ULF film stock

[Tim V]

So, I'm still obsessing over ULF cameras but wondering what the reality is with regards to finding film... I know that Ilford / Kodak offer the ULF on special order once a year, but does any store out there try and keep certain sheet sizes in stock? Specifically, I'm interested in 11x14" black and white film. It seems that this size is the most popular ULF size, so maybe some specialty stores order some for stock?

As an aside, is Kodak only offering T-Max 100 in 8x10" sheet sizes by special order once a year now? I can only see Tri-X and Tmax 400 in stock anywhere, with B&H stating that T-Max 100 in 8x10" has been discontinued.

This is all part of my ongoing reserach on which format I actually want. 11x14" has the vote of my heart, but the more practical 8x10" has that of my head...

[Oren Grad]

B&H has pretty consistently kept 11x14 HP5 Plus in stock, independent of the Ilford special order period. That's where I've gotten mine. A quick check now shows it in stock at Adorama and Freestyle as well.

The Kodak special orders aren't regularly scheduled - they occur whenever someone is able to come up with a $15,000 order, more or less. (The exact minimum has never been announced and may vary over time. But something in that general range seems to have been the requirement in recent years.) Keith Canham has been serving as an aggregator for Kodak special orders - you should watch his Facebook page if you'd like to know what he has cooking at any given time.

[Tim V]

Thanks! Yes, I see it now. I like HP5, so that's good to know. Man, I'm becomming more obsessed by the day...


B&H has pretty consistently kept 11x14 HP5 Plus in stock, independent of the Ilford special order period. That's where I've gotten mine. A quick check now shows it in stock at Adorama and Freestyle as well.

The Kodak special orders aren't regularly scheduled - they occur whenever someone is able to come up with a $15,000 order, more or less. Keith Canham has been serving as an aggregator for Kodak special orders - you should watch his Facebook page if you'd like to know what he has cooking at any given time.

[Oren Grad]

Happy obsessing! :)

[Pawlowski6132]

Curious, why do you want to shoot ULF?

[paulbarden]

Tim, have you considered learning wet plate collodion? I've been learning to make my own glass negatives, and I can assure you, its a lot of fun, and very rewarding. It also frees you from relying on a film manufacturer.

[Oren Grad]

Curious, why do you want to shoot ULF?

Read this thread, no need to make Tim go through all of that again:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?142293-Getting-started-in-11x14-quot

[Monty McCutchen]

172115
Curious, why do you want to shoot ULF?

From a 16 x 20 reducing back for my 20 x 24. Pt/Pd contact print.

The fence is overpopulated.

Get obsessed stay obsessed! The head gets overworked in all the other areas of our life. Tim give the heart some love!!!!


Monty.

[Carl J]

172115

From a 16 x 20 reducing back for my 20 x 24. Pt/Pd contact print.

The fence is overpopulated.

Get obsessed stay obsessed! The head gets overworked in all the other areas of our life. Tim give the heart some love!!!!


Monty.

Always great to see your work. What film?

[Monty McCutchen]

I do the annual FP4 run from Ilford. I also have some HP5 but the overwhelming majority of my work is FP4. Bought the freezer to store it in too! Yes you will have to buy the bigger trays, take out a wall to put in a bigger sink, buy a semi truck to haul your brand new Godzilla tri-pod, take out a small business loan to get that extra film holder, work the third job at Sears photorama taking pictures of mewling babies to pay for it all—its still worth it!

Thank you Carl for the kind words. I hope I didn’t hijack Tim’s thread by posting the picture. Thought I would poke fun at my own lunacy for having a 16 x 20 reducing back—I mean what kind of stupidity is that!!! Tim you’re still on solid mental ground! It’s worth all the effort and extra effort/money to enjoy something that isn’t quite logical. At least it has been to me and my mental health. Heart Heart Heart.

go for it Tim!!!

Monty

[Oren Grad]

Monty, you move the far end of the Overton window so that the rest of us who have dabbled in ULF can pretend we're sane. I've only ever gone as large as 12x20. :)

[Monty McCutchen]

Oren,

I’m a giver. :D

Point all naysayers in your life to me and you can order what you want!

