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Anonymous
I'm getting into film. Sometime soon, I'm going to go buy some cheap old film SLR or a Canonet Rangefinder if I can get a good price on one.

With that in mind, besides the obvious Velvia, what films (color, black-and-white, slide, negative, whatever) does /p/ suggest? And what are the differences between Fuji's three ISO 100 films (Velvia, Provia, Sensia... or any others they have)?
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>> Anonymous
I use Provia and Velvia 100 for color slides. I prefer Provia for most applications, since I don't shoot a lot of landscape and sunsets.

Kodak Portra is great (though expensive) print film. Something like an 8-stop exposure latitude. Fuji Superia has terrific color, is dirt cheap and is almost grain-free for ISO 400.

Black and white film is one of those deeply personal choices that a photographer makes. Having said that, I shoot primarily Ilford. I like Pan F-Plus (50 ISO), and XP 2 Super is pretty fucking terrific. Supposedly, it has the widest dynamic range of any film ever made, and you can process it at Walgreen's for chrissakes.
>> Anonymous
Tri-X for your black and white film. Very good and you can mess around with stuff depending how you process it. I'm sure at least a couple of others will second this.
>> Anonymous
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>>73589
you bet your ass i will.

its high contrast and grain give it a much more interesting feel as apposed to tmax or other fine grain films. i get tri-x by the brick for free and i couldnt be happier. there are situations where tri-x shuld not be used because of that but many more where super fine grain and average contrast just make the image seem dull and bland. its great for industrial and urban photos. it really makes an impact.

now some tichnical goodies

it has a very forgiving exposure latitude that is great for beginners, in fact in alot of high school photography courses the teachers get it for just that reason.

it can still be used years after it expires by push processing (developing for longer)


it really is a gret film

pic related
>> Anonymous
>XP 2 Super is pretty fucking terrific. Supposedly, it has the widest dynamic range of any film ever made, and you can process it at Walgreen's for chrissakes.

Could you elaborate on this?
>> Anonymous
holy shit i cant spell.
>> Anonymous
>>73589
tech pan is the only good B&W film.
it does everything better than all other B&W films.
lurk in moar darkrooms
>> Anonymous
Oh, and could someone tell me which model of Canonet was the best? I know some of them lacked manual controls and other things like that.
>> Anonymous
Illford HP5 Black and White film. It's a great film to push with. Especially at 3200 ISO
>> Anonymous
Canonet QL17s are most popular, but they're damn hard to find. Also consider a Yashica Electro series or a Minolta Hi-Matic for your fixed lens leaf shutter rangefinder needs.

Provia, Sensia, Velvia, and Fortia are Fuji's color slide range, and differ in how fucked up they make the colors. Fortia is by far the furthest from reality, but it's also rare and expensive so don't worry about it. Velvia 50 is famed for super-saturated colors, especially deep reds. Velvia 100 is similar, but Velvia 100F is not as red, making it more similar to Provia. No idea what Sensia is like, and I think they have something called Astia too but I haven't tried it.

Fuji's color films are Superia (consumer stuff, cheap but still great), and NPH/NPZ, their pro films. The Kodak equivalents are Gold (cheap) and Portra.

As for black and white, lots of people are gay for Tri-X, which is an ancient emulsion so it's got a lot of grain. People love this effect. Also, it's ISO 400 so it's nice and versatile. For convenient processing, you might want to stick with Kodak BW400CN and Ilford XP2, as they work in your average minilab's color machines.
>> thefamilyman !!rTVzm2BgTOa
dont forget Kodak Ektachome range, the original chromes ;)
i love the E100VS for its over the top saturation and the E100GX for its ultra fine grain.
>> Anonymous
My B&W experience is pretty limited, Ilford range mostly, XP2 is amazing.

I recently scored a huge bag of Kodak TMAX close to expiry for cheap. Burnt through a couple of rolls of 3200 a couple of weekends ago at an outdoor concert and it's just brilliant in the lowlight.

Spent a roll of the TMAX 100 at the beach and it's got okay contrast but nothing to blow me away.
>> angrylittleboy !wrJcGUHncE
>>73666

Canonet GIII QL17. It's shutter-priority, but has full-manual override. A cheaper alternative would be Yashica's Electro 35, which is aperture-priority, but with limited manual override (shutter stays at 1/500 in manual)

I haven't had that much experience with B&W film, but I like T-Max more than Tri-X. Anyway, will probably try Neopan soon (3 rolls for the price of one Tri-X, lol).
>> Anonymous
>>73627

sure. XP2 is a C41 chemistry film, which means that you can get it processed anywhere, for cheap. Most black and whites have to be sent out by one-hour photos to a specialty darkroom, and they charge a premium for it (costs me around 16 bucks to get a 36exp roll of HP5 or Pan F-plus processed and printed).

Unless you were asking about the exposure latitude, in which case: XP 2 is supposed to have nine or ten usable stops of dynamic range, which is pretty tremendous.
>> des
Press/Superia 800 is probably my current favourite colour print film. It used to be vericolour vps for different reasons but they don't make it anymore so :/
Tri-X 4life for traditional B&W film. T400CN, "I don't hate it" With an orange #21 and overexposure it's interesting but it's not my usual.
I thought ilford stopped making c41 bw? I never got a chance to try it when I saw it around.
Sensia II/200 is actually a pretty nice all-purpose slide film. Though I think a lot of people don't even consider it because it's so cheap. A brick of sensia200 and a handful of fuji mailers is a great way to get great slides on the cheap. If you don't have a slide scanner as the next stage of imaging after processing, you may not like it, it is probably too undersaturated and too neutral for most.
>> Anonymous
>>73786

http://www.adorama.com/ILXP2S36.html
>> Anonymous
>>73662
people dont use technical pan because they are noobs.
tech pan is for skilled darkroom operators only, not the digital crowd that occasionally dabbles in film.
you much be at least a hundred years old.
lol@people who are proud of their C-41 B&W
>> Anonymous
>>73738
Is there any difference between manual and "manual override?"

