A good b/w negative film for street use

[tominabox1]

I'm looking for a good quality 200 speed b/w film that I can use for my newly acquired rangefinder. I have Ilford HP5+ and I love it but I'm looking for something cheaper so I can shoot more! Are there any good brands to look at for a cheaper film but with good exposure qualities and some nice latitude?

Thanks guys!

Tom

 

[Todd.Hanz]

Tri-X rated at 200 has great exposure qualities, I don't shoot HP5+ so I am not sure about price comparisons.

Good Luck,
Todd

 

[tominabox1]

Tri-x is a bit more expensive than my Ilford stuff but I cant find 200 speed Ilford so not too easy to compare to. I did find some Foma Fomapan 200 speed at Freestyle for 2.50 a roll of 24. Anybody know about that suff?

 

[pesphoto]

Why 200 speed. TriX is great at 400 and above. I commonly shoot at 1000asa

 

[tominabox1]

I would just like to be able to crop more of the frame when I enlarge to 8x10. I've been shooting 400 speed and its just too grainy sometimes. I guess a good 400 speed film can probably be just as clean.

Why 200 speed. TriX is great at 400 and above. I commonly shoot at 1000asa

 

[pesphoto]

I can see that if you are enlarging it that much and cropping it a lot you might like the 200 speed more. But I dont mind grain if it works with the subject matter.

 

[tominabox1]

I havent been having much luck with my photos as far as getting finer grain. If I go any bigger than 8x10, the grain just pops out and usually not in a good way. IF I had a film scanner, I wouldnt care much but I dont and I wont be getting one soon..🙁

 

[pesphoto]

What developer combo and Temp are you using with TriX?

 

[peterc]

I don't know of any 200 speed B/W films. However, you could pull a 400 to 200.
Another option is to use a fine grain developer such as Microphen with 400 film.

Peter

 

[tominabox1]

Im shooting Ilford HP5+ and developing with D-76, I havent shot trix yet or Tmax either for that matter.

 

[lZr]

Get bulk film for convenience and roll it yourself. And develop it yourself. Cheap is not related to good

 

[tominabox1]

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

Get bulk film for convenience and roll it yourself. And develop it yourself. Cheap is not related to good

 

[keensb]

hp5 is great forr 8x10. I dont think you'll find a big difference with 200 films. I do think trix is a little bit less grainy though if you want to try that. I prefer hp5, but I also like trix.

 

[pesphoto]

Keep your temps closer to 68 degrees when developing. Should help the grain some.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

not cheaper but Fuji Acros pushed to 200 and developed in Xtol 1:3 gives great results IMHO.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=49649&ppuser=489

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=11803&ppuser=489

Todd

 

[Didier]

Personally, I like Fuji Neopan 400 very much, as well as HP5+. Afaik, there's no ISO200 b&w film neither from Kodak nor Ilford (except the SFX 200 semi-IR film). If price is the matter, then have a look at the chinese Lucky b&w films which were reported not being that bad. Another option is bulk loading. If you're in the USA, try Ultrafineonline they have a big choice of bulk rolls. They also have their own budget film "Ultrafine" bulk and canned, in several emulsions
Didier

 

[Trius]

You might try J&C Classic 200, not sure about the grain.

As Peter says, you can try a developer with finer grain characteristics, but often those developers contain sulfite as a silver solvent. Grain is reduced, but at the expense of apparent grain sharpness/acutance. So an alternative is to use a developer that works at higher dilutions and is a high acutance developer. HC-110, Rodinal and Ilfotec LC29 are examples.

Keys in using these developers are:

--- back off on agitation; too much agitation gives not-so-nice grain. My routine (with Rodinal 1:100) is 30sec of agitation to start, then 5 sec every three minutes thereafter

--- keep wet times short. When I can, I prefer 24C to 20C, as this speeds up processing (unless the time is short to start with) and reduces wet time. Also I use a rapid, non-hardening fix, hypo clearing agent and shorter (yet adequate) wash time.

You might also consider a ISO 125 film. A slight "push" to 200, if necessary, shouldn't hurt much.

 

[kaiyen]

One idea is to try a slower film, like fp4, and use a higher speed developer, like Microphen. You should be able to get 160 out of it. But fp4 doesn't have super fine grain to begin with (not for a 100-ish film). But the idea is that using a slower film with a speed-increasing developer will be finer grain, in general, with better sharpness than a higher speed film with a fine grain developer.

allan

 

[tominabox1]

Thanks for all the tips guys! LIke I said I will be using d76 (its what I get for free) and a rapid fix and then fix and hypoclear etc etc. So perhaps if I dont dilute the developer I can get better results? I've been going 1:1 as per instructions from my professor. I also agitate for the first 30 sec then do 5 inversions every 30 seconds. From what it sounds like, I might be able to get better results with less agitation.

 

[pesphoto]

You just need to experiment more to find what works for you. I usually agitate about 5 seconds every minute. after the initial 30 sec agitation.