Monty

[Oren Grad]

Of course the real difference between Monty and me isn't how large a plate or sheet we've exposed, but that he's a master while I'm just an occasional tinkerer, still fumbling my way around. But the experiments I've done so far have been great fun despite the logistical hassles, and I look forward to doing more.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Tim as one who built and shoots three ULF cameras I feel that the 11x14 may be a good choice.
Film is available and the ULF run is something to do as well. Now I will say that you should not look at 14x17 because if you do you will see as I have that it has more “presence”. You can get single sided X-ray film as well. My camera will do 20x24 as well but I shoot film and will only do 14x17. I love ULF so I say go for it as well!!!!

[Tim V]

Thanks all for your words of encouragement and, above all, confirmation that I haven't lost my mind... Yet...

I'm really keen on 11x14, as I think the contact prints will have more presence and I'm keen on the ultra slow working and previsualisation that goes along with it. I have my Linhof Techno with Leaf Credo 60 for the faster stuff (funny I think it's fast, but compared to ULF or even 8x10 it's essentially a sports camera,) and my Hasselblad 500cm for use with BW film hand held or with the digital back for looser kind of work. The 11x14" format appeals to the masochist in me. Or maybe to put a more postitive spin on it, it appeals to the zen master in me; the guy who wants to wait for the right light, sipping from a flask of coffee. Maybe I'm being just a tad nostalgic...

Anyway, it's good to know that some places try to keep some stock of 11x14" film on hand. I see that it's not cheap (gulp,) but nothing of worth is, right? As for wet plates etc., I'm not so into that look for my work. I want something more precise. Although I love looking at other peoples wet plate work, I want don't want the marks of the process as evident in my final prints. Nicholas Nixon's work is a good example of what I'm after. He's a stunning practitioner and artist.

I see a lot of people mention X-Ray film, but to be honest I've never done any reading on it. Looks like another option. I've certainly got a lot of reading to do. Now, if only I could have bought that beautiful Wisner 11x14 for sale here a while back... Christmas is coming...

[tgtaylor]

Well I've been shooting 8x10 for 6 maybe 7 years now for contact printing - especially for historical processes (salt, kallitype, cyanotype, etc). Intermittently over the years I've considered the 11x14 format and have gone as far as pricing cameras - I'd buy new instead of "vintage" because a "solid" camera is important to me. Then I started mounting the print showing the brush overcoats instead of trimming off to the rebate. This gives the illusion of a 11x14 negative instead of an 8x10. I loose a print on the board by matting at 17X14 instead of 16x13 but the print has a greater "presence" and doesn't start to look "lost" in the bigger mount as it does when using a trimmed 8x10. Here's a recent print showing what I mean:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4572/38472481392_9671fcf6e9_n.jpg

But no matter the format size, I would always shoot regular film instead of x-ray or the like because of the quality of the result. Considering the logistics of obtaining the image and the time required to achieve the print, the cost of the film is not that important. It's the end result that counts and you are more likely to achieve that result by using regular film. The above image was shot on Fuji Acros - about 7 or 8 dollars a sheet. I shot 2 negatives of the above, 1 for printing as a kallitype and the 2d for a regular SG contact print.

Thomas

[WEISS]

I do the annual FP4 run from Ilford. I also have some HP5 but the overwhelming majority of my work is FP4. Bought the freezer to store it in too! Yes you will have to buy the bigger trays, take out a wall to put in a bigger sink, buy a semi truck to haul your brand new Godzilla tri-pod, take out a small business loan to get that extra film holder, work the third job at Sears photorama taking pictures of mewling babies to pay for it all—its still worth it!

Thank you Carl for the kind words. I hope I didn’t hijack Tim’s thread by posting the picture. Thought I would poke fun at my own lunacy for having a 16 x 20 reducing back—I mean what kind of stupidity is that!!! Tim you’re still on solid mental ground! It’s worth all the effort and extra effort/money to enjoy something that isn’t quite logical. At least it has been to me and my mental health. Heart Heart Heart.

go for it Tim!!!

Monty

Amen.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk