best b/w and slide film for long journey

[joklys]

Dear forum,

I'm planning a long journey around the world. And I don't know what film (b/w and slide film) I should use.

Do you have any experiences / recommendations for robust b/w and slide films in tropical weather, heat, and no fast developing?

What b/w-films are available in central-asia?

Thank you very much for your help,

Johannes

 

[keithwms]

Why not just take some fairly versatile favourites like hp5+ or fp4+ and have it dr5 processed? They will generate lovely slides for you and you can decide on the spot whether you want slides or negs depending on the range that you're up against.

I still use scala 200x and love it, but it's pricey and I don't know if I would travel with it. I only use it when things are "just right."

I had some rollei ir dr5 processed and really like that too, but again it's very pricey and because of its extended sensitivity is probably not ideal for long-term travel.

Anyway fp4+ and hp5+ should come through very well for you and are available in any format size.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Straight slide film... Scala. Otherwise, you can have black-and-white film developed as slide.

 

[rover]

I have been using Kodak BW400CN lately. I just have it processed and scanned, no prints made. The scans come out fine and if not, I can always rescan myself. It also works out to only about $3 processing per roll this way and C41 processing is widely available.

 

[julio1fer]

I have travellled in South America but not in Central Asia. In my limited experience, there are no big differences between good quality films as to travel-worthiness. Heat, dust and humidity will do the same to more or less every emulsion. Differences, if any, are marginal.

My experience is with FP4+, Tri-X and XP2 in BW, and with Fuji Sensia 100 in slide films. I can also vouch for Kodak Gold 100 and Fuji Superia 400 in color neg.

Depending where and how you are travelling, it may be possible to have chromogenic film such as XP2 or 400 CN developed locally or even transferred to CD. It helps to have some film developed locally from time to time, to check if everything is going well.

The "best" type of film depends on your preferences, your subjects, your equipment and the final use you plan for the photos. It is simpler if you stick to one type of film or at least to a single ISO, in order to minimize the chance of errors and to simplify processing, later on. Also, you should choose a type of film that you are familiar with and used to processing, if you develop your BW yourself.

A few months of waiting for development should not affect your images, unless film is exposed to radiation, heat or humidity. Keep unused film in the original canisters. Reuse the canisters for exposed film (cut the leader, so you don't confuse them with fresh rolls!), and keep exposed film in a plastic, closed bag, as far away from heat as you can.

 

[joklys]

Thanks, everybody, for your advice.

I think I try chromogenic film...

 

[keithwms]

In my opinion, the Kodak chromogenic film has harsh highlight rendering and isn't as sharp as I had hoped/expected. Not a versatile film for outdoors. It really isn't in the same league as xp2 which is (unfortunately) far more expensive and hard to get in some places.

Generally, I found the 400CN to blow too easily; so personally, I don't think this is a versatile travel film at all. I used it on travel in Manhattan and a few other places and was quite disappointed and quickly went back to xp2.

Sure 400CN is cheap and easy to develop... but it's kinda tricky to scan properly and very tricky to print traditionally on b&w paper- it can be done but you have to work pretty hard on the contrast because of the coloured film base. I had to do some b&w printing for a friend and it took me many hours in the darkroom to get everything to look half decent. Bear in mind that 400CN is meant to be printed on colour paper.

Also bear in mind that you can't really push the chromogenics like you can the traditional b&w films. yes they are smooth and grainless when shot around the box speed or maybe a stop or two up or down but that's it. So they're just not versatile enough for travel, in my opinion.

...just my unvarnished opinions... YMMV as they say... 😉

 

[sepiareverb]

If you are travelling much by air- the slower films will be more able to take the carry-on baggage scanners for times when a hand inspection isn't possible. I'd also suggest bringing some Fed-Ex supplies and shipping films home to a friend a few times. I've lost films once while on the road- a terrible sinking feeling followed by some pretty good anger at myself. A fed-Ex account makes it easy to drop a package into one of their boxes, and locations of the drop boxes are available online. This last trip I sent the film ahead to my sister, then shipped it back home before getting on the plane. No worries about xrays, and one less VERY important parcel to worry about.
Knock wood- Fed-Ex has never lost a package on me, and you can insure each package for whatever you wish. A thought.

 

[DavidH]

Knock wood- Fed-Ex has never lost a package on me, and you can insure each package for whatever you wish. A thought.

🙂
Fed Ex lost a package of slides of mine - the package never made it to the depot just 10 miles away! The slides were for a client, were taken in the jungles of Costa Rica (i.e. somewhat hard to replace) and were the only copies...and were never found.
To add insult to injury, 'Castaway' was the TV movie that night...I think I invented new swear words...

A couple of years later I used Fed Ex again...to ship some essential survival gear to the Philippines for a shoot. With all paperwork complete and forward cleared customs, it should have taken 2 days to get to Manila. FIVE days later it had got as far as Paris (I could walk to Paris in a couple of days from the office) and it took days of shouting and expensive phone calls to find out where the boxes were and get them moved.

DHL might be a good bet though... 😉

FWIW, Delta 100 and 400 and HP5+ have travelled with me on extended trips to the Amazon and Arctic, handled 10+ carry on bag scans and had no issues at all.

Happy travels and shooting.

 

[sirius]

Where I live, slide film costs $20 a roll to develop and two weeks to process. It's off the list of options for me. I've seen gorgeous work done with Kodak Kodachrome, it's notoriously precise in terms of needing the right exposure but, ooh the colour. There are lots of beautiful professional slide films.

In terms of regular off the shelf films, I love the rich colours of fugi, especially fuji reala ISO 100. It's lovely with fine grain and rich colour! I like the Ilford XP2 very much for chromogenic black and white. It has tremendous latitude, but it does not respond well to underexposure. I suggest exposing it at ISO 250---the grain just gets more fine when overexposed. I like these films because you can get some developed on the road when you are in a big city for a day or two.

Have a great trip and make lots of wonderful memories!