Black and White Film

[GreenEggs_n_Ham]

i own a yashica FX3. fully manual.

i load black and white film for it.

anyone suggestions on which black and white film is the best?

i use either ilford 125($3 each!) or kodak (C41) 400 black and white pro.(6.50...)

the problem with ilford is that NOBODY DEVELOPS IT. except the shops in orchard, where they send it for a week to the labs and it costs $4 to develop.

is the Kodak (C41) Black and white any good? seems expensive..and i haven't developed my roll yet..but can be developed anywhere cuz it's C41..just that i don't really know how "black and white" it is..

sam

 

[Belle&Sebastain]

i own a yashica FX3. fully manual.

i load black and white film for it.

anyone suggestions on which black and white film is the best?

i use either ilford 125($3 each!) or kodak (C41) 400 black and white pro.(6.50...)

the problem with ilford is that NOBODY DEVELOPS IT. except the shops in orchard, where they send it for a week to the labs and it costs $4 to develop.

is the Kodak (C41) Black and white any good? seems expensive..and i haven't developed my roll yet..but can be developed anywhere cuz it's C41..just that i don't really know how "black and white" it is..

sam

i sent to Rudy to develop my ilford, $5 per roll.

 

[justarius]

most fuji frontier labs will accept it, but they will send it to headquaters to develop, and not develop themselves, so you have to wait for it.

I shoot an equal mix of Tri-X and HP5 because I like their grainy feel (haven't decided which one I liked yet though)

 

[GreenEggs_n_Ham]

hmm the "grainy" feel is because of the shop prints isn't it?

how about the darkroom prints?, the self-do ones... they're expensive aren't they? like $3 a piece.

are they grainy? i don't really like grainy.

sam

 

[showtime]

the beauty of true bw film is the development and printing process. if you were to send it to a shop to do it, much of its essence is lost. it really doesnt matter whether its ilford 125 or kodak cn400... other than the speed, the result will look much the same. its the chemicals, developing time and the printing process that make a bw picture as beautiful as it is...

if you MUST send it to the shop, then i recommend ruby although its a bit more expensive.

 

[Witness]

i use HP5 and develop at KT...they send it to somewhere else to process....5 bucks for processin i tink...takes ard 3 days..

 

[GreenEggs_n_Ham]

so it's more reliable to send to ruby to do development?

oh and i realised, printing at a neighbourhood shop using "close to black and white".. sucks...i get all sorts of dirt and specks..

sam

 

[hongsien]

Don't print black and white in those digital print shops! They use sharpening masks that makes the grain even more pronounched! I use Tri-X alot (24 years) cause I like the sharp grain and print them myself. Tried digital lab once for proofing cause I was too lazy to print them myself, alamak! If you don't like grain try Agfa 50 ISO......high contrast though. Those CN films are not bad, can print on normal colour paper.......but lower contrast though.

Good luck!

Hong Sien

 

[student]

Don't print black and white in those digital print shops! They use sharpening masks that makes the grain even more pronounched! I use Tri-X alot (24 years) cause I like the sharp grain and print them myself. Tried digital lab once for proofing cause I was too lazy to print them myself, alamak! If you don't like grain try Agfa 50 ISO......high contrast though. Those CN films are not bad, can print on normal colour paper.......but lower contrast though.

Good luck!

Hong Sien

Err... Hong Sien.

I think you may confused Agfa with Ilford. Agfa used to produce an ASA 25 film. Discontinued. They have now ASA 100 and 400.

Ilford have ASA 50, 125, 400 etc. But no ASA 25.

The slowest film you can get in Singapore is Ilford's panf 50.

Of course there exists ASA 25 films produced by a Czech company (just can't remember the name of this film, damn it!) If I am not wrong, there is one that is even finer, called gigabit film produced in Germany.

 

[hongsien]

Yep, you are right: Ilford 50 ISO and Agfa 25 ISO........there was Kodaks Panatomic-X, and still theirs Technical Pan (almost grainless) used mainly in Astronomy last time, can be processed to normal contrast with a special developer (forgot the name), still somewhere in my room.......

Good luck! Can try Ruby or Ron's Camera for developing B&W films/prints.....great to have more people doing black and white!

Hong Sien

 

[student]

Yep, you are right: Ilford 50 ISO and Agfa 25 ISO........there was Kodaks Panatomic-X, and still theirs Technical Pan (almost grainless) used mainly in Astronomy last time, can be processed to normal contrast with a special developer (forgot the name), still somewhere in my room.......

