Film Discussion

ShutteredEye

TPF Noob!
Joined
Mar 1, 2005
Messages
2,411
Reaction score
41
Location
Arlington, TX
Website
www.theshutteredeye.blogspot.com
Can others edit my Photos
Photos NOT OK to edit
For those of you out there that still use film, can we have a discussion about different film brands and types?

I plan on shooting our engagement photo's relatively soon and would like to ensure I use top quality film as these are shots we will want to keep for the rest of our lives.

I am interested specifically high end 35mm color and b&w print films

and high end 120/240 color and b&w films.

I looked at the different offerings on B&H but the number of brands and types were a tad overwhelming.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
You'll find as many opinions here as there are brands.

You are just as likely to get poor results from an expensive roll as a cheap roll if you are not familiar with the film. More important than what brand you choose is to stick with a single film until you get to know it. Then you can more accurately assess which film you get the best results with.

I like to use Fuji NPS 160 and NPH 400 color neg film in both 35mm and 120/220. But I also get great results with plain old Kodak Gold 200, which is usually available for half the price (or less) than a roll of NPH.

I've been using Arista Pro 125 and 400 (BW neg film in 35mm, 120, and 4x5) for a while now, and it works well for me. It's supposedly re-labeled Ilford FP4 and HP5; I chose it because it was cheap so I could afford to shoot lots of it.
 
Get Fuji NPH 400 rated @ 320. I like how it's not too contrasty and it seems to have a nice "dimension" to it. Colors are very natural, and (esp. w/120) it's very smooth. And I think it scans well too.

Then there's Reala...
 
I've used Kodak 400TX and TMAX 100 Black & White print films. 400TX dissapointed me somewhat, but i've found that the high sharpness and fine grain in TMAX 100 film produces excellent results, especially in medium format applications. Congratulations on your engagement!
 
are you shooting it indoors? i heard, though i never tried it myself, that Fuji Astia 100 is a good choice for portraits and gives very good skin tone. Sharp and fine grained film, though it is a slide film. But you probably aren't interested in getting into the whole discussion of slide vs print.

Since you are shooting engagement photos, I'd say get the sharpest and finest grained film there are available so you can enlarge it without the grains showing.

btw, how you gonna know if you are posing the right way if you are the one shooting?
 
I like TMax 100 and Tri-X 320 for B&W. The Ilford ksmattfish mentioned is also very nice. I only shoot slide color film, so can't offer up anything for color print film. :)
 
For colour Fuji NPS 160 and NPH 400 is a pretty classic combination. This was used at my wedding and we were very happy with the results.
Make sure you find a good lab as well. My local lab prints Superia very well, but NPS not so well. I take my NPS to a better quality lab.
For B+W, Ilford films are nice. For portraits, go with the Plus range of films. The Delta range is better for landscapes IMHO.
 
I've also seen the following quote from David Carper (ILFORD Technical Service) elsewhere. I haven't tried this film myself.

XP2 Super is a chromogenic film, meaning that the image is composed of dye clouds rather than silver grains. It is processed in C-41 (color negative) chemistry, making it well suited for the photographer wanting to shoot black and white without doing the developing. XP2 Super is very fine grained, and becomes even finer grained with increased exposure. It has a very wide latitude, making it an ideal film for weddings, as it can hold detail in a wedding dress, without losing the detail in a dark tux. While it can be printed onto color paper, it is designed for printing on true black and white paper for the best results.
 
As Jasonmac noticed, the lab is very important too! Be sure to match your film of choice with their processing equipment of choice. I develop all my films at the lab that uses Fuji processes only (films developed in Fuji chemistry, on Fuji machines, later printed on Fuji paper), so I get the best results when using Fuji films!
 
Fuji Reala 100 and Kodak T-Max 400 are my personal favourites. T-Max gives a flattering grainy B&W image and Reala is great at accurate colour rendition to avoid any nasty red problems. A backup point-and-shoot or fully-manual body which take the same film (for the inevitable battery failures) is a good idea.
 
Anyone know if there is a difference between "Superia Reala" and just plain "Reala"? Is it the same film, just sometimes called by a shorter name? I know Superia Reala and Superia are different films, but is it the same deal with Reala?
 
Unimaxium said:
Anyone know if there is a difference between "Superia Reala" and just plain "Reala"? Is it the same film, just sometimes called by a shorter name? I know Superia Reala and Superia are different films, but is it the same deal with Reala?

I've been told that the 35mm Reala is a more newer "formula" than the 120 film format of Reala.

But the thing I don't understand is why the Japanese versions of the same type of film have different names than the rest of the world (i.e. "Venus"...I think is the same as the "Superia" line).

Fujifilm has the new Japan-only "Natura" 1600 high-speed film. Seems interesting, at least based on what I see on the site (and the minimal Japanese I can read). From what I've picked up, this special film is best paired with their "Natura" camera on ("non-flash" setting), with a very wide aperture.

More details:
http://fujifilm.jp/natura/
http://fujifilm.jp/natura/world/index.html

You can buy some of this film and the cameras at: http://www.unicircuits.com/shop/index.php?osCsid=54ecaa2362403531b0077031c29f2d07
 
Mumfandc said:
But the thing I don't understand is why the Japanese versions of the same type of film have different names than the rest of the world
It's just marketing. Apparently in Europe Kodak calls it's C-41 process BW "Tmax 400", while in the USA Tmax 400 is standard process BW. It's already caused some confusion in some posts here.
 

Most reactions

New Topics

Back
Top