What B&W film to use ?

[karlori]

Well its almost the beginning of the new school year and to keep my mind entertained while I relax from learning I had an idea of a project.

This year my city has a lot of anniversaries and celebrations connected to a few old buildings left here by previous governments and regimes.
My idea is to shoot the old buildings, celebrations and events concerning these historical buildings, but want to shoot it only with film...
At the end of the year i might even make a photo-book with a theme and sort trough the best shots.
What i want is some suggestions on b&w film, developers and developing techniques that will give me the most uniform results throughout these few months. I will shoot 35, 120 and if i get lucky large format.
Will have access to Ilford, Fuji, Efke and Rollei films and chemicals.

What do you suppose I should use ? I plan to shoot throughout the day and possibly into the night so i could use ideas on both slow and fast films and would appreciate any suggestions on where to make and print my book online.

Thanks in advance !

Karlo

 

[charjohncarter]

I suggest Ilford: consistent, will be produced until the end of your project, lots written on development, the company has good quality control. Start out with one of their 400 films, but once you decide stick with it, you will require some time to 'understand' the film. So you don't want to be bouncing around.

 

[paulfish4570]

Yes, pick a quality film you know will be there. Go ahead and shoot a few rolls now of representative buildings/events and develop them to establish a base line for how you want your project photos to appear ...

 

[Mcary]

I suggest Ilford: consistent, will be produced until the end of your project, lots written on development, the company has good quality control. Start out with one of their 400 films, but once you decide stick with it, you will require some time to 'understand' the film. So you don't want to be bouncing around.

Agree!
A combination of HP5+ and say DDX along with a few ND filters and a tripod should give excellent flexibility while providing uniform results.

 

[mfogiel]

As suggested above - HP5+ in DD-X 1+9 or D76 1+1

 

[Vics]

I would use Ilford FP4+ and go to a tripod at night. Even with 400 film you'd have to use a tripod for the night shots.
Vic

 

[karlori]

The tripod is a nobrainer , i doubt i would get good results with my 500CM handheld after around 6PM ... Ilford would be really good as a go to solution as the shop i order from has a constant supply of fresh film and chemicals.
So HP5+ as the go to 120 film and FP4+ as the 135 film ?
Or should i randomly mix those two in both formats ?

Thanks for the feedback about the film and developing guys, now any ideas about a good online place to get the book printed ?

 

[NickTrop]

First time out? Tri-X, D76 would be my suggestion. That combo is near infallible.

Here, if you're doing black and white, this is your (and everyone else's) friend:
http://www.digitaltruth.com/devchart.php

Here's the site I used (pretty sure) when I did my first black and white:
http://www.photogs.com/bwworld/bwfilmdev.html

 

[karlori]

Nah, i have my Hassy for almost a year now and develop on my own for a few months...
I can't seem to come by Tri-X nowhere... I can get HSI film but no tri-x go figure :/

 

[NickTrop]

Nah, i have my Hassy for almost a year now and develop on my own for a few months...
I can't seem to come by Tri-X nowhere... I can get HSI film but no tri-x go figure :/

Yeah - I reread your intial post. My bad. You can't go wrong, really with any of your options. I'm partial to the Fuji stuff but the rest are just fine too.