what black and white film stock do you use

[welshzorki]

I couldn't find a thread about this unless it's in a totally different section so here goes.
Yesterday my new M4-2 arrived. first M for about 25 years for me. It's been wonderful holding and using one again. First thing I did was put a roll of black and white through her. Namely Ilford XP2 because my local lab can process it rather than sending off to be developed. Back in the day I was a fan of Tri-X but also used FP4 and HP5 quite a bit. XP2 comes across a little grainy but that could be due to the C41 process in my local lab.
So can you share you film stock and processing and examples of images. Also the lens used as this may make a difference alos. At the moment I'm using my only lens, a jupiter8 50mm f2, but I have a Voigtlander 35mm f2.5 Skopar on the way.

 

[welshzorki]

My first few shots from this camera
shot between f2 and f5.6 metered with iphone ap "Light Meter"

 

[Jake Mongey]

Perosnal favourites are Tri x , acros and rollei retro 80s
Tri x is just a classic and good all purpose film
acros has just amazing tones and no grain
And retro 80s can produce beautiful tones unlike any other film although its more of a special use as it has a learning curve and takes getting used to as well as perfect exposures

 

[LukeBanks]

Congrats on the new camera, she's a beauty. I shoot with a Bessa R3A but my 35mm work is mainly b/w and my current lenses are a Jupiter 8 and a Color Skopar 35 so should be pretty accurate to what you're asking. You won't be disappointed with the Skopar, it's a beast of a lens for the price.

My film stock of choice is Fomapan 400. From what I've read it can be a little marmite to some people, and those used to Tri-X sometimes find it a little flat (as far as I can tell, don't shoot me). Personally I love it for exactly that reason because I scan negatives. Lots of beautiful grey tones and the right kind of visible but fine grain that I like. I have it hand developed by Photo Fusion in Brixton, London, as I've always used them and they develop in Fomadon developer (new name for Rodinol). I trust them with my negs over anybody else, every film comes back perfect.

Jupiter 8 / Fomapan 400:

[/url]Train tracks by Luke Banks, on Flickr[/IMG]

I don't have a Skopar 35 / Fomapan 400 image on my Flickr to embed for you here but if you have Instagram you can find me on there @lukebanksphoto - The latest b/w work around London is all shot with that combination. If you don't have Instagram then let me know and I'll get an image on Flickr for you to embed here.

 

[Mackinaw]

For 35mm, I shoot Efke 25, Plus-X, Eastman 5222-XX, Tri-X and Ilford Delta 3200. Look at my fancy-schmansy website for pics.

Jim B.

 

[LukeBanks]

Here we go mate..

Color Skopar 35 / Fomapan 400

[/url]Nimrod Stairs by Luke Banks, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[Hatchetman]

If you want less grain than the XP2 I would go with TMax 100.

 

[barnwulf]

That is a beautiful M4-2. - jim

 

[kxl]

I still have a few hundred rolls of Neopan 400, but I also shoot HP-5, Tri-X and TMY.

And yes, that is a beautiful M4-2.

 

[welshzorki]

Thanks for the responses guys. so where are the recommended places to get tri-x or t-max processed and scanned / printed in the UK it's been a very long time since I deved my own film and much as I enjoyed it I don't want to start that again 🙂

 

[rodt16s]

Have you looked at Aperture, peak imaging, Aglab, DSCL... many list the service.
Ilford will do a service for their films
Not a cheap method though and limited in the flexibility offered when home processing

 

[welshzorki]

Have you looked at Aperture, peak imaging, Aglab, DSCL... many list the service.
Ilford will do a service for their films
Not a cheap method though and limited in the flexibility offered when home processing

My local lab has started offering a direct postal ilford service which I may try, I just wondered if any recommended anywhere in particular for tri-x or tmax. I'll look at the one's you've listed thanks.

 

[kshapero]

Ilford XP-2 shot at 100 ISO

 

[kumotaki]

I wouldn't call your shots that grainy. XP-2 is a very fine and contrasty film. If that's convenient, why not shoot it and let it teach you about its intricacies?
I am in love with everything Adox, but my all-time favourite is Adox Silvermax souped in Silvermax dev. Such creaminess is hard to beat. Shot with a modest Minolta AL-F:

 

[brennanphotoguy]

Personally I love Tri-X at all speeds but there's grain. That's gonna depend on a lot of different things though like exposure, developer, etc. If you want finer grain try FP4 or TMAX 100. Your XP2 images look great though! I always really like the stuff I see from XP2. I linked the Tri-X and TMAX image threads below to see some examples of those two.

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=158464

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=158276

And here's the XX thread as well.

http://rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52426

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Ilford films you have mentioned are still great and reasonably priced. I'm trying to buy HP5+ every time I have extra money, but often I just go with Kentmere 400.
Second line in my signature is the link to multi-page thread with bw images taken predominantly with M4-2.


M4-2, Color Skopar 35 2.5, HP5+, DR print on old FB paper.



M4-2, Jupiter-8, HP5+.

 

[amcrory]

I grew up shooting tri-x (320... it was the '80s) and plus-x. My favorite newer film lately is Fomapan 100. It's got sweet contrast, low grain, and it's dirt cheap. I like cheap. I develop at home with D-76 and sometimes R5 monobath for a slightlier "fluffier" feel. This is from my M3 and Summicron 50 DR. I've used Fomapan in my Canon 7 with a voigtlander 35/2.5 color skopar, and had very similar results.