A black and white film to stick with for a year?

[Harry Lime]

Kodak Tri-X 400

The king of black and white film. It does everything and you can pull or push it with excellent results from 200 to 1600 asa. In conjunction with a fast lens, a 400asa film hits the sweet spot for shooting all day and in to the night, while offering good grain performance and tonality.

Freestyle sells this film as Arista Premium at a substantial discount.

 

[Keith]

One black and white film for a whole year! 😱

Don't think I could do that ... that's less than one frame per week! 😛

 

[Paterson]

That sounds like a great long term project. I use Tmax 400 and Tmax 100. I process with Tmax developer 1 to 4. This works the best for me, you have many choices but I find Tmax 400 can be used from ISO 100 to 3200 with very good results and very good grain. Since I use filters when I photograph with black and white the Tmax 400 exposure range lets me adjust my filter factor by the ISO and use a variety of fillter on a single roll. You should try a few different films and developers then pick the one that suites your style and your vision.

You are gonna have alot of fun !

P

 

[tedwhite]

I've read most of the posts on this seemingly interminable thread, and have learned much from the reading, mostly about films I'd rather not mess with. I'm 82 and have been photographing, developing, and printing since I was twelve. I've probably tried most of the films, Kodak, Ilford, Efke, Agfa, Adox, Fomapan, on and on; and most developers too.

Eventually, after the smoke of experimentation and the search for the best film/developer combination cleared, I always returned to the lovely Kodak Tri-X, developed in D-76 1:1, my friends lo these many years.

As for printing, I'm still recovering from the loss of Agfa's wonderful Portriga Rapid enlarging paper.

 

[dcsang]

So yes, experiment. But I will say this: Don't "test". This forum has a lot of people who are testers rather than photographers. Shoot subject matter. Shoot content. Shoot lots, make notes, close the loop, the keystone of which is consistency in processing. Varying only deliberately (being cognizant of happy mistakes is important also) and exploring. Because that's what one does as a photographer - explore. Good explorers keep notes of where they've been so they can get there again.
If you test you can do so endlessly. Better to spend the time and effort on content while simultaneously exploring the medium.

I came across this thread while searching for anything to do with "Formapan" - I've been thinking of picking some up and thought it would be a good idea to see what others had thought of it - and it's for stuff like this that I love this site.... I want to print this on a t-shirt or print it and hang it on my wall... this bit of advice from Shane is immaculate.. 😀

Cheers,
Dave

 

[tedwhite]

Dave, I think it's Fomapan.

Ted

 

[eddie1960]

Hmmm, well, if you multiply the number of films suggested by the number of developers then you'll see the choices available and they're only for negatives.

If you want to do B&W slides then you've a narrow choice of films but there's an interesting article by Ilford here: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=90 and you should then click on the link at the bottom for a four page PDF about it.

Regards, David

interesting thread for me as i haven't settled on my favourite b/w film at the moment.

David thanks for this link It looks a little more time consuming but i have to try this out (when i shot film only I pretty much only shot colour in slides, rarely c41) never had b/w reversals done. I really like the idea (and it might get me to haul out my slide projector (all my friends run screaming from the room 😱)

 

[Turtle]

TriX with DDX/ID11/D76/Xtol - take your pick. Forget films like acros, Tmax 100 or ahything 100. far too slow to allow you the full range of options, including indoor/street/night etc. If you then feel like experimenting more, you can use various developers for fine grain and relatively slow speed thru to very gritty grain with Rodinal or push it a lot with DDX/Tmax/Xtol etc.

I could live with nothing but TriX if I had to. I prefer to indulge in a little film promiscuity however.

 

[SciAggie]

I've read most of the posts on this seemingly interminable thread, and have learned much from the reading, mostly about films I'd rather not mess with. I'm 82 and have been photographing, developing, and printing since I was twelve. I've probably tried most of the films, Kodak, Ilford, Efke, Agfa, Adox, Fomapan, on and on; and most developers too.

Eventually, after the smoke of experimentation and the search for the best film/developer combination cleared, I always returned to the lovely Kodak Tri-X, developed in D-76 1:1, my friends lo these many years.

As for printing, I'm still recovering from the loss of Agfa's wonderful Portriga Rapid enlarging paper.

Wow! if 70 years experience leaves you with Tri-X and D-76, that's good enough for me - why re-invent the wheel?

 

[Roger Hicks]

TriX with DDX/ID11/D76/Xtol - take your pick. Forget films like acros, Tmax 100 or ahything 100. far too slow to allow you the full range of options, including indoor/street/night etc. If you then feel like experimenting more, you can use various developers for fine grain and relatively slow speed thru to very gritty grain with Rodinal or push it a lot with DDX/Tmax/Xtol etc.

I could live with nothing but TriX if I had to. I prefer to indulge in a little film promiscuity however.

Exactly. While Frances would quite properly divorce me if she found me in flagrante with her best friend, I'm not that worried that Ilford will refuse to supply me with film if I put the occasional roll of Tri-X though my MP, even if they find out. No do I regard it as the same sort of commitment.

I realize that there are a few people on RFF who are not aware of the differences between a long-term relationship with a human being and long-term use of a particular film, largely from lack of ability to sustain the former, but I've always felt rather sorry for them.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Monokrome]

A film I am trying at the moment is Fomapan 200 developed in Paterson Aculux.
http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/fomapan-200-creative-157-c.asp
I am rating it at E.I.125 and diluting the developer 1+11 because I find the starting times a bit too vigorous. 9 minutes seems to be working well with a grade 2.5 filter for Ilford MG WT. YMMV.