There is an interesting question asked here about which brand of film is your favourite. Here is my answer to that question:
I like a few, depending on the application.
A good all round cheap daily use film: Fuji Superia 200 (cheap to buy and develop, and surprisingly good quality, a little grainy but in a nice way)
Black and White: Ilford XP2 400 (cheap to develop, sharp and has great exposure latitude, unobtrusive grain)
Landscapes: Fuji Velvia 50 (expensive to buy and develop, but incredible colours and no grain)
...there are many other very competent films out there and really it comes down to what "look" you prefer. Try as many as you can, compare the results and then concentrate on getting to really know how to use those films to get your own unique look and style.
How about you guys, what do you prefer to use and why?
I have stopped using film for colour but use it for b&w; I use Ilford FP4 and HP5 depending on whether I need 125 or 400 ASA. I don't develop or print. I have that done by a local lab who do a decent job, I then scan the negs with a Minolta Dimage Scan Dial III.
ReplyDeleteI think the colour digital, black and white film route is becoming more popular as time goes on, mainly because there is a rawness to black and white film that can't be replicated easily (if at all) with digital.
ReplyDeleteI still like the look I get with colour film, but for me it also comes down to total cost, R27 000 for a full frame digital body vs years worth of film and processing to get up to the same amount of cash. No brainer (for me) really. I could get a small frame digital, but that's still more than R10 000 for a halfway decent body, and then my lenses become multiplied etc. and you lose depth of field... and...
When it comes to self processing my view is that I like to take photographs, not dick around in a chemical haze… but that’s just me.
Find a good lab and support them so they can stay open. Then they can ruin their respiratory system and not you... although their chemicals are mostly trapped inside the nice Fuji Frontier machines. ;-)
Same with me. I do color digitally. Black and white digitally and with film, usually Ilford 400 and Tri-X. I much prefer film for b&w but the one great lab we have for processing is very far from me so I don't get to use film as often as I would like.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to see if the Velvia 50 works for me. My beloved E100GX transparency film now dead and gone.
ReplyDeleteStill self processing my Ilford Delta 400 and 3200, probably a person with asthma shouldn't, but at $12 per roll B&W developing, I do it myself.
My husband does all of the digital here. I'm waiting to inherit his Nikon D40 when he does an upgrade. I've inherited all of his other cameras, so why buy one now?
for color - Veliva
ReplyDeletefor b/w> - Kodak:
- 100 TMAX Pro (use 45%)
- Plus-X 125X Pro and (use 45%)
- Tri-X 400 (use 10%) ... its curiouse but I love this type very much
OK... You know, that I do not use the analog way, I am talking about the digital effects.
When I was a Teenager, I developed completly my films at home ... in the bathroom. hahahha ..... for houres! The reason for take this today in digital is, I don't have the time to do that. And I don't like to give the controll of the process in a other hand or in the controll of a machine.