A good b/w negative film for street use

In time we find the difference between b&w films only by degree of the type of the grain. I love the trix grain. Next to it comes to me the tmax grain. I can't compromise the film grain with the price of the film
 
You can afford it

You can afford it

tominabox1 said:
I cant afford to buy bulk film, way too much at one time. It would be lots cheaper though in the end, I know. I do develop my own film though adn that doesnt cost anything because the school provides developer and the other chemicals
Click to expand...

Over the weekend 2 bulk loaders were GIVEN away on photo.net. Keep your eyes open. Get a group together and pool your funds for a bulk loader and a 100' roll of film. Set up custom searches at ebay for bulk loaders & bulk rolls of film. Folks here are always scoring $5 & $10 rolls of B&W film. You can do it. Think long term.

Todd.Hanz and everyone else have given you good advice. However, you may have to buy your own developer to go where you want to go. D-76 is good, but it's a very generic developer.

Personally, I would use 100-125 and 400 film depending on conditions. There's the beauty of "rolling your own" film. You can load short rolls to shoot and change in a hurry if the light fades or comes on strong.

Yup. Too much agitation! On the other hand, given the right subject matter, you can't have too much grain. At least nobody will think it's a digital B&W conversion!

One more thought: If you continue to buy boxed rolls of film, scour camera stores for expired B&W film. It's usually half price or less. Assuming proper storage in a shop, it will be fine to shoot.
 
Last edited:
thanks venchka, I am goign to try less agitation next time for sure. I think I'm the only one in my photo class who is interested enough to keep shooting after we are done with class so getting a group of people to go in together on a bulk loader and film is questionable, but I could be suprised.

I am worried about using my own developer because I wouldnt have a good place to store it . I live in a dorm and it wouldnt be good to keep it here and over at the darkroom there isnt much space for that kind of stuff since all the other chemicals already are stored over there in just about every place possible.

I do need to buy a couple more rolls to finish off the class so I'll try some of the kodak tmax or trix and see what I like.

Thanks again! Keep em coming!
 
A bottle of Rodinal is very portable, keeps for ages, and takes up very little shelf space. It worked in my Army barracks room in the Land Way Befoe Time.

Something to play with

Keep your eyes open. A low cost or free loader and bulk film will appear.

From the massive developer chart:


Tri-X 400 D-76 1+1 ASA 50 --- 7 mins.
Tri-X 400 D-76 1+1 ASA 200 --- 9.5 mins.

And if you are feeling really adventurous:

Tri-X 400 Rodinal 1+50 ASA 12800 51 mins.
 
Last edited:
Tom,

On the street, more often than not you will have a very contrasty scene exagerated by contrasty light (on a sunny day). Your biggest concern will probably be controlling this high contrast. Think about the old adage, "Expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights". You need to make sure you get detail in those shadows (hence rating your film slower than normal). You also don't want to block up the highlights. For that you cut back on development time.

The age-old, tried and true street formula is Tri-X rated at 200, then cut development time to about 70% of normal. D-76 1:1 at 68F = about 7 minutes. Agitate for the first 30 seconds, then a couple of inversions each 30 seconds after.

You can adjust for lower contrast days with longer dev. time.

This has worked for many.

Good luck
 
Pics of good quality or the kind of graininess I've been having? I have lots of pictures over on deviantArt (http://tominabox1.deviantart.com/gallery) if you want to check those out. The ones with bad grain I didnt scan because I think they are terrible.

Note: not all those pictures are taken with film, but most of the b/w ones are.
 
I think tri-x is excellent, as I look through old negs. But because I like the fuji spools for their little hook, I use Neopan 100 Acros for street now, and I LOVE it. It has a nice smooth tonal range, almost imperceptible grain, and it scans nicely.

Tri-x scans better, actually.
 
So I just got done developing another roll of HP5+. I used 1:1 D76 for at 70F for 10 minutes with 7 inversions every 1 minute. I havent printed anything yet to see if the grain improved but everything looked like it had good density so it doesn't look like it was underdeveloped. I will be printing as soon as it dries and I will let you all know how it goes.

Thanks again for the help.
 
For a 35mm film rated at ISO 200 try Bergger. You can always pull Tri-x or HP5+ and shoot it at 200. For that mater you can push FP4+ to 200 with good results.

Bob
 
Tri-X is -- still -- one of the greatest all-purpose film (until Kodak kills it as they people in charge seem to be in a bid damn hurry to get out of film).

Anyway, it's a film that has great latitude and you can push, pull or shoot at rated speed. Works well in a variety of developers, scans well and prints pretty well too.

Not a bad choice at all.


ALSO, you can't get any film from J & C Photo at the moment as they seem to be undergoing some type of reorganization.
 
ZeissFan said:
Tri-X is -- still -- one of the greatest all-purpose film (until Kodak kills it as they people in charge seem to be in a bid damn hurry to get out of film).
Click to expand...
Now now, Mike. The rumours of the death of Kodak film are highly exaggerated. As a news man, you should know to check your sources! 😉
 
Mike has probably been reading the pronouncements of Antonio Perez who came over from HP to lead Kodak.

Tri-X is my all time favorite for street. E.I 640 in X-TOL and 250 in Rodinal.
 
Foma do a 200 speed film 'Fomapan 200 Creative' which I think is T grain type. I have a roll to try but have yet to put it through the camera.

This is the info from retrophotographic:

Fomapan 200 Creative is a panchromatically sensitized black and white negative film with similar characteristics to FOMAPAN 100 Classic, this is a more general purpose film, fine grain and with high resolution. Over and underexposures of 1EV and 2EV respectively are easily accommodated without changing the processing times.


When I need 200 speed up till now I have been pushing Ilford fp4. I think this might be better, but I'll have to wait and see...
 
Actually, the Foma T200 is _not_ a t-grain film. No one really seems to have an idea why they used that nomenclature.

I use it at 160, though, so it's not even a 200 speed film. This is in rodinal. Otherwise a terrific film.

allan
 
goo0h said:
How long in XTOL?
Click to expand...

XTOL 1:1 - 9.5 minutes for E.I. 640 - single inversion with a swirl @ each minute.

To print, I use an antediluvian Durst M601 and an even older 609, both with condensers.
 
Thanks everybody for the help. I went for a shorter time and agitated 7 inversions every minute and the grain was MUCH better. I appreciate the help. I will be trying some T-style emulsions soon since I am out of film!!!

Thanks again guys.

Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom