Which Classic B&W Emulsions have you used?

[Nokton48]

The only change ever made to Eastman 5222 was to add a lubricant, to make it less prone to acquiring static charges, and flow more smoothly through 35mm Professional Hollywood Movie Cameras (eg: Panavision etc). No changes to the emulsion since the 1958 original formulation.

Amazing ain't it?

 

[Bill Clark]

Great idea!

I use, in addition to, Ilford black and white film. Have a 120 Delta 400 currently using.

And I recently bought some 120 HP5 Plus. First time!

 

[Nokton48]

Orwo NP20 and NP22 in 6.5x9 and 9x12cm sheets. Also Fotopan FF ISO 50 6.5x9cm (from Poland). Kodak High Speed Infared 2424 Aerographic 70mm, Kodak Plus-X Aero Recon Film 70mm, Kodak Surveillance Film 70mm, Kodak Plus-X Aerographic 2402 70mm. Unperforated 70mm Tri-X bought fresh from B&H, Efke 100 70mm unperforated 70mm from J&C Classic. Original Plus-X 70mm still in very excellent usuable condition. 35mm Panatomic-X also in excellent usuable condition.

 

[sepiareverb]

Unfortunately, ORWO is currently out of stock of UN-54 in both 35mm and 16mm in the USA.

Phil Forrest

I check the site often, But should perhaps not be pushing it on folks as I am getting close to the end of my stash.

 

[Freakscene]

I have used them all and still have at least a little of each, although I haven't checked recently if the Neopan 1600 has fogged.

The problem for me with motion picture films is that I like to wet print and all the motion picture film I have used has a much higher rate of defects than film for still purposes. I have never had an emulsion defect in a roll of Kodak film for still cameras (it happens, I know, just never to me) but I had about 10 in my first 400' of XX, and the Orwo I tried was worse. Spotting is one thing, but trying to repair a wet print that has a large defect is unnecessary hard work that I would rather avoid by using good film.

Marty

 

[bluesun267]

Unfortunately, ORWO is currently out of stock of UN-54 in both 35mm and 16mm in the USA.

Phil Forrest

ORWO has changed their distribution structure in the US, I understand. Colorlab is now the distributor for 16mm MP film and had it all in stock last time I checked. I'm not sure what's going on with 35mm.

 

[Fixcinater]

I have some cold stored Panatomic in 35mm, it still shoots like new. It's a very good film but it doesn't live up to the mythical "back in the good old days" legend that has been created for it.

Popular culture doesn't give modern emulsions the credit they deserve, IMO.

 

[x-ray]

I didn't consider Delta or TMax films as classics since they're so new but have shot all versions. I especially like Delta 100 and 400. Also have shot some of the Chinese film.

 

[J enea]

i used several and managed to keep some of them in my deep freeze. have 1 bulk roll of plus-x left and 7 220 rolls 3 bulk rolls of APX 100 and many many rolls of APX 25 in 120, which I love printing. It just has a magic to it that I can't seem to replicate with T-grain emulsions.

john

 

[Chuffed Cheese]

I stumbled on some 70’s Pan F rolls (8 rolls for £12 on eBay). That film, while not stored well, gave wonderful results. Now I’m chasing it down, lol, so it’s a long lost film to me.

 

[lynnb]

I learnt on Verichrome Pan in a Box Brownie 620 in the 1960s. I seem to remember it was the only bw film we could buy at the local Chemist shop. I can't remember what developer. I like the results, still have the negs.

In the 70s I used Panatomic-X and Tri-X, processed in D76. Liked them both. European films were hard to find in suburban Sydney back then, apart from Agfa, distributed and processed locally by Hanimex. The only Agfa product I used was Agfachrome reversal film, which exhibited strong colour fade and magenta cast over time.

 

[rfaspen]

Never used Verichrome. But, I have used all of the films in the poll, and still have one or two of them in the freezer.

