What film emulsions available/common in the 80s and early 90s?

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We still have a whole bunch of Kodak Gold 100 and 200 from the 90s, but I'm wondering what films were commonly used in the mid-late 80s and the early 90s. Colour neg, slide, black and white, what was around in those days? Could you get Tri-X from general shops, or was that a camera-shop-only purchase?


I have the feeling I've asked this question before...
 
Archiver said:
We still have a whole bunch of Kodak Gold 100 and 200 from the 90s, but I'm wondering what films were commonly used in the mid-late 80s and the early 90s. Colour neg, slide, black and white, what was around in those days? Could you get Tri-X from general shops, or was that a camera-shop-only purchase?


I have the feeling I've asked this question before...
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I worked in a camera store/photo lab in the early 90s. Ektar 25, 100 and 1000 was in the store. Pretty sure we used Ektar 100 for most shoots and 25 for still life fine arts type shoots. Kodak Gold was common everywhere. I think slides was mostly Ektachrome. B&W was Tri-X, Plus X and T-Max (100,400, 3200). I think the C41 B&W was just coming online then but the equipment didn't handle it well, printed too purple. I think we sold Ilford and Fuji too but it was mostly Kodak that went out the door and all processing/printing was Kodak on Noritsu equipment.

Shawn
 
I'm attempting to visualize or perhaps even create the look of pictures I could have taken, had I used a camera more extensively in those days. I had a Kodak disc camera in the early 80s, but the camera I would have got myself in retrospect is the Olympus XA2. But what film would I have probably used back then? Were ASA 400 films common? Would I have likely used Kodak Gold? Would I have been able to readily buy Tri-X from the shops?
 
Of course, there were Kodachromes 25, 64, and 200.

Agfachrome came in 100, 200, and 1000, as I recall. I really liked the look of Agfachrome 1000 for window-light portraits. It had softer grain than Scotchchrome 1000.

- Murray
 
There were hundreds of films available then; just looked at a book from the mid 80's and 25 of the best slide films are listed because of their characteristics and there were several not listed...

For the Olympus you have to decide about the lens and film combination; were they (Olympus) thinking of Kodak print film for the big USA market or Fuji for the home market or (say) Agfa CT18 for the European market?

With the XA2 I would think Kodak's Gold 200 version or Fuji's C200 are the nearest.

If you want to be 100% certain look on ebay for 1980's magazines and buy them and study the adverts. The big double page spreads advertising film would be the best clue as to what sold best.

Have fun, David
 
I am proud of those of you who used and liked Agfa. I remember when it was a popular film back in the 50s and 60s. When I got into photography as a hobby as well as for crime scene photos, I could just never make if work. I sent it to the PX, and developed it myself; nothing worked. I would love to have known the secret as I saw some really great results from people using it.

David Hughes had a good suggestion if requiring a little more work. But you will find foreign and domestic. Fuji and Ilford were popular as well as some lesser known films.

Few used Kodachrome exclusively due to its cost, but it was popular. I used it a lot for personal use, but seldom for crime scene work due to the cost of prints. My boss once told me to make an order of a certain size on a big case. Kodak sent me a letter for confirmation. They said the would be happy to do what I asked, but wondered if I realized how many hundred dollars it would cost. I didn't and we quickly modified the order.
 
Don't forget all the various off-brand or store-brand stuff that used to be available. 3M, Scotchchrome, etc... Seattle Film Works was heavily advertised in newspaper inserts...


I shot several rolls of Kmart "Focal" slide film back in H.S. Then I switched back to Kodachrome... And promptly realized the Kmart film was garbage.
 
In Melbourne Australia I used Plus X (100 ASA), Tri-X, Panatomic X (32 ASA) Kodacolor 100 and 400 ASA, Kodachrome 25 and Kodachrome 64. Ektachrome 160. All bought from the local pharmacy. I also used Ilford FP4 in the mid 1980s and bought some in Italy and can’t remember if my local pharmacy had that too.
 
K-Mart discount stores were an unexpected wonderland of photo stuff. Almost every K-Mart photo department carried Panatomic-X, Plus-X and Tri-X, Kodachrome 25 and 64, and Ektachrome-X or 100, in addition to a bunch of consumer color neg films. If I recall correctly, they also sold their own store-brand film that was rebranded Agfachrome and enjoyed a serious-photographer following, and they had near-exclusive distribution of Scotch 640T, a 3M tungsten-balanced slide film with an ISO of 640 (pushable to 1280 if you didn't mind grain like rocks.) Some of their stores even had a small but useful selection of b&w chemicals and papers!
 
In FSU there was a variety of Svemas and Tasmas. Very rarely we could get Easter German ORWO :) BW speeds were 32, 64, 130, 250 (in ASA).

Oh, and they were without cartridges, so loading was an additional task. Plastic or metal (more common) cartridges were sold separately.
 
Definitely Plus-X, Tri-X and Kodachrome 64 and 200 were available in drug stores. Not need to go to a camera shop. Also, Kodacolor (it wasn't called Gold at first). Fujifilm was making inroads, and I think Superia was better than the Kodak color print film.
 
Has the quality of 800 speed color film changed a lot from the early 90's? I remember back then Kodak or Fuji 800 had ridiculous grain at 5x7 prints, but now I get fantastic quality at 20x30 using Lomo 800 (Kodak).
It could have been the typical awful 1 hour processing labs that caused it.. which is why I don't miss those 'film glory days'...
 
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