Lost in Film

OurManInTangier said:
I'm curious, looking at your pictures and how well held those highlights are, as to how well I'll deal initially with my exposures. Coming from so long underexposing to try and keep highlights from blowing out on a digital sensor to, if anything, overexposing to avoid blocking up the shadows on film - it's going to be fun.
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Hi Simon
My recipe is simple. I expose by metering for emerging detail (that is the darkest part of the image I want to record any density) and then stop down two stops. I let the highlights fall wherever they may.
In development I hold back the highlights with a combination of highly dilute developer and low agitation.

The best developer I've found for this is Rodinal although some don't like it because they feel it shows grain more, if this is true for you HC110/Ilfotec HC may be a good substitute.
I use medium format so Rodinal is perfect, together with HP5 (very shallow shoulder on the curve) it's not really possible to blow a highlight.

Mark Antony
 
Simon, welcome back to film. Just to add my recommendation for Mathers. They always had (and still do, as I see) competitive prices. Also, they send Special Delivery which means guaranteed next day delivery. It's kind of sad to see 7dayshop go down the drain. They used to be the cheapest and that made them worth the wait (usually about a week). Incidentally, some time ago I was checking my past orders with 7dayshop as far back as 2006. A roll of 36exp HP5+ 400 cost less than two quid. Slide film was also so very cheap. The heart sinks a little with today's prices.

By the way, I remember a series you made with Delta 400. The processing always seemed gorgeous to me. I don't know what could replace it. With current prices TriX and HP5 seem a good bet, different as they are. HP5+ 400 in particular looks great pushed to EI 800 (and beyond) for those grey months in Blighty.

Have fun, looking forward to your pics.
 
Rodinal is an old favorite of mine, and Pyrocat HD is the new favorite. IMO, you can't go wrong with either of them. I especially love Pyrocat for developing Tri-X.

As far as films go, I've tried ( and use ) a wide variety, but I always keep coming back to Tri-X. I'm going to start using a lot more of HP4 now that my Plus-X stash is running out. Now that Neopan 400 is back, I'd recommend trying that, as well. My only problem with it is that it doesn't come in 120!
 
Hi Alkis, thanks for the welcome back. Thanks for the heads up regarding the Special Delivery too, thats ceratinly worth knowing about, and I've got an indoors day tomorrow doing paperwork and waiting for a delivery so perhaps I'll do some ordering now if they'll get it to me tomorrow!

It sounds like I may well be experimenting alot more now than I did a few years back as availability plays its part. I wonder if its time to revisit HP5 and try and make it work this time around, plus, its been around for so long it seems a good horse to back in many ways.

I'll get myself some Rodinal and TriX when I can as I know that combo quite well but I'm looking forward to trying the HC 110.

Just got to wait for my new camera body to arrive - this is the hardest part!
 
Obviously there's a big difference between viewing the neg/print and a web sized image but that still looks pretty fine to me.

I'll have to post one of my shots on HP5, souped in HC110 when I have one. Guarantee huge grain and no tonal subtlety whatsoever:bang:😀
 
I'm sure you'll get great results Simon. HC-110 is a really forgiving developer. Almost every type of film I use takes 5 mins (apart form pushed film) with five gentle inversions every minute. You can't go wrong. 🙂

bobbyrab said:
Just qurious. What is it?
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A bit of performance art by Kitty Graham called the 'The Bare Earth'. It involves the performer slowly unearthing themselves from a large box of earth.
 
IF you want to buy bulk and roll your own I'm quite liking the Eastman double X 5222 Motion picture film. 400' for just over £100 direct from kodak (although you may have to go through a reseller for a single roll now). Its like a slower more contrasty tri-x IMHE, ISO 200ish and a bit grainy with good contrast, but that is what I want in a B&W film so suits me well.
 
I've been using Prescysol and Prescysol EF developers a lot recently - finding them foolproof and delivering beautiful results with all types of film.

One of the nice things about them is that all films take the same development time (I use the semi-stand method) so you can develop different films together if you like. It is an extremely forgiving developer so whilst you can experiment to see what works best for each film the standard time gives me exceptional results and I prefer it to Rodinal, ID-11, D-76 or others I've tried.

More info here - http://www.monochromephotography.com/section255920_83799.html

It's also very economical.
 
raytoei@gmail.com said:
Simon,

Fomapan 400@200, developed at higher temp for increased grain.

kellypitchcigar.jpg


raytoei
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I like that very much and I don`t often go for the grainy stuff. 🙂
I`ve got ten rolls of FP 400 in the fridge ...might give that a try.

