Lost in Film

[Tijmendal]

That looks really good Zauhar!
I've been on a little film-break after I exhausted my film a little over half a year ago and really want to start shooting film again.
I think I'm gonna order two 100ft rolls of Arista Premium, 100fter of Arista EDU (400 of course) and a bulk roll of Kentmere 400.
Now I just have to decide whether I want to get the rebranded Fomapan an Kentmere from Freestyle too...

 

[Tbreslow]

Hi! FWIW I use the 100ft rolls of Arista Premium aka TriX. It's a really good deal. I stick with Diafine or Rodinal. I'm not experienced enough to play with developers too much or tune the Zone system.

 

[OurManInTangier]

Having had a project in Gambia fall through that was supposed to take up most of January ( it looks like I'll be heading out either in May or October now) I've pushed a little pet project forward, documenting the Suffolk Coast pathway along nearly 90 miles of its beautiful and often desolate coastline.

I've now got my first two rolls of Fomapan 200 and two rolls of Kentmere 400 to dev in HC-110 and I'm hoping someone may have some good tips for dev times/dilutions etc. As I'm new to both emulsions I started off simply rating both at box speed.

...and when I got home I found a Canon 50 1.4 on my doorstep, I know, where's the relevance? Who cares, I've got my kit back, I'm back into film and I seem to be photographing more freely than when I was digital - time for a big cheesy grin😀 or two 😀

Any suggestions or tips are appreciated.

 

[Filzkoeter]

That's Kentmere400 @400-600 in xtol 1+2 for 14,30 min at 20°C.

Unfortunately I've got no times for HC110 yet... but that's for sure the next combination I'll try. Look for times in Ilfotec HC, since this is basically ilfords version of HC110 (and for Ilfotec HC there are published times for K400)

 

[Photo_Smith]

I've pushed a little pet project forward, documenting the Suffolk Coast pathway along nearly 90 miles of its beautiful and often desolate coastline.

Any suggestions or tips are appreciated.

That's my area of the world. That coastline is a great mixture of cliffs and estuaries.

It can be quite bleak:

I love the area from Dunwich up to Pakefield I could spend the rest of my life taking pictures of that area.
This is on Fomapan 200 in Rodinal on that coast

 

[mfogiel]

With Fomapan 200 my recommended developers would be FX 39 and Rodinal. You should expose around EI 125. I have also found, that fixing in alkaline fixer reduces the chance of getting holes in the emulsion, but maybe this is not entirely scientific. One of the things I do not like about this film, is the difficulty of getting darker skies, even with the red filter on. It looks like this film has an in-built blue filter.

This one is in Prescysol EF


2008090536 by mfogiel, on Flickr

This in Rodinal


MF20121110 by mfogiel, on Flickr

and this in FX 39


2008090201 by mfogiel, on Flickr

 

[OurManInTangier]

One of the things I do not like about this film, is the difficulty of getting darker skies, even with the red filter on. It looks like this film has an in-built blue filter.

An interesting point and one I'd concur with, despite my meagre experience so far. I was shooting Fomapan 200, at box speed, in Aldeburgh trying to get cloud detail and shadow detail - no chance. My next experiment with Fomapan will be to pull it back a little as so many have recommended that.

That's my area of the world. That coastline is a great mixture of cliffs and estuaries.

Nice shots of a coast I know well, whereabouts are you? There's a good chance we may bump into one another as I'll be photographing between Shotley and Lowestoft until next winter.

I've attached a quick snap I took on Kentmere 400 dev'd in HC-110 1:31 for 5mins, I found the recipe via Google, and am rather impressed with the lack of grain (considering I can get golfball grain from PanF 😱)

Sorry for the nasty watermark, I hadn't realised I'd left it set-up for watermarking.