Like, is it normal manual just given a different name for some marketing reason, or is its functionality limited, or do I have to do something special before every shot to get it into that mode, or what?
>> des
>>73825
I'll have to check it out sometime
>> Anonymous
>>73834
Not everyone has the chance to develop their own film. For those who aren't as lucky as you, C41 B&W is the way to go.
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>73935
No, no difference.

The problem, though, is that it's a little tricky to use manual mode on the QL17 GIII just because of the physical control layout. Both the shutter speed dial and the aperture dial are on little rings around the lens, and grouped kinda too tight for my preference. And on some copies, they're hard to move due to age.

Also, you'll probably have to replace the light seals on it, since most have turned into soup from age. It's not too hard to do, though (e.g., I did it, and I'm completely incompetent).

All that being said, I highly recommend the QL17 GIII. Mine is probably my favorite 35mm camera right now.
>> Anonymous
>>74002
Excellent. I've always wanted to try a rangefinder and love the focal length of the thing.

Another question: What exactly are the advantages of slide film over negative film?
>> Anonymous
>>74006
Slide film usually has a bit more dynamic range and better color over negative film
You can check photos on slide film without making index prints
You can use a projector with slide film
You usually have to pay more to have slide film developed lol
>> Anonymous
>>74010

slide film has less dynamic range than print film, or at least that's what kodak and fuji say.
>> Anonymous
>>74010
I've always heard something about negative film's final state being widely variant based on how the guy developing it does it, but slide film is fixed more closely to how the photographer wanted it.

Anything like that kind of true, or did I mishear something or read someone talking out of their ass?
>> ac !!VPzQAxYPAMA
>>74006
The big advantage is color balance. There's no real standard for how the negative color in print film is rendered on the paper. Each film has slightly different characteristics, and each film processor uses slightly different filters, so the colors could come out vastly different from place to place.

With slide film, however, the colors on the film are the colors you get.
>> Anonymous
>>74016
e-6 always goes to the lab because of the rough nature of the chemicals and the need for constant aggitation, but you can push pull it if you need to or if you know the guy that operates the developing machine and he is highly competent with it...
>> Anonymous
>>73992
you too can get the 'chance' for about $35
>> Anonymous
>>74010
>>74014is right. Slides have less dynamic range than negative film, so it is very important to get them exposed perfectly. If you get it right though, slide colors kick the shit out of any negative film.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>74262

<3


As an experiment, I went to the race track and shot the horses as they raced by in (color) 400 speed film. The prints look absolutely horrible. I want my velvia & provia back.

Actually, the kodak black and white, I can't think of the name, is pretty good too. I have a lot of fun with it, but then again it's new for me to be using, so I find it exciting anyway.
>> elf_man !fBgo7jDjms
>>74265
I was wondering how the races went. I'd rather like to see those prints sometime if it's okay. Too bad higher speeds require different film. Which film did you use?
>> Anonymous
Think I'll just but into this topic;

Does anyone shoot 126 film? I've recently acquired a Kodak Instamatic, but having a hard time finding any where that sells 126 film.

I suppose I could hack it to use 35mm.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>74268

I used some Fuji 400 speed print film. It looks like shit. I was sitting there at f22/f32 and it STILL over exposed. I was soooo ticked. Prints and negatives will be thrown away. I found some 100 speed b/w i'm going to use this weekend. Still want to go to the mission ?
>> Anonymous
>>74282
>As of 2006, Ferrania in Italy was still producing 24 exposure 126 cartridges of ISO 200 colour print film under the Solaris brand. As of 2007, they still show it in the product section on their website.[2]

Despite this, the Frugal Photographer website[3] lists the Ferrania 126 film as discontinued, the last production run having taken place in April 2007, although stocks are expected to last until 2010. Adocolor 126, also available, was manufactured for the German Adox company by Ferrania.[4]

From the Wikipedia article "126 film."
>> elf_man !fBgo7jDjms
>>74283
I guess I meant what it was called, like Reala or whatever. Could you hold onto a couple shots, just so I can see? I might think of something. I mean, I don't expect print film to look as nice as slide, but it seems odd that you'd have such difficulty with overexposure.
Yeah, I definitely still want to go.
>> Liska !!LIVFOETqL8j
>>74295

If i was only allowed to shoot print film, and not slides I wouldve converted to digital a long, long time ago. Looks like crap. I'll think about keeping a few of the prints, but I still want to throw them away.
>> Anonymous
>>74286

Thanks. I may just hack it to fit 35mm then.
>> Vincent
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Pic related to thread

(taken on Velvia 50 slide film (35mm))

I'm not that happy with my scanning method but I do like the film, too bad ISO 50 film is slooooow
>> Anonymous
>>73706
Ektachrome is my second favorite color slide film. Kodachrome was/is my first, but they're retiring that :(

As for black and white, I really liked the T-Max line of Kodak film. Pretty easy to process and you get really good contrasts.
>> Anonymous
>>74416
slow is awesome
i still miss ektar and kodachrome 25