Favorite film for low lighting?

[timothyd]

Hey, I am going on a European trip and I am building my set of camera stuff to bring. I am using my Bessa R2M, and bringing Ilford HP5 400, and Kodachrome. What film do you like to use in low lighting? I dont want to be unable to take photos once the sun goes down. So please give me suggestions about film for dark situations, b/w and color. Thanks.

 

[charjohncarter]

You will get a number of pushing suggestions, but this has been the best thing I've found for low light:

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=2701&pid=3035

It isn't very exciting but works. Even the tripod adverse sites don't realize what you are doing:

Here is one from Turkey:

This is Tmax100.

 

[sooner]

Great picture! Is this from the Haarem tour at Topkepi palace?

 

[vieri]

I don't shoot much color film, and no high ISO so I can't help you re: color.

BW: I would go either with Neopan 1600 or Tri-X, both exposed between 1200-1600 ISO according to your contrast preferences. For ease of use, I would develop them in Diafine (ok for both, and you could try both and develop them both at the same time in the same tank); recently, I used 510-Pyro for Neopan @ 1200 ISO & 1600 ISO with very good results, which was quite a pleasant surprise.

Enjoy!

 

[semrich]

When I travel the fastest film I take is 400 because I don't know or have any experience with anything faster than that going through the security X-ray system for hand luggage.

 

[papasnap]

As you're taking kodachome, I can see you're not averse to a bit of slide film. For working in low light, I can't recommend Fuji Provia 400X enough - or failing 400X, it's predecessor Provia 400F. You can leave it at 400 or easily push it 1 or 2 stops - if you look in my gallery you can even see a couple of shots of mine using 400F pushed 3 stops.

Obviously it's less forgiving to work with than colour neg, but if you're used to working with slide then it gives amazing results when you get it right. Basically all I shoot these days is Provia 400X pushed 2 stops to iso 1600 - combined with the 35mm f1.2 nokton it makes working available light a real pleasure!

 

[vieri]

When I travel the fastest film I take is 400 because I don't know or have any experience with anything faster than that going through the security X-ray system for hand luggage.

That would make it a good case for Tri-X & Diafine 😀 I am just back from Prague, I brought and used a few rolls of Neopan 1600 and they looked fine - however, of course I have no means to know how would they look if they didn't go through the X-ray machine 🙄 One more thing, I think that if you bring them with you the machines for carry-on checking are way less harmful than those used on checked baggage - Prague's check-in desk had a sign recommending to carry exposed film and not leave it in checked baggage (and so I did).

 

[Keith]

I pushed HP5 to 1600 a while ago and was very impressed with the results so I'd go with that if you like the film already.

 

[parasko]

For working in low light, I can't recommend Fuji Provia 400X enough - or failing 400X, it's predecessor Provia 400F. You can leave it at 400 or easily push it 1 or 2 stops.

Basically all I shoot these days is Provia 400X pushed 2 stops to iso 1600 - combined with the 35mm f1.2 nokton it makes working available light a real pleasure!

Papasnap, do you rate 400x at 1600 and then push process 2 stops?

400x produces fantastic results rated at 400. Minimal grain for 400 speed film. Rated at 1600 and push processed 2 stops, the results have been terrible for me..very grainy and by my standards unacceptable. However, I have rated it at 1600 and push processed 1 stop with acceptable results. Hence, I'm assuming you could also rate it at 800 and process as normal with good results. I'm still experimenting with this film and low light shooting and may have more results by next week.

Tri-X at 1600 is grainy (I have used D-76 and Rodinal) but has a certain look which I find appealing. I have also seen images on flickr (search for photographer Telonous??) of Neopan 1600 rated at 800 and 1600, using D-76, and results look good (on the web anyway).

 

[sweathog]

Neopan 1600.
I've pushed both HP5 and Delta 400 to 1600, but the results from Neopan 1600 always get my juicces going!

 

[kshapero]

I use A Fuji color 800 and bring a ND filter with me for daytime or just pull one stop.

 

[pvdhaar]

I've shot Fuji Neopan 1600 and Kodak TMZ3200 in low light. Both work fine when shot at 1250 ISO. What's better is a matter of taste; TMZ still keeps it's more grainy appearance, Neopan is smoother but very high contrast. The biggest thing to worry about though with both of them is underexposure. Especially under low light, it's tempting to focus all attention on the subject only, and ignore those highlights that throw off the meter..

 

[charjohncarter]

sooner, no, that is the 'blue tile mosque' in Istanbul. I used my Olympus Stylus Infinity and the tripodette, and as I said Tmax100. Tmax100 is really too slow for travel, but I get great indoor images with it.

 

[like2fiddle]

For travel I prefer to keep things as simple as possible. So... for B&W I like Tri-x; I shoot at 250 daylight and develop in Rodinal; and then 1250 for low light and develop in Diafine. I also often shoot it at 400 or 800 and develop those rolls in HC-110. I add a piece of masking tape to each cassette when I load them (I like bulk film) and then I write on the tape which speed I am shooting/shot the roll at.

I don't shoot color in low light.

 

[fergus]

For colour, you could try Natura 1600 (from megaperls).

Cheers...