Michael

PS When are you coming up to Manchester again Simon ? 🙂
 
Simon,

I am really looking forward to seeing your film images. Love your work and find it very inspirational.

I nearly exclusively use Delta 100 for 35mm developed in Ilfosol 3. Then Delta 400 as required. I purchase it in 100ft bulk and roll my own.

With medium format it's FP4 (or HP5 if required) or Acros 100 in Rodinal. I find this 'standardisation' makes things simple and I can concentrate on taking images.

All my film is purchased from B&H in the US as it is a third of the cost of film in Australia. Especially good considering the strong A$.

Cheers - John
 
kodak double x 5222

kodak double x 5222

Simon

Nice to have you "repent" and come back to film!😀

I suggest you check out the Kodak Double X 5222 thread started by Nokton84 and Tom A.
Hope you like what see there.
 
Michael Markey said:
PS When are you coming up to Manchester again Simon ? 🙂
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I've got no jobs in the offing Manchester way but if something comes up or I get some spare time (and cash🙁) I'll be up. On the proviso it doesn't take nearly 7 hours to get there like last time:bang:😀

johnmcd said:
Simon,

I am really looking forward to seeing your film images. Love your work and find it very inspirational.

I nearly exclusively use Delta 100 for 35mm developed in Ilfosol 3. Then Delta 400 as required. I purchase it in 100ft bulk and roll my own.

With medium format it's FP4 (or HP5 if required) or Acros 100 in Rodinal. I find this 'standardisation' makes things simple and I can concentrate on taking images.

All my film is purchased from B&H in the US as it is a third of the cost of film in Australia. Especially good considering the strong A$.

Cheers - John
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Thank you very much John, that's very kind of you.

When I first started with Rf gear and film I shot alot of Delta 100 (summer) and 400 (winter,) they're great films but I'd quite like to try some others just to see what they're like.

I've just ordered 10 rolls of Agfa APX 100 and 10 rolls of Kentmere 400 working out at around £2.90 per roll for the APX and £2.50 for the Kentmere - around the same sort of price I was paying a few years back🙂 Also got some HC110, fixer and wetting agent on order so as soon as my M arrives I should be good to go.

I'm surprised at how much film seems to cost you guys down there, no wonder you bulk order from the States!

Vincent.G said:
Simon

Nice to have you "repent" and come back to film!😀

I suggest you check out the Kodak Double X 5222 thread started by Nokton84 and Tom A.
Hope you like what see there.
Click to expand...

Thanks Vincent, all these suggestions are being noted and followed up on. I'll go and track that thread down now.
 
This has been a wonderful thread to read through, with a lot of good (and updated) advice.

My standby developer has been HC-110, although I've been sort of all over the place regarding conventional b/w film. Part of this is because I've been choosing chromogenics for most of my b/w work (mostly Kodak BW400CN over the last three years, and mostly Ilford XP2 before that). I still have a small backlog of film to soup before getting to grips with choosing a go-to conventional film...the fact that Fuji has apparently brought back Neopan 400 makes the decision-making process delightfully harder. (Of course, Neopan 1600 was my go-to high-speed film from them, but anyway...)


- Barrett
 
I'm about to shoot a few 100 iso films, since I mostly shoot in bright California sunlight. The guy at our camera store sold me a roll each of:
FP4+, Fuji Acros, TMax 100 and Delta 100. Before starting to shoot, I'm predicting Acros will win. I'll let you know. Welcome back to film, BTW.
 
Thanks for the welcome back Vic. I must be one of the few photographers not to be overly impressed by Fuji's Acros but then I'm one of the seemingly few who always quite liked FP4, rated at 100. Hope you enjoy testing them all out.

On a slight deviation from the original thread content; I'm now out in the snow with my pristine M6 that arrived at my door an hour ago and the VC 35 1.4 that arrived 10 minutes later. XP2 loaded for some quick test shots before loading some Agfa APX (also arrived this morning.) Freezing it may be but this is shaping up to be an excellent day.

Exciting times!

Thanks again to all the participants of this thread, hopefully we can continue sharing some of our film/ developer/ supplier experiences as I've found this extremely useful and I'm sure others have too.
 
Good luck with the new film setup Simon. Have fun choosing a film for it. My current favorite is Delta400 @ ei200 in HC-110 H. I always loved Tri-x but for my money the Delta beats it in terms of sheer ability to retain detail in highlights and shadows.
 
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