35mm color and B&W film recommendations?

[Josh66]

Looking for some recommendations on 35mm film for color and B&W.

I'm currently using Fujifilm 200 film that I got at walmart recently, but I don't know how good it is. I can get Kodak Gold 200 at Target. I can get 400 and 800 also for both brands if I needed to. That's for color anyways.

For B&W film, I have no idea what to get or what to use. Recommendations and more information on this would be really helpful.

Thanks.

What film to use depends on the subject. Generally you want a softer look on a portrait ad colors to "pop" on a landscape. Also you can only change you ISO when you change film so you have to know what kind of lighting to expect.

Try Kodak "Portra 160" for "people photo" in controlled lighting. You wil not find it at Wallmart, go to the pro photo stores or order it from Freestyle Freestyle Photographic Supplies - Traditional Black & White Film, Paper, Chemicals, Holgas and ULF

For B&W you really have a wide choice. And it is the only kind of film to shoot. Go to Freestyle Photo and buy their "artisa EDU" brand. The 100 ISO film is $2.50 per roll. It is kind of like the older Kodak films, classic thick elusion that responds to push/pull development. The kind of film that Ansel Adams wrote about.

At the other end of the spectrum are the kodak "Tmax" films. They have a smoother "modern" look and should be proceed exactly "by the book using the tmax developer"

Kodak tri-X 400 has a harsh grainly look that you might like.

But the cheaper "EDU" film is worth trying and if you use a lot of it, like I used to then buy the 100 foot spools and the price goes to under $1.50 per roll. Then you process and scan it. The result with my 2400 DPIscanneris 8.6 MP files wich is enough to capture the film grain

Man, you "like" to quote "stuff", don't you? LOL.

Arista EDU is Fomapan, I believe. Arista Premium 100 is Kodak Plus-X, and Arista Premium 400 is Kodak Tri-X. I don't think you can get it anymore, but Legacy Pro is Fuji Acros.

Whether or not you would like the option to push the film is a factor too - Some films push better than others. Fuji Acros absolutely sucks for pushing, for example - but it has better reciprocity failure characteristics than anything else. Plus-X, Tri-X, and T-Max all push pretty well. Kentmere 400 also pushes well, and is pretty cheap.

 

[timor]

Whether or not you would like the option to push the film is a factor too - Some films push better than others. Fuji Acros absolutely sucks for pushing, for example - but it has better reciprocity failure characteristics than anything else. Plus-X, Tri-X, and T-Max all push pretty well. Kentmere 400 also pushes well, and is pretty cheap.

I am not sure about pushing Tmax films, they react too quickly with strong blocking of the highlights. And as Acros, Tmax is a tabular emulsion film, for pushing classic emulsion is always better.

 

[Josh66]

I've found T-Max 400 easy enough to push ... in T-Max Dev, anyway. I haven't shot much T-Max 100.

I agree that the classic emulsions are better for pushing though.

 

[Matty-Bass]

Just throwing in my two cents as a semi-rookie in the film field...

I only have experience with black and white, but I love most of Ilford's films which would be available at most camera shops or online at www.bhphotovideo.com. Specifically, I love Delta 400 and HP5. Tri-X is also great. I've also shot the Kodak BW400CN and had excellent results, amazingly rich contrast and low grain, shoots at 400 which is sort of an all-purpose speed for average lighting conditions.

 

[cptkid]

My favorite b&w film of all is Neopan 1600 (very very expensive and hard to find now days)


But i mainly shoot with HP5 & Delta 400.