Film Suggestions?

Meeskephoto

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Hey, I am fairly new to film photography and only ever used basic Arista premium 400ISO B/W that was required for a class. I'm looking to get into it a little more and get creative with different film types. Can anyone suggest or educate on some quality 35mm films I could mess about with? Like I've heard of chrome film, and other nifty things, I just don't know what to pursue. All suggestions are helpful!
 
The Arista premium I believe is basically rebranded Kodak Tri-X, which is always a good film to use. Ilford also makes different black and white film emulsions. Their HP5+ is very similar to Tri-X, perhaps a little less contrasty. If you want something with finer grain, try the Kodak Tmax films or the Ilford Delta series of films.

For color, you've got Kodak or Fuji essentially. I think there's still Agfa around, too. The "chrome" films are slide films - meaning the image you get on the film is a positive image, not a negative image. The colors can be very intense and the grain and detail very fine, though they are much less tolerant of exposure errors than negative films are. And they need different developers, so before you get into that, make sure you know how to get the slide film developed since it's not as common as the standard C-41 color negative development chemicals/process. Of course, if you want to play a little, you could always cross-process (use a developer that was not intended for that film) but I think you'd have to do that yourself. Not all labs will cross-process. I don't have experience with slide film (yet) but I'm sure others will chime in.

My favorite color negative film is Kodak Portra 160. Kodak Ektar is also a beautiful film, similar to slide film in the sense that it can have really deep colors and very fine grain. It also is a bit less tolerant than the Portra is. These films, of course, are the pricier ones. For lower costs, look to Kodak Gold or Fuji Superia. They are both good films. They both render color slightly differently so it's really a matter of preference. Fuji is a bit cooler, imo, which can be really nice in some situations, though I generally tend to prefer the warmer Kodak Gold.

If you want to get experimental, you could try a roll or two of the Lomography redscale film or I think they have a purple one now.
 
Wow, a lot to take in, I'll take some notes. Thanks for the info. I'm intrigued by the more expensive options, I might buy a roll of each and just see what I like the most. As of now I don't have my own place to develop film or process prints (except for standard black and white at school), do you know of any sites that would do processing on a wide variety of films? I've heard some good stuff about darkroom.com.
 
There's Dwayne's Photo: A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne's Photo

Ilford opened its own lab recently, so that's an option for black and white (no color): Black & White Developing, Printing & Scanning from Film - Black and White Prints from Film | 35mm Black and White film | 120 Black and White film | Colour process black and white films. When it says "colour process black and white films" they mean something like Kodak BW400CN, which is processed in C-41 like color, but the images are in black and white. Actually, just this week it was announced that Kodak is discontinuing the BW400CN, so if you want to try it, now's the time! Ilford's XP2 is also a color process black and white film. The Ilford lab, btw, is in California. Oops, just checked, though, and it's in San Clemente, which is on the other side of the state as Nevada City.

Just found this, too: All PhotoLabs for United States in PhotoLabs - Lomography It's a list on the Lomography site of photo labs in the U.S. Don't know the last time it was updated and it doesn't include reviews but you might find something local that you could check out. In the meantime, check out darkroom.com, Dwayne's or the Ilford lab - those all have good reputations.
 
Beer for you Leonore !:D
 
There's Dwayne's Photo: A trusted name in photo processing for over 50 years - Dwayne's Photo

Ilford opened its own lab recently, so that's an option for black and white (no color): Black & White Developing, Printing & Scanning from Film - Black and White Prints from Film | 35mm Black and White film | 120 Black and White film | Colour process black and white films. When it says "colour process black and white films" they mean something like Kodak BW400CN, which is processed in C-41 like color, but the images are in black and white. Actually, just this week it was announced that Kodak is discontinuing the BW400CN, so if you want to try it, now's the time! Ilford's XP2 is also a color process black and white film. The Ilford lab, btw, is in California. Oops, just checked, though, and it's in San Clemente, which is on the other side of the state as Nevada City.

Just found this, too: All PhotoLabs for United States in PhotoLabs - Lomography It's a list on the Lomography site of photo labs in the U.S. Don't know the last time it was updated and it doesn't include reviews but you might find something local that you could check out. In the meantime, check out darkroom.com, Dwayne's or the Ilford lab - those all have good reputations.

Sweet! So much info! As @Timor said beer for you! Thank you so much for all the help you've gone above and beyond, I'll be off ordering films and having fun in the meantime! :D
 
My pleasure :) I hope you enjoy it and have fun exploring different film possibilities. Would love to see some shots when you have them!
 
Want to be wacky......I shoot old outdated slide film (E-6 process) but cross-process it in color print process (C-41) and turn the slides into negs. Off colors, sometimes high contrast takes place......neat stuff.

Other films?......just buy a roll of each film you can find and play. I really like Walmart cheap Fuji 400, scans really nice and has a pleasing grain.

One tip......if you can find a lab (like the one I work in) that has a Noritzu 1800 series scanner, get your film scanned there. That is the best scanner I have ever used and I've used a lot of different scanners in my time.

I love just about all the black-n-white films out there but I do not scan it, I print in the darkroom.
 
Kentmere 400 is one of my favorite films. It's kind of grainy, but you'll learn to love that, lol. VERY easy to push too. It also happens to be pretty cheap, which never hurts. The only thing I don't like about it is that it isn't available in 120.

Fuji Acros is really good too. Very fine grain, and very sharp. It sucks for pushing though.

I also really like Ilford Delta 3200, but I've never used it in 35mm (only medium format).


For color neg, almost all of the good films have been discontinued. Ektar is one of the only ones left, haha. A lot of people love Kodak Portra, but I've always preferred the Fuji Pro stuff (all discontinued, except for 400H - which is pretty good).
 
If Arista premium is Tri-X it does not get much better
It is. AP 100 is Plus-X (discontinued), AP 400 is Tri-X. I've bought a lot of both in bulk, they come on Kodak reels sometimes.

Legacy Pro 100 was Fuji Acros - I really miss that. Acros for half price.
 

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