I did really like Pan-X. I wish I was in a position to really exploit its capabilities back when I was a young stupid grasshopper. If it were still available, I'd be more worthy today. There are some modern "equivalants" that I should give a try. Adox has a very well respected slow ultra-fine grain film...

Just one roll of Pan-X left in the freezer. Another thread here on RFF has had me looking at that roll lately. Do I have the right subject? Not until a little later this spring, but I've decided to load it up and end the era.

 

[sepiareverb]

I have some cold stored Panatomic in 35mm, it still shoots like new. It's a very good film but it doesn't live up to the mythical "back in the good old days" legend that has been created for it.

Popular culture doesn't give modern emulsions the credit they deserve, IMO.

I’ve tried more than a few rolls of Panatomic-X in the last decade, all had been frozen, and none have looked like the rolls I ran in the early 80s. It always seemed like the ends of the range had been clipped off.

I find ORWO UN-54 to be one of the best films I’ve ever shot, period. I am also a fan of the Delta films in sheet formats under tungsten light, and for sheer range of uses HP5 is hard to beat.

 

[charjohncarter]

Verichrome Pan was the most lamentable loss of a B/W film stock for me. I shot this almost exclusively in the 1990s in my Rolleiflex and other cameras. There was nothing like it for tonality.

Me too! No question the most tonality with the least exposure knowledge.

I always like this shot by me with an Instamatic 104; lots of highlights and still shadows.



Untitled by John Carter, on Flickr

 

[sepiareverb]

Me too! No question the most tonality with the least exposure knowledge...

Very well described! Was Verichrome Pan ever available in 35mm?

 

[x-ray]

VP was never available in 35mm. i don't think it was available in anything other than paper backed rolls like 120, 620, 616, 127 etc. it may have been in film packs but not sure.

Edit: I looked up and found VP did come in filmpacks, at least 2x3 packs.

I bought a few rolls that expired in the early 80's. No idea how it was kept. I exposed a roll just for nostalgia and ran it in HC110 B. Unfortunately it was seriously fogged. I did the same with TX 35 dated late 80's and it was completely unusable with very heavy fog.unlike those films I bought a few rolls of mid 80's dated FX and exposed some and ran it in Mic-x and it was beautiful. Slow films, there's a chance they're ok thirty years out of date but faster films, no way.

 

[bluesun267]

I could be mistaken but I believe I've seen 126 size rolls of Verichrome at some point in the past. Why it was never in 35mm is a question for the ages.

 

[MaxElmar]

This kind of thread makes me miss Tom A. And Verichrome.

 

[znapper]

"Used" ?

I still have 50 rolls of Neopan 400 in 35mm and another 40 rolls in 120,about 40 rolls of Neopan 1600 and 40 rolls of Plus-x in 35mm and 120. 🙂

I am on the 23rd frame of a 36 frame roll of Neopan 400 in my Zorki as we speak and I shot a roll of 1600 before Christmas ^^

Heck, I still have some left overs from a pro-pack of TXP 320 in 120 (Now that is one cool film).

Never tried pre 2005 Tri-x to my knowledge (we used some 400 iso speed in school in 88/89, but it was never revealed what film it was) and other others are so vintage that I really don't know a whole lot about them, other that fans of those, tend to reveal their age a bit 😛

 

[x-ray]

I could be mistaken but I believe I've seen 126 size rolls of Verichrome at some point in the past. Why it was never in 35mm is a question for the ages.

It was in 126 and pretty much ever size that fit any kind of box camera. I have some family negs that were shot on roll film and the image area on the neg is approximately 4x5. For some reason though it was never in sheets but was in packs. I've only seen 2x3 but may have been available up to 4x5.

There were some really large roll sizes. I'm pretty sure Verichrome (original ortho version) came in rolls for circuit cameras. They would have been available up to 12" or possibly longer by whatever length was popular. I'd have to do some research.

For some strange reason VP was billed as an amateur film but I and several other pro friends prefered it over PX. I shot many hundreds of rolls of it.