have access to a decent dedicated film scanner)
Print via photobox (home printing b&w is a bugger to get a neutral print unless you buy a second printer and use dedicated b&w inks)

hth?
 
i have a roll of Delta 400, so im gonna run that through it first

i thought id be looking at around 1600, not too bothered about the grain, this is fun, not ecaxtly serious :)
cheers for the info guys keep it coming


ilford dont seem to do anything between 400 and 3200 though :/
 
Ilford delta 3200's true speed is 1200ish, I usually shoot the stuff at 1600, and develop for 3200 times using Ilford's microphen, have done this for a couple of gigs and was fairly pleased with it, I've also pushed it to 6400 and been fairly pleased with the results.
For more general shooting I'm a fan of Ilfords classic films such as Pan F+, FP4+, and HP5+, I say classic as the Delta range are T grained (smaller more uniform grain, but fussier about exposure.
For B&W it really is worth developing the stuff yourself, you can get all the gear cheap (I paid <£20 for a tank, reels and changing bag) on ebay, and you don't even need a darkroom. The chemicals are cheap too, it's quick, easy, satisfying, and you have much more control than you would sending your film to a lab (for example different developers have different properties in terms of film speed, sharpness, grain size etc, and some developers are far better for pushing film than others).

If you're particularly after something 1600 give Fuji Neopan a try, or push Kodak t-max a couple of stops, or pull Delta 3200.

Col.
 
If you have a darkroom, or a room that can be made light tight all well and good, if not then a changing bag is good for getting the film onto reels and into tank, the rest can be done in daylight. You need a developer of some description, and a fixer of some description, for quick film Ilford Microphen developer is good, and cheap, and Ilford rapid fixer is what I use to fix. For slower film I like rodinal or ilfosol-s. There is a good guide here http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/download.asp?n=386 .
It's worth practising loading your reels with scrap film untill you can do it in pitch black without thinking about it.
 
You'll need a decent photographic thermometer, and a couple of graduated measuring beakers.
 
You'll need a decent photographic thermometer
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It's a bit bit bloody late someone telling me now. :LOL:

As you can see the variables of films and developers are huge and you'll need to do some playing for yourself to find a combination that mathces the vision you have.

I quite liked using the neopan 1600 as it's a little off the beaten track compared to the Ilford and Kodak offerings and has quite a unique look to it.
 
can someone explain push please and how you do it/develop it?


i think im gonna buy a roll of ilford 3200 and a roll of 1600 neopan and play with them at a gig on saturday, as i think the camera will have arrived by then


jamie
 
whitewash said:
can someone explain push please and how you do it/develop it?

jamie
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'Push' processing or 'Pushing' film describes deliberately rating film at a faster ISO than it actually is. If it's 100 ISO and you rate it in the camera at 200, then you've 'pushed' it by one stop. 400 would be 2 stops... and so on.

What you've actually done of course is under-exposed the film, and it needs to be compensated for in the developing by a longer development time, higher temperature or a combination of both. You should be able to tell a decent developing house how much you've pushed the film by (how many stops) and they should deal with it OK. Don't trust your average high street bodgers to have a clue though. ;)

If you develop yourself, you'll probably find a paper slip in with the film describing it's push characteristics and limits. Your chosen developer will no doubt contain instructions for push processing. I've no doubt a Google seach will turn up everything you need to know if all else fails.

Be aware that push processing usually produces a lesser image than a properly exposed one and often more noisy, but this is often deliberately used for effect. A lot of the harsh grainy mono shots from the Vietnam War were taken on fast grainy film, but deliberately push processed to increase the effect.
 
See if you can scrounge some outdated film off 'em to practise loading the tank spiral. Cut the film leader off so the film ends in it's full width, and just round the sharp corners off with a pair of scissors. When you come to load the spiral make sure it's absolutely dry or you'll never get the film to go all the way in. You can have problems anyway, and greasing the spirals with a graphite lead pencil can help.

AS Dfhaii says, when you practise your loading in the dark make sure you work methodically and know where you've placed the other bits of the tank. It's real fun if you can't put your hand on them. :)
 
gonna get them processed proffessionally first off, then ill get the bits and bobs to do it myself. learning curve and all that


can you not use a red light to provide atleast some illumination?
 
whitewash said:
gonna get them processed proffessionally first off, then ill get the bits and bobs to do it myself. learning curve and all that


can you not use a red light to provide atleast some illumination?
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You can with some film - others will fog but to be honest the job is pretty simply done in the dark anyway with practice.

The printing stage is different, you can have quite a bright safelight to work by - orange usually which doesn't fog the paper.

The beauty of film now though is that whether you shoot film or slides, as long as you load the tank in the dark, you can complete the rest of the process in the kitchen or bathroom with the light on. The really messy part, enjoyable though it can be, is the printing, which involves a lot of setting up and clearing away afterwards. Now of course you can just scan your results into PS, so you have the best of both worlds.
 
can you not use a red light to provide atleast some illumination?
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Nope, that's only b&w paper, film needs total darkness. You'll be amazed at just how quickly the whole procedure becomes second nature. It sounds complex and fiddly but it's really not at all bad.
 
Yes it does. :)
 
yep, it currently has my 85mm f1.8 strapped to the front of it

im wondering whether it controls the EX range of flashes though, as im not truely sure, the literature ,mentions it but not really indepth!
 
Drop me a PM anyone as I have loads of film in my freezer that I need to dump on someone.
Lots of 120 format as well.
Mostly XP-2 but some Yellow-Box stuff as well...
 
i bought a roll of neopan 1600
some ilford 3200

results are currently being developed

and a roll of xp2 which is still in the camera

id be intrested in what you have black and white 35mm arkady :)

thanks
jamie
 
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