 

[gsgary]

Hi.
You could also try Fomapan from Silverprint which I believe is quite popular and very reasonably priced.

http://www.silverprint.co.uk/Catalogue.asp?PrGrp=221

I second the Fomapan (developed in Rodinal) i use a lot of 400 and have got lovely result

 

[Filzkoeter]

I've attached a quick snap I took on Kentmere 400 dev'd in HC-110 1:31 for 5mins, I found the recipe via Google, and am rather impressed with the lack of grain (considering I can get golfball grain from PanF 😱)

Looks good! Exposed at 400? How do the negatives look like? (Kentmere instructions say 8 minutes for Ilfotec HC, which basically is HC110, 1+31 at 400)
K400 + HC110 is what I'm planning to try next

 

[OurManInTangier]

Looks good! Exposed at 400? How do the negatives look like? (Kentmere instructions say 8 minutes for Ilfotec HC, which basically is HC110, 1+31 at 400)
K400 + HC110 is what I'm planning to try next

Yes, exposed at 400. In all honesty I thought the negs looked a little thin when I hung them to dry but they seem to be scanning quite well. I'm planning to extend development to around the 8 min mark for my next two rolls which will give me a benchmark to find a good point between 5 and 8 mins - unless of course I find a little longer still works best.🙂

I second the Fomapan (developed in Rodinal) i use a lot of 400 and have got lovely result

The Fomapan does appear to be quite contrasty yet the detail you have in the highlights and richness of the blacks are clear for all to see. Perhaps my issues there lay with the HC-110, though I'd rather avoid Rodinal as I struggle to contain the grain as it is. I still have some experimentation to do with EI, solutions and dev times etc.

I've got a brick of Agfa APX to try out too and I wonder if it may be a case of either the APX or Fomapan 200 winning the 'slow' film race, the K400 looks to me like its good enough (and cheap enough) to stop me buying some of the more expensive brands in the 400 bracket - but more work needed before such conclusions can be made.

 

[gsgary]

Yes, exposed at 400. In all honesty I thought the negs looked a little thin when I hung them to dry but they seem to be scanning quite well. I'm planning to extend development to around the 8 min mark for my next two rolls which will give me a benchmark to find a good point between 5 and 8 mins - unless of course I find a little longer still works best.🙂



The Fomapan does appear to be quite contrasty yet the detail you have in the highlights and richness of the blacks are clear for all to see. Perhaps my issues there lay with the HC-110, though I'd rather avoid Rodinal as I struggle to contain the grain as it is. I still have some experimentation to do with EI, solutions and dev times etc.

I've got a brick of Agfa APX to try out too and I wonder if it may be a case of either the APX or Fomapan 200 winning the 'slow' film race, the K400 looks to me like its good enough (and cheap enough) to stop me buying some of the more expensive brands in the 400 bracket - but more work needed before such conclusions can be made.

http://monochromephotography.com/photo_3401801.html
This is a developer i really want to try

 

[OurManInTangier]

http://monochromephotography.com/photo_3401801.html
This is a developer i really want to try

Barry's book 'Elements' was the first photography book I really struggled with. Some of his images simply didn't "light my fire" on a personal level but his ability as a printer was also, again personally, almost intimidating. I think I almost gave up before I started having seen the level of technical expertise he had and the sheer hard work, practice and experimentation he must have put in over the years.

 

[Godfrey]

I'm looking for a "replacement" for Plus-X when my stock runs out. Tried FP4+ and wasn't impressed. Recently, I've shot a few rolls of Fomapan 100 and this looks promising. You can get it pretty cheap from Freestyle, re-badged as Arista.edu Ultra 100

I shoot a lot of TMax these days. TMax 100 has become my go-to film for landscape photography.

I started doing more film work again last year. Haven't given up my digital gear, but I have everything there that I could want and then some.

I've used two B&W emulsions last year and this: Ilford XP2 Super and Fuji Neopan ACROS 100. The latter would be my pick for a Plus-X replacement, and at a much higher quality level. It has a beautiful quality to it.

A little aside:

The price of film and processing doesn't bother me much (personally) as I don't intend to shoot so much of it that it's a problem ... that's what digital capture is great for, when I know I'm going to make many many exposures to achieve my goals. For the twenty-thirty rolls of film a year in 135 and 120 format I'm likely to shoot, a couple of dollars one way or the other isn't going to be a big deal.

The cameras I've acquired are all pretty unique and interesting one to the next, so most of my film photography money in the past year to now has been put into getting the equipment I want to work with. Now that I have the equipment, I'll just be using it and consuming a bit of film now and then.

onwards!
G

 

[redisburning]

I haven't quite found the cure-all for me.

Acros in rodinal 1+50 for 120 and HP5+ in the same for 4x5 are just about perfect but I still struggle with 35mm.

Neopan 400 was MY film if you know what I mean but I moved on. I dont actually have any 35mm film right now due to oversight so Im shooting LF for the time being but the next film order is going to be Acros.

edit: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I just ordered several rolls of 400TX