Good luck! Can try Ruby or Ron's Camera for developing B&W films/prints.....great to have more people doing black and white!

Hong Sien

Techpan will be discontinued. The special developer is called Technidol.

 

[The_Cheat]

Hmm... does anyone have any idea whether Fee Fee still does developing and contact prints? And if so, what are the rates like? :dunno:

 

[Witness]

they still do it..... juz send it to KT instead ...they got some liase wif fei fei one.... so let them settle for u....

 

[The_Cheat]

they still do it..... juz send it to KT instead ...they got some liase wif fei fei one.... so let them settle for u....

Am more interested in obtaining contact prints than the developing really... Just too lazy to go out and get new chemicals for developing, that's all! :bsmilie:

 

[hongsien]

they still do it..... juz send it to KT instead ...they got some liase wif fei fei one.... so let them settle for u....

Where or what is 'KT' ?

Hong Sien

 

[sriram]

KT is Kim Tian, which is just near Fee Fee. Hong Lim complex, chinatown. They do a very good job for me with colour prints.

Tech Pan is discontinued. Kodak has closed the plants making tech pan and it is no longer made. The stuff you find on the shelves are left over from the old days. It's a shame.. that was my favourite B&W film. Rodinal used to do wonders with tech pan.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/p255/p255.jhtml

 

[Ah_Seng]

Will Fee Fee process Kodak T-max 400 and Ilford's FP4,HP5 b/w films?

Are they printed on b/w papers?

Seems that Rudy is kind of recommended here...ya?

I wanna try real b/w film which will be printed on b/w papers.....and not chromogenic b/w films processed thru C41 chemistry,not that I'm biased against chromogenic b/w films though.

Seen some taken by members here which are really quite nice.

Perhaps just my preference.......

 

[LKSC]

hmm the "grainy" feel is because of the shop prints isn't it?

how about the darkroom prints?, the self-do ones... they're expensive aren't they? like $3 a piece.

are they grainy? i don't really like grainy.

sam

If you like a smooth, grainless look you will like Kodak BW400CN.

If you want to print it digitally, I recomend to overexpose by 1 stop for maximum tonal range, print it on a Noritsu and ask the lab to turn off sharpness, or limit the sharpness setting on the Noritsu to +2 (You can see the sharpness setting on the status string on the reverse of the print: its the value after "AC"). Fotohub and 35mm Lab handle this film well, but you must specify your requirements and provide a guideprint if possible.

Its not true black and white of course, but its much cheaper.

 

[espn]

I normally make my b&w prints @ Ruby, and yes, they are hand developed, the traditional way

 

[student]

i own a yashica FX3. fully manual.

i load black and white film for it.

anyone suggestions on which black and white film is the best?

i use either ilford 125($3 each!) or kodak (C41) 400 black and white pro.(6.50...)

the problem with ilford is that NOBODY DEVELOPS IT. except the shops in orchard, where they send it for a week to the labs and it costs $4 to develop.

is the Kodak (C41) Black and white any good? seems expensive..and i haven't developed my roll yet..but can be developed anywhere cuz it's C41..just that i don't really know how "black and white" it is..

sam

I hope you do not mind me saying. Questions like "which ???? is the best?" suggest that you do not know what you hope you want to get out of the "best"".

An illustration. Which car is the "best"? Before an answer can be given, you will need to ask "best for what?" If for speed, well perhaps a Porsche Twin Turbo (OK, others may disagree!). But if you want to carry timber logs, I think you will not choose the Porsche.

So to answer which B&W film is the best, you will have to ask "for what purpose?"

If for ultimate grainless image, then Kodak Techpan ( while it is still available!). But on the other hand, not any Tom, Dick and Harry can develop Techpan properly! So you may have to learn to do it yourself! But if you do not want to develop the negatives, then a chromogenic film such as the Kodak TCN can be quite good.

If you want to go into a club and shoot jazz artists without a flash, then a fast speed film such as Delta 3200 may arguably be the best. But then you get a lot of grain!

But coming to a very important point, what is the purpose of shooting B&W? If you really like B&W, then you should have an interest to process the entire image yourself for "ultimate" control. I think this can be done digitally. While I do not think digital B&W is up to traditional B&W, it really is quite good.

So you need to ask yourself a lot of questions why and how you want to do B&W. Then answers hopefully can be more sensible.

BTW, I do almost 100% B&W in the traditional way. All by myself. And I love it!