Im new to this and have a kodak vigilant six-20

[q3w3e3]

I was wondering if any of you knew of a good 120 b&w film preferably between ASA 100 and 800 for a beginner, something forgiving.

 

[limr]

Kodak Tri-X 400 or Ilford HP5+ 400. Both are great films not only for beginners but even after you figure out what you're doing

 

[timor]

I was wondering if any of you knew of a good 120 b&w film preferably between ASA 100 and 800 for a beginner, something forgiving.

Do you plan to develop yourself ?

 

[q3w3e3]

I was wondering if any of you knew of a good 120 b&w film preferably between ASA 100 and 800 for a beginner, something forgiving.

Do you plan to develop yourself ?

at first no (first 1-3 rolls) and then once i get exposure and stuff ill start developing myself.

 

[compur]

Are you aware that 120 film won't fit the Vigilant unless re-spooled to 620 or trimmed?

 

[q3w3e3]

Are you aware that 120 film won't fit the Vigilant unless re-spooled to 620 or trimmed?

i am, and i have knives, and some 620 spools...

what could possibly go wrong?

 

[compur]

godspeed

 

[q3w3e3]

i just need film.

 

[compur]

My opinion: There isn't enough difference in forgiveness between the obvious choices (Tr-X, HP5, etc) to concern yourself with.

I suggest just picking one and going with it.

 

[q3w3e3]

any advice for developers? D-76 decent?

 

[compur]

D76 is the most popular B&W developer of all time so it is more than decent but any general purpose developer will be fine: D76, HC110, ID11, etc.

Added note:
Developers are either in the form of powder or a liquid concentrate. Liquid developers are easy to mix and you can mix up just as much as you need each time you develop film. But, liquid types are heavier and shipping charges are higher if you order online. Powder developers take a little more work to mix and you must mix up the entire package.

 

[q3w3e3]

why do you have to mix the whole thing? can it be stored as a liquid after mixing?

 

[vintagesnaps]

Film Photography Project | An Internet Radio Show & On-Line Resource for Film Shooters Worldwide respools and sells 120 film to fit 620 cameras, their prices are usually pretty good. They also have a fairly active Flickr discussion group if you have questions. (Go to their site and you can check out their forum, videos etc.)

You could look into getting some of those brown Data-tainers or other storage containers, I don't think they're too terribly expensive (except maybe the larger sizes).

 

[gsgary]

DDX for HP5

 

[compur]

why do you have to mix the whole thing?

A powdered developer contains a number of different ingredients in exact proportions all inside a foil pouch. The proportions are very important. If you only mix part of he package there would be no way to ensure you maintained the correct proportions of ingredients. Varying the proportions will produce a developer that performs quite differently or may even not perform at all. If you only mixed part of it you wouldn't be getting the ingredients in their correct proportion or may even miss certain ingredients entirely.

Of course, there are people who ignore this and mix up partial packages of powdered developers anyway and swear it works fine but in starting a new endeavor it is always best to ignore the advice of people who believe they "know better" than to follow simple directions from developer mfrs.

can it be stored as a liquid after mixing?

Yes, once a developer is mixed it is called a stock solution and can be stored for a while but the length of time it can be stored varies. Go by the mfr's directions on storage.

One of the longest lasting B&W developers is Diafine. Some claim they've used the same stock solutions for years after mixing. I wouldn't go quite that far with it but it does last a long time. It is a two-part developer, that is, you mix up two different solutions and use one for a certain time and then the other. Then you go to your stop and fix steps, etc. Another convenience with Diafine is that it works the same over a wide temperature range so, within normal room temp ranges, you don't have to worry about temperature as you do with most other developers. In most cases you also don't have to vary development times with different films either when using Diafine so it is probably the easiest developer of all to use. But, Diafine is a push-type developer so it is best used when you want to push process film (shoot at a higher ISO than normal for a particular film).