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Thread: Best black and white film for a beginner

  1. #21

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    217

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    Slight problem at the moment is that Ilford liquid developers are mostly out of stock (but allegedly starting to arrive - check with Silverprint - if anyone has some, they will) and powdered developers are extinct (at the time of writing).

    I would just repeat what others have said: FP4+ in a developer that comes as a liquid (for simplicity's sake). If you have trouble finding DDX, have a look at Rodinal. It has a shelflife in an opened bottle that exceeds the lifetime of the known universe, it has good graduation and sharpness and it's legendary grain is not an issue in 4x5...

    Have fun. Bob.

  2. #22

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    No. Virginia
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    364

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    In the mid '60's I started out using Tri-X and D-76. For about 35 years I chased after silver bullets. I always seemed to go back to Tri-X & D-76. Then a friend in the industry started giving me lots of free film. Bad news. Back to Tri-X.

    When I retired I swore I would use Tri-X and D-76 and no more silver bullets. The Lone Ranger is long dead and his supply of bullets lost to history. Since staying with one film and developer my printing has made a quantum leap.

    Living in the UK using Ilford HP5 or FP4 would make sense. Any standard developer is fine. Stay away from the newer boutique films until you really find a need to change.

    Now if only Kodak would stop fooling around with Tri-X and leave it alone.

  3. #23

    Join Date
    Sep 2003
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    71

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    Welcome to the Land that Time Forgot ...

    Everybody has contributed useful information. I'll put in my 2 cents (or pence, as you folks across the pond would say).

    Support Ilford if at all possible. Landscapes are superb done on Delta 100. I personally like Delta 100 at ISO 50, in Rodinal 1:50.

    People look better on conventional grain film. Tri-X is pretty hard to beat. A lot of folks shoot HP5+. I've tried it, but I haven't found the majik yet...

    If Fuji made Neopan 400 sheets available in the US (it is available in Japan), I'd use that instead of Tri-X.

    D-76 is pretty hard to beat; but if I lived in England, I'd buy ID-11 (and when I can get it here, I do).

    Good shooting.

    /s/ David Beal
    Memories Preserved Photography, LLC
    David Beal
    Memories Preserved Photography, LLC
    "Making tomorrow's memories by
    capturing today's happiness" (R)

  4. #24

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    Regarding Acros: I love it at ISO 50 in Rodinal 1:50. It's more forgiving than TMax in my experience. But if you're just starting out, I think the advice to stay with traditional films and developers is sound, and would highly recommend HP5+ in D76 1:1. It's an extremely forgiving combination, so you should get some positive feedback early on. Also, it's a very flexible combination so you'll be able to explore different developer dilutions, pushing, and pulling without much trouble. HP5+ is by far my favorite fast film, and it works very nicely with D76. (If you want a slower film, FP4+ is a great film to start with...but remember that grain isn't going to be a problem for you very often in 4x5.)

    Also, although the temptation will be strong, do not ignore the advice to stick with one film and one developer for a while. If you don't, you'll waste a lot of film, lose some shots, and eventually come back around to one of each. You might as well avoid the costs involved in making that mistake (as many of us have already walked that particular path and it leads to nowhere good).

  5. #25

    Join Date
    May 2000
    Location
    Tamworth, Staffordshire. U.K.
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    1,167

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    Have a look at Silverprints on line catalouge. They are based in the back streets around Waterloo and are nice people to deal with. Parking is on a yellow line but they have a camera outside and a moniter behind the counter so that you can spot the traffic warden. They are in Kenny's Zone and they don't open on Saturdays.

  6. #26

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    I like fp4 and acros both in pyro. I used to use a jobo with good results but I just switched from diffused to condenser enlarger, and even with a presoak, it was too much agitation for my needs. For acros I use ISO 64-80, 10 min in ABC pyro 30 second agitation. This is for a condencer enlarger, diffused would be to a higher C.I. John Berry

  7. #27

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    Thank you everyone for the advice and support - I feel privileged to be able to benefit from so much experience. Reading through the responses I think I shall try Ilford FP4 and HP5 in the first instance as these seem the most conventional and safest. I was really getting lost in the maze of black and white films but now I feel I have a reference point to get started with. I also know from my own nature that it will not be long before I want to experiment so more and try some of the other recommendations people have posted here. I think the complexity of variables in black and white makes it seem both daunting for the beginner but also magical - a bit like looking out the window of your plane as you descend on a new continent when travelling. Here in the UK we have a lot of snow at present so weather permitting I shall get out this weekend and try to shoot some film. Large format certainly feels like the "land that time forgot" as David described it but it is so much fun and feels so real compared to the other stuff and as a beginner I am just so excited about the journey I am starting. Thanks again to everyone.
    Best wishes
    Paul

  8. #28

    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Posts
    112

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    For very long exposure times the better reciprocity characteristics of Tmax 400 are sometimes helpful. You will find that as times increase even Tmax 100 will be faster then HP5. I normally will use HP5 but for those situations I keep some Tmax 400 loaded. And it seems like I can get some pretty good prints from it.

  9. #29

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    Lots of good comments on various film/developer combos, but alas, no comments that a lot depends on your intended use.

    For example - print size. If you're not planning on working in very low light, or with very long exposures, then I'd recommend Acros (which has excellent reciprocity departure characteristics), or Tmax-100 (TMX) or perhaps Tmax-400 (TMY).

    If you envision making very large prints, then I'd suggest either TMX or Acros.

    If you're planning on scanning the negatives and then printing them digitally, I'd go with either TMX or Acros.

    If you plan on working well away from your car, and/or will need to carry large quantities of film, then again, TMX and Acros are available in readyloads/quickloads.

    If you're looking for film which is forgiving of processing errors, then you should avoid TMX and TMY, which are more sensitive to time/temp variations, and especially avoid Acros, which is even more sensitive to time variations than TMX is.

  10. #30

    Best black and white film for a beginner

    Y0u could try Bergger film, a great merit for a beginner is that it is almost impossible to overdevelop if your doing your own. You will learn a lot from your initial exposures and arguably whatever you use, the fine points of film and developer combinations will probably not be your initial problem, the intricacies of handling the beast take quite a bit of getting used to. A few things that may help with the practicalities:
    Loading darkslides gets easier with practice . If you don't have nails, unloading is easier if you turn the holder upside down and give it a tap.
    You might like to try experimenting with rises and tilts eg. take a picture with the camera low down and try and get everything sharp ( a pavement is good for this). Try correcting verticals with front rise.
    Y0u can do quite a lot of learning without taking a picture at all as with a ground glass, what you see is what you get! or put another way, if you can't get the image right on the ground glass then adding a slice of film into the equation is not going to miraculously change things ( I used to have an MPP, sometimes the movements are not quite enough in challenging circumstances).

    One