Bargain hunting on the Bay...

[Stephanie Brim]

I think you'll remember me saying a while ago that I wanted to get into bulk loading my own film because buying it by the roll is just too darned expensive with my budget. Well, I now have two loaders on the way that I got for a total of $10.20 including shipping. One is a Lloyd's and the other is a Watson, methinks. Estate sale find, apparently...these were the ones that the seller didn't need.

I'm excited, but I have no idea what would be the best combination of two films. I know that I want Tri-X in one of them, but I have no clue what to put in the other one. I was pondering Pan-F, but I have a couple rolls of that and I want to try it in my Diafine first before I go about buying a ton of it (I know some people say they get bad results, but I want to try for myself to see what I can come up with). I could go with some kind of a color film, but I'd have no clue which to choose and, to be honest, I don't shoot color often right now unless it's slide (read: Velvia). Any suggestions? They should be here next week sometime.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Steph, how about T-Max?

Just a thought. If I ever get into developing, that's the film I'd stock up on.

 

[doubs43]

I'd consider Ilford FP-4+ as my second film. Tri-X is an excellent first choice.

Walker

 

[Stephanie Brim]

The only real stipulation I have is that the film works well with Diafine. How is FP-4+ with it?

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Anyone else have suggestions? They should be arriving either tomorrow or Wednesday and on Friday I'm getting one of the two rolls. I figure that the contest would be a good time to start doing this.

Now if only I could find an enlarger.

 

[Shovelbum]

I have recently fallen in love with FP4 and it's replaced HP5 as my main film and I personally would recomend it but I develope it in Rodinal or DDX so I don't know how it works with diafine. I think the best bet would be to buy a few regular rolls of it first and experiment, then commit to a larger buy. As for color film from what I understand you really won't save much with bulk rolling, but if you find a good deal it might be worth it.

 

[wlewisiii]

Plus-X. It's exquisite in Diafine at EI400. Scans beautifully too. It's one of my favorite combinations and is why a roll of Plus-X is in my bulk loader. FP4 is ok, though I have only used it in sheet film with Diafine, but Plus-X is just so much better in my experiance.

Another possibility is to get a roll of Fomapan 100 from Freestyle. I really like it at EI200 in Diafine as a sheetfilm. If they carry 100' rolls in the Arista.EDU Ultra brand, that's the same film and even cheaper... 😀

William

 

[payasam]

Thirty-odd years ago, after trying out various combinations, I settled on FP4 and Microphen. A bit more speed but with fine grain. Earlier, it was Agfa Isopan ISS and Promicrol (essentially the same as Microphen, but metol rather than phenidone). On rare occasions I'd use HP4 or Tri-X, either straight or up-rated. There's an advantage to sticking with one set of materials, since you know exactly what to expect: but that approach also places limits on your flexibility. It's probably best to have two or three different combinations, each suited to a particular purpose.

 

[bobomoon]

my cheap bulk load is expired kodak slide film. I xpro it at sam's club for 1.15 a roll. Very cheap non-traditional fun!