Today I took the plunge...

[mrdoser]

...and bought a Bessa R2A with 21/4 Skopar. After lurking in this forum for quite some time I finally decided to take the step. A 35/2.5 PII is also on its way now (from Stephen Gandy) so looking forward to that.
The Bessa will co-exist with my dslr and will mostly be used for b&w at the wider end. At least that's what I had planned for it 🙂

So far it feels more solid than I expected and rangefinder focussing works like a charm (I'm new to rf-camera's). The first roll of film I loaded is Fuji Superia (color), just to get a feel for the camera. What kind of c41 b&w film do you use? Sadly I have no darkroom nor the skills to develop myself so I guess those nice grainy b&w's will have to wait.

Looking forward to hanging around here!
cheers

 

[Fedzilla_Bob]

Try out a roll of Ilford XP Super 2 400 asa. I Like what happens in highlights with this film. A good alternative is Kodak BW 400cn.

 

[TPPhotog]

Like Bob I'd also recommend Ilford XP2. I like to rate it at 320 or even 250 but have it processed normally at 400, the highlights are very difficult to blow.

 

[FrankS]

Welcome to the fold, Mr. Doser!

 

[peter_n]

Ilford XP2 - great film! And welcome to the forum! 🙂

 

[wlewisiii]

If I use c41, I really prefer the new Kodak BW400CN pro film. One thing to watch out for is if you're using filters - they tend to act one step further than expected. IOW, a yellow is like an orange and so forth.

But you've got a great camera and lenses so you'll have fun irregardless of what you choose to shoot. And that's the real point of our game.

William

 

[MCTuomey]

Congrats on your purchase. I'm very fond of my R2A, esp its bright VF. I highly recommend the 35/1.7 and the 75/2.5. I'll admit that I shoot it as much as my M4 - I think that fact signifies the pleasure of its use.

In my limited experience so far, I'd have to say that all the Ilford 400 speed films seem made for this camera and the CV lenses I own. i've run Delta Pro, HP5+, and XP2 and like them all, although for different reasons. Going to try neopan 400 shortly. I really like Tri-X in it as well, but not if I expect to scan heavily.

Good luck and post some photos.

Mike

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

C41 B&W? Ilford XP2+, no doubt. I really don't like Kodak's offerings. It's a matter of personal taste, I guess.

"Real" B&W? Kodak's Tri-X and Plus-X, then Ilford's FP4+ and HP5+. Not fond of the Delta emulsions. Agfa's APX 100 is a league of its own; beautiful film; develop only with Rodinal.

 

[Doug]

XP-2 here too, and I'm with Tony on being generous with exposures... I set my meter to EI 250 for this film, but it's not necessary to confuse the lab girls by telling them this. 🙂

The R2a with the 21 should be lots of fun. I also got just a body and 21mm earlier this year and very much enjoyed learning its field of view.

Edit: I guess I could add a shot with XP-2 Super, too...

 

[mrdoser]

Thanks for the welcome all! Guess I will be trying out XP2 then.
My next purchase will have to be a negative scanner to be able to share some photos.

I have to say I'm very impressed with the Bessa build quality. Don't know exactly why, but somehow I was expecting much less. It will take a lot of practice before I am able to produce something like those quality shots I've seen here. But I'm feeling confident with the camera already.

Btw do most of you guys (and girls) develop your films yourself?

cheers,
Marcel

 

[TPPhotog]

Marcel you will find that XP2 and film scanning is a match made in heaven 🙂 As we have already said if you rate it at 250 or 320 don't tell the lab and have it processed as if it was shot at 400.

Btw Welcome to RFF, sorry I forgot the welcome in my earlier post 😀

 

[rover]

Congratualations and welcome....

I will throw my vote in for Kodak BW400CN. I have had better luck getting good results back from the lab with it than I have with XP2. That is probably my lab though, not a knock against the Ilford stuff.

 

[mrdoser]

cheers Tony, I will try that. I got some rolls of XP2 today. I'll also try the Kodak BW400CN film and see what results I get. Is one more grainy than the other?

Can't wait to go outside to shoot some, but have to work first..Oh and I have to check the Darkroom forum to ..uhm.. check out which film scanners are recommended 😀

 

[Richard Black]

I have found the labs in my area provide better processing on the Kodak C-41 processable films than on the XP-2. The color masks Kodak uses it most like that for color film and the processor does not have to mess with the settings to get the correct print settings. I like both and if I plan to scan from negatives I use XP2 due exactly to the reverse of what I said before. The Epson 3170 is easy to use with negatives and I don't have to adjust the color to get b&w from Ilford's film. Look at my gallery in the Fuji 645 for some recent BW400CN shots. And, I am not trolling for comments, just want to show you what is possible. The caution about the filters is true. BE CAREFUL with orange and red!

 

[GeneW]

One film I get very good results with is Superia 800. Excellent speed and very tight grain. Converts to B&W nicely with good tonal range. You might want to try out a roll (it's often very inexpensive as well).

Gene

 

[peter_n]

Thanks for the welcome all! Guess I will be trying out XP2 then.
My next purchase will have to be a negative scanner to be able to share some photos.

I have to say I'm very impressed with the Bessa build quality. Don't know exactly why, but somehow I was expecting much less. It will take a lot of practice before I am able to produce something like those quality shots I've seen here. But I'm feeling confident with the camera already.

Btw do most of you guys (and girls) develop your films yourself?

cheers,
Marcel

Congrats on the new camera! I forgot to say that above but you should have fun with the 21 and the 35mm Pancake II is a great lens. Many here develop themselves (but not C-41) or want to (like me) and as you can imagine, there are lots of opinions about film/developer combinations. There are some real film development experts here and when the time comes to learn about that ask away! 🙂

 

[vha]

I absolutely recommend the Ilford XP-2, set the iso at 200 and use a yellow-green filter, X0.
Did some tests 3 years ago when i was working as a photographers assistant, first different filters and a macbeth colour chart and then just X0 and different exposures. When that's said I´v been using the xp-2 for the last five years, and processing the film myself at work, nice to have a Fuji Frontier to play with after closing time 🙂

The limit for XP-2 is 400, at 800 it gets grainy and not so fun, have tried to compensate and develop it to 1600, but no effect. When you expose it form 100 iso and lower the black tones is not so black anymore, but the mid-tones is nice. down to 12 iso is quite fun, but just mid tones, and you have to print it yourself, since the lab-people who doesn't know doesn't know how to handle it. And since xp-2 is quite addictive I recommend to buy 40 or 60 rolls at a time, like i do 😀

Here in Buenos Aires I´m just a regular customer to a lab which uses a Afga digital lab, ok, but no Frontier quality, nor XP-2 to buy either. So if your lab have a Agfa D-lab, the Kodak works best there, tested with one roll of xp-2 , but it was not the same as home . .. 😉

 

[djon]

I'm using a new Nocton 1.5 on my Canon P... may get another Canon rfdr... or...

I've been shooting Fuji Neopan 400, rated at either 800 or 1600, processing in Tetenal Emofin, a two bath developer (easier than it sounds). This produces a very low-grain neg at 800, and at 1600 it doesn't draw attention to grain. This holds highlight detail all the way, and it looks deep into shadows. The only drawback is that it's so fast I have to shoot at 250/f16 most of the time: very bright in NM during the day. Makes the 1.5 overkill most of the time, Vs my lovely slow 35 3.5 Summaron.

I hate to use multiple emulsions but I may look for something that extends tones by downrating to 100, same as the Velvia I use in my FDs (Velvia's wildly too contrasty for people pictures in this sunlight).