what film???

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donmcmahan

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I am a digital guy, I will just say that up front. I know that all of you film guys have very definite preferences in film and a lot of you precess your own but I am just thinking about dipping my toe in the pond of rangefinders and film. I have a Yashica GSN at my disposal and want to give it a go. what film should a complete film beginner get to start off with, I don't want to order it from some obscure film supplier in Timbuctu or sent it back there for processing. I would be mostly working in B&W but I think I would be more comfortable shooting color and converting in Lightroom. I have an Epson V-350 so I can scan negs myself. Film being increasingly rare the obvious anwer is to use whatever I can find but I would like a little more to go on than that. thanks in advance 😕
 
how about c41 films.. you can get it developed at any one hour photo lab.. if you dont like their scans, scan them yourself..

kodak bw400cn or ilford xp2's are a nice c41 black and white films...

like you said, dipping your toes and not taking a plunge.. test the waters first.
 
If you are not going to process it yourself, use a C-41 film. That means color print (or chromogenic B&W).

I have no idea where you live, so I will blurt out: Fuji Reala. There are a whole bunch of color films on the market, and you should pick up something which has an expiration date in the future. Made by Fuji or Kodak. (For B&W, the big two are not the only real players, for Color they are).

Are you sure you want to shoot in color just to convert to B&W in lightroom? Shooting Tri-X is a fantastic pastime.
 
Fuji Reala as slow color neg, Fuji 800Z as fast color neg, and Ilford XP2 Super as monochrome neg.

That's how I see scene from your shoes.
 
For good results in color under the widest amount of lighting conditions:
Fuji Superia 400. It's good, it's fast, it's forgiving and... cheap.

Similarly, for traditional B/W photography I'd go for Ilford HP5+ or Kodak Tri-X 400. They are on the grainy side but will stand a lot of abuse during exposure and development and still yield a usable negative (and print / scan). If you get more confident you can also push and pull them during development (if that's your intention).

There are so many good films out there, but these are good ones to start with. Great even.

On a more personal note, I really don't like Fuji Reala. It's very fine grained but I simply never get natural colors from it. I must add that I only scan and never have prints made directly from negatives. The strange thing is that the 'plain vanilla' cousins Superia 200 & 400 are excellent in this regard.
 
I don't see the point of shooting C-41 black and white film or shooting color film and converting to black and white. The ultra clean, grainless look you get could be achieved with digital much easier and you can use some digital tools to make it look like film if you desire.

If you want to shoot black and white film, shoot something like Tri-X. It's really the best way to experience the richness of the medium.

That might sound overly rigid but to me C41 in either black and white or converted to black and white lacks most of the characteristics that make black and white attractive in the first place.

Some color films have unique characteristics you might want to explore, but once converted they are likely to leave you cold and be not much of an improvement on digital.
 
For color negatives, another vote here for Fuji Superia 400.
For B/W, Kodak T-Max 400, BW400CN and Ilford HP-5 plus are ideal (note BW400CN is a C-41 film, so you can get it developed in any minilab that do color negative films).
 
Your film of choice is Ilford XP2, a C41 film. Expose it at EI 200-250 at most. When you get tired of it and will want something with a better tonality, go directly to Tri X (or Arista Premium 400 - same thing but cheaper) in D76 1+1 and develop at home, the sooner you do it the bigger will be the satisfaction and the smaller the cost. Forget B&W conversions from colour film, it is a waste of money and of tonality.
 
thanks guys for all the great advice, for now I am going the fuji neopan 400cn route, Conns in Dublin has a good deal on it and offers "develop only" (no prints) for €2.50 per roll. I live in Donegal about as far from Dublin as you can get but am up and down to the Big City frequently. the local chemist charges €9 something with prints(probably double) that I don't want. Some of the tri-x pureists said they couldn't see the point of either c41 or converting from color in photoshop, for me the point is to use the rangefinder, if down the road that results in me becoming a "Film Guy" I will jump off of that home darkroom bridge when I come to it 😉
 
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