Which film for no flah-gig/concert photos?

a_spaceman · Nov 8, 2008

i would like to take some photos during concerts with my minolta srt101b
i'm not a fan of flash in these situation so i'd like to avoid the use of it.
what i need is a fast film to combine with my pretty fast lens (1.7) and fast shutter speed.
should i go for a 400? 800? 1600?
any input/review/personal experience/advice welcome!
thanks a lot!
a.

epp_b · Nov 8, 2008

Never heard of an f/1.7 lens, but I used an f/1.8 lens with my D40 at ISO 800 if that helps you at all. Just go with the fastest film you feel is a reasonable quality.

a_spaceman · Nov 8, 2008

epp_b said:
Just go with the fastest film you feel is a reasonable quality.

guess i could change the question in "what fast film has a reasonable quality?" then

PatrickHMS · Nov 8, 2008

a_spaceman said:
guess i could change the question in "what fast film has a reasonable quality?" then

Most any unexpired name brand film you would buy (either color or b/w) will have a "reasonable quality" unless you push it too far, then any of them could become too "grainy" and produce poor quality results.

a_spaceman · Nov 8, 2008

thanks to you both for the feedback!
i yet have to get friendly with high iso films, so i'm not too sure how much different are 400, 800 and 1600 as i never used any of these..!

PatrickHMS · Nov 8, 2008

With those ISO's, are you planning to shoot in Color or B/W ???

a_spaceman · Nov 8, 2008

i'd shoot in colour... would that work? or would a good old 200 handle the job anyway?

Paul Ron · Nov 10, 2008

TMax 3200... http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/2007/07/kodak-t-max-3200.html

Battou · Nov 10, 2008

epp_b said:
Never heard of an f/1.7 lens, but I used an f/1.8 lens with my D40 at ISO 800 if that helps you at all. Just go with the fastest film you feel is a reasonable quality.

They do exist, I have two of them and a third one just bought in transit
Sears M-42 50mm 1.7
Chinion M-42 55mm 1.7
Minolta MD 50 1.7

@ the OP

I am assuming that the listed speeds are what you have access to directly?

If so go with 800, the grain on 800 is managable and should be fast enough to do the job. I shoot a lot of 800, it's nothing to avoid. I have not ever shot 1600 but from my experience with consumer grade 1000 the grain is intolerable.
If not and you are going online to buy pro grade 1600 that is not available in the store go with the 1600 or even go up to 3200, but keep the ideaology and expectation of grain in the back of your head.

*EDIT*

a_spaceman said:
i'd shoot in colour... would that work? or would a good old 200 handle the job anyway?

No, I doubt 200 is going to cut it.

randerson07 · Nov 10, 2008

Fuji has a Superia 1600 color negative film that Ive seen decent results from. Never used it myself but I would give it a go if I were shooting color at a show. Otherwise Ive heard Kodak Portra 800 has awesome latitude. I think I read Helen on this forum say its decent from 200-1600.

I personally would either shoot Tmax P3200 or I would bring 400 B&W film and push as far as I needed to go obtain the shutter speeds needed to capture movement. I once pushed Tmax 400 to 6400 and got pretty good results minus some bromide drag from bad developing techniques on my part.

The one thing you dont want is to bring a film that is too slow, Id rather get grainy shots that blurry ones.

bhop · Nov 10, 2008

For color film low light, I like Fuji 800z. Assuming the lighting at the show you're going to will be like most, you should be able to get some decent shots with a wide aperture. I have a few night/indoor shots taken from last weekend in Vegas with my F100 at f/2.8 (widest my 24mm goes), handheld.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhop73/3012640556/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhop73/3012640662/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhop73/3012640508/

I shot some pics of The Black Keys with some 400iso b/w film pushed to 800, this was with a 105mm f/2.5 lens mounted on my FE. It should give you an idea of show lighting with 800 speed
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhop73/2798545765/in/set-72157604203467163/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhop73/2799395268/in/set-72157604203467163/

gsgary · Nov 10, 2008

I have tried Ilford HP5 and Ilford Delta, not shot much film though

HP5 pushed to 1600 but it can be pushed to 3200

Delta 3200 @ 3200

Mike_E · Nov 10, 2008

The last time I shot an SRT 101 in those conditions with that lens was 30 years ago. I got decent results from Kodak 400 whatever it was. (I' gettin old!

)

If I were doing it today I think that I would go with Fuji Superia 800 and when I got there make a decision whether to push it when I metered the lighting. As stated it's nice and smooth for ISO 800 and is fine at 1600 for 8x10 and below. If you don't mind a little grain and are really careful 11x14 is doable.

Nice camera and lens BTW, I still have mine.

a_spaceman · Nov 12, 2008

thank you all very much for the suggestions!
just one doubt i have... what do you mean by pushing? do i push by using a -say- 800 film and setting my camera at 1600? does it give me more exposure?
sorry for the probably silly question, but i've been reading about push-pulling and quite didn't get the whole thing as i've also heard these terms about developing techniques... think i need to tidy up my mind a bit, that it!

Mike_E: it's indeed a good camera, i'm happy with the photos i've taken so far! hopefully a 24mm will be soon added, can't wait!

ksmattfish · Nov 12, 2008

Battou said:
They do exist, I have two of them and a third one just bought in transit
Sears M-42 50mm 1.7
Chinion M-42 55mm 1.7
Minolta MD 50 1.7

Don't forget the legendary Pentax K-mount 50mm f/1.7 Fantastic lens, and super cheap!

a_spaceman said:
guess i could change the question in "what fast film has a reasonable quality?" then

It depends on what you think is "reasonable".

I liked Tri-X 400 rated at ISO 1250 to 1600, and developed in Diafine. I got better results from that than any BW film with a label rating higher than ISO 800 (Tmax 3200, Delta 3200, and Neopan 1600 were the ones I had tried). Diafine is a compensating developer so it really helps with the extreme dynamic range I usually encountered at shows.

My favorite high speed color film was Fuji's pro 800 (I can't remember the initials now, besides they've probably changed the name). I shot it at ISO 800, and tried to overexpose a bit when I could. It did not look good underexposed, but then again nothing else did either.

In the end though, I decided that 35mm film just didn't have "reasonable quality" for no-light, band photography no matter what I did. The super coarse grain was tolerable for the subject matter, but not to my taste. I switched to shooting medium format so I could get away with less enlarging. That helped the quality more than any tricks I was able to pull off in the darkroom.