A good b/w negative film for street use

kaiyen said:
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
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Yes. It looks like you are right. I just found this:

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum37/27903-arista-film.html

Look at the last post on the page by Roger Hicks. So this is not a 200 speed film after all nor T-grain. I was hoping this would fit nicely inbetween 100 and 400 emulsions, but perhaps not 🙁
 
With respect to finding good deals on film you don't say where you are based.

If you are leaning to use b&w film, it's always a good idea to try and stick with one film until you really understand how it works for you, and feel confident using it.

There's no reason why you can't pull back HP5 a stop. I like to shoot HP5 at 250asa and develope it in DD-X.

Are you maybe getting to obsessed with grain? I print up to 16x12 inch from HP5, Tri-X and even Delta 3200.

Pay attention when you are shooting. Sure we all crop (well most of us do), but when you are shooting, think of the final print when you are looking through the viewfinder and frame accordingly.
 
I am in the US. I've shot 8 rolls of hp5+ and I think my problem was development. I just ordered some 400iso TriX last night so I'll give that a try and see how things go.

I havent tried pulling film, I dont quite see how that works since the grain is the same...but I can give it a try sometime.

Thanks again.


gareth said:
With respect to finding good deals on film you don't say where you are based.

If you are leaning to use b&w film, it's always a good idea to try and stick with one film until you really understand how it works for you, and feel confident using it.

There's no reason why you can't pull back HP5 a stop. I like to shoot HP5 at 250asa and develope it in DD-X.

Are you maybe getting to obsessed with grain? I print up to 16x12 inch from HP5, Tri-X and even Delta 3200.

Pay attention when you are shooting. Sure we all crop (well most of us do), but when you are shooting, think of the final print when you are looking through the viewfinder and frame accordingly.
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Ach well I can'nae help with where you might find good deals then.

Pulling a film can work well. More exposure means a shorter dev time which means less contrast and less grain. Negs on the low contrast side are often much easier to print.

When you push film, you under expose it and give it a longer dev time. This results in more contrast and bigger grain.

If you really want fine grain you may want to drop to a true 100asa film. But while 100asa films can produce fantastic results they are not quite as user friendly as the 400asa films.

If you are trying to learn developing and printing, chopping and changing films will just make everything all the more confusing.
 
I have been learning for the last 5 weeks or so on printing and developing, and I am getting better, its pretty much all natural to me now which is good. I actually got t-max not trix... I will try to pull a roll too so I can try things out.

Im just wondering how I'm going to make prints this summer when I'm not at school!!!
 
T-max is a totally different beast to Tri-x.

Is it Tmax100 or Tmax400?

Try to avoid over exposure over development of these film, it's easy to block up the highlights.

If fine grain is your priority, Tmax films are very fine grained.

Oh and remember to give Tmax and Delta films double the fix time of conventional b&w films.
 
gareth, I got T-Max 400, If its easy to overexpose I'll probably step up the film speed I suppose. I usually fix for 4 minutes. I'm excited to try this stuff out and see what I can get.

Thanks
 
It's good stuff, but it's that bit harder to use than the standard 400 films.
Grain is very fine, and it can produce a lovely spread of midtones.

It's not easier or harder to over or under expose than any other b&w film, I find it has good exposure lattitude. But when you do over expose or over develope it, the high lights can block. And they can block solid. Paper flashing I've found is the only way to shift them.

If I use a new film I always bracket the first few rolls, that way I know I'll get a result, and I'll get to the dev time I need quicker in the long run.

I use Ilford Rapid or Hypam fix 1+4 dillution.
For the films I'm currently using.
I fix APX100, HP5 and tri-x for 3 minutes in fresh fix.
For Tmax100, Tmax400, and Delta 3200 I fix for 6 minutes in fresh fix.

Tmax and delta films need double the time in the fixer.

Have fun.
 
Not a fan of grain? Try Ilford C41 XP2 Super. It's C41, tiz true but ya know what? It doesn't suck. Works well rated at 200 but it's so free of grain at 400, there's no need to shoot at the slower rating. It's C41 process, so you can develop it cheap anywhere and get 36, 6x4 print proofs per roll. Not a bad film. I always have a 100' of it loaded in a bulk loader. Like it so much, I only process/print 120 myself and use XP2 Super almost exclusively these days when shooting 135.
 
Shoot a 400 speed film and dev in a fine grain dev such as:

Perceptol
Microdol X
Aculux 2 (shortly to be re-released as Aculux 3)

TriX or HP5 will be about 160-200 in the top two and a touch faster in aculux

Or......use Xtol for very fine grain and full box speed.
 
I must appologize for that comment I made in reply to you before. That was a very ignorant comment on my part. I think this summer I will shoot exclusively XP2 just for conveniece since I do not own any processing equipement or chemicals. But until school is out, I will be shooting traditional stuff.

Sorry again for that. And Thanks for the tip!

Tom



NickTrop said:
Not a fan of grain? Try Ilford C41 XP2 Super. It's C41, tiz true but ya know what? It doesn't suck. Works well rated at 200 but it's so free of grain at 400, there's no need to shoot at the slower rating. It's C41 process, so you can develop it cheap anywhere and get 36, 6x4 print proofs per roll. Not a bad film. I always have a 100' of it loaded in a bulk loader. Like it so much, I only process/print 120 myself and use XP2 Super almost exclusively these days when shooting 135.
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XP2 is good stuff, but sadly once I've used up my current stock I'll not be buying any more.
Why? While it is easy to get it processed, it very hard to get it processed without picking up scratches. And if like me, you use a condenser enlarger, well you can forget negs with big scratches.
Even decent pro labs etc will scratch a roll now and again.

If I could get affordable hand processing I keep using it, but C41 hand processing doesn't come cheap, nor have I any desire to start processing C41 myself.

On the other hand if you are using other enlarger light sources or scanning film, small scratches shouldn't be a problem.

Tominabox, you only need a few bits and bobs to process film at home.

As for grain, it doesn't bother me, my favourite combination is the grainy but super punchy tri-x in Rodinal combo.
 
I've got all the stuff for doing home development sitting in a shopping cart on Freestyle and the total is $84 US (not including film), a bit more than the amount I figured I'd spend this summer if I used XP2. I'm afraid its just not a feasable option right now. Once I get back to school in the fall, I can go back to my Tmax and HP5+ 😀

THanks


gareth said:
XP2 is good stuff, but sadly once I've used up my current stock I'll not be buying any more.
Why? While it is easy to get it processed, it very hard to get it processed without picking up scratches. And if like me, you use a condenser enlarger, well you can forget negs with big scratches.
Even decent pro labs etc will scratch a roll now and again.

If I could get affordable hand processing I keep using it, but C41 hand processing doesn't come cheap, nor have I any desire to start processing C41 myself.

On the other hand if you are using other enlarger light sources or scanning film, small scratches shouldn't be a problem.

Tominabox, you only need a few bits and bobs to process film at home.

As for grain, it doesn't bother me, my favourite combination is the grainy but super punchy tri-x in Rodinal combo.
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Keep it simple!

Keep it simple!

It's good advice indeed not to try every film/developer combination.

Pick one film and one developer that will meet your needs,
then learn the characteristics of both.

You say you want a 200 speed film?
HP5+ and Tri-X work well exposed at EI 200-320.

You want economical processing?
HC110 and Rodinal yield beautiful results, keep forever
and are the most economical developers in the long run.

Chris
 
Watch for free stuff

Watch for free stuff

...look for free/used gear. I've gotten two developing tanks for free. A lot of film for $1.00/roll. There are offers of free gear and film here at RFF all the time. Leica Users Group is another good resource.

If anyone is getting scratched negatives from their minilabs, CHANGE LABS! It took me 4 labs to find a decent one with decent people operating the equipment.

Cheers!
 
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