Super slow films

[SoulfulRecover]

Rollei RPX 25 is the slowest I know that you can buy new and Ilford Pan F Plus is the slowest Ive shot on medium format. Great film and extremely fine grained

 

[vintagesnaps]

I think I've used that Konica 50 some time ago, and something Rollei that was slower speed. Try taking a look at Home - The Film Photography Project . I've seen something on there about slower films, and they sell some oddball stuff. They do hand roll some film themselves that they sell. The stuff you got on ebay, who knows. I suppose shoot a test roll and see what you get. I've heard of that motion picture film, maybe on FPP.

 

[pendennis]

For years, Kodachrome "II" (Later "25") was the standard by which all transparency film (whether color additive or subtractive) was judged. Electronic Flashes were rated in terms of guide numbers based on "KII" (The large Honeywell Stronobars were rated @ 80 with KII, a bit optimistic, though). It was extremely fine grained, and far more stable than other types of transparencies. Kodachrome transparencies from the 1940's are routinely available for view on a number of web sites. Their color is still stunning and amazingly well stabilized.

I used it for years for scenics, especially for slide presentations. It had a slight warm cast to it, much better than the blue-biased Ektachrome, or Fuji's green-biased chrome films. Fall colors with KII was always well received. Kodachrome 64 had a definite red-bias, and later on Kodachrome 200 was a bit too grainy for my tastes.

I also shot a lot of Panatomic X when I needed very fine grain, and I could use a tripod and very small apertures. The T-Max films, while having finer grain with tabular technology, just never had the pop of Panatomic X.

While the native ISO on many cameras is bottomed out @ 100, you can still manipulate the exposure to get an effective EI of around 25. I've gotten some very decent results.

 

[webestang64]

Remember Ektar 25.....? That was a super low grain film.

 

[dxqcanada]

Things to consider with something like that are (1) it's possibly very, very old; or (2) it's very, very specialized and would require a unique development process and/or chemicals.

The particular stuff I found says it's repackaged motion film with the remjet backing removed, so it can be developed by regular C-41 process. I know absolutely nothing about developing, however.

Hmm, looks like internegative film ... not meant for shooting directly from camera.

 

[limr]

Has anyone here ever tried shooting a "super slow" film with an ISO rating of under 50? I just learned such things exist and am intrigued—some of the examples I've seen look pretty cool. I've never shot anything below 100 myself, but would love to hear about anyone's experiences with them.

Pan F (ISO 50) - good for long exposures and smooooooooth water (no filter, TLR propped on a rock):


Bash Bish resized by limrodrigues, on Flickr


Slowest stuff I've ever shot? Harmon Direct Positive paper, rated at ISO 3. Homemade pinhole. Haven't broken that out in a long long time. I think I need to play with it again.


Day 350 - Snowy Caddy pinhole by limrodrigues, on Flickr

 

[480sparky]

............Slowest stuff I've ever shot? Harmon Direct Positive paper, rated at ISO 3. Homemade pinhole. Haven't broken that out in a long long time. I think I need to play with it again.............

ISO 3 is about what I shoot regular printing paper at. I then scan the revered image with a flatbed and invert the colors.

 

[OldManJim]

480sparky said: "ISO 3 is about what I shoot regular printing paper at. I then scan the revered image with a flatbed and invert the colors. " I'd sure like to see some of your results - that sounds really interesting.

 

[Chucktin]

............Slowest stuff I've ever shot? Harmon Direct Positive paper, rated at ISO 3. Homemade pinhole. Haven't broken that out in a long long time. I think I need to play with it again.............

ISO 3 is about what I shoot regular printing paper at. I then scan the revered image with a flatbed and invert the colors.

Can you say "watching paint dry"?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Chucktin]

Actually I got a roll of Oscilloscope Recording film onct, free. Blue sensitive emulsion. Since the cost was so low all I needed was cassettes and home processing. Stepping up to Plus X was a treat, then Tri X. Sure made me appreciate f 2.8!

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[limr]

............Slowest stuff I've ever shot? Harmon Direct Positive paper, rated at ISO 3. Homemade pinhole. Haven't broken that out in a long long time. I think I need to play with it again.............

ISO 3 is about what I shoot regular printing paper at. I then scan the revered image with a flatbed and invert the colors.

Can you say "watching paint dry"?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Your point in making this comment being...?

 

[Chucktin]

............Slowest stuff I've ever shot? Harmon Direct Positive paper, rated at ISO 3. Homemade pinhole. Haven't broken that out in a long long time. I think I need to play with it again.............

ISO 3 is about what I shoot regular printing paper at. I then scan the revered image with a flatbed and invert the colors.

Can you say "watching paint dry"?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

Your point in making this comment being...?

Being - been there, done _that_ and more than once.
The "quest" for higher and higher ISO has reached dizzying heights. But it has also highlighted (no pun intended) the short comings of that way of measuring the "correct" exposure.

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[vintagesnaps]

I learned it as 'proper' exposure.

Anyway I guess if you don't like slow you wouldn't care for doing lumen prints - expired photo paper in daylight. I just leave it til, oh, the next day... whenever I feel like getting it off the table in the window.

 

[smithdan]

Shot lots of Kodachrome 25 in the 60's and 70's because it was on issue and a few rolls would sneak home in my pocket from time to time. Processing was prepaid in Canada too.

Bought a roll of Panatomic x to use on a collection of Haida art, mostly argilite and silver carvings. We moved East before I had a chance to develop, gave it to the drugstore and (no surprise) prints came back black as yer boots. Scanned the negs a few years back and was able to salvage some pix. I have a better scanner now and also have more pp experience so I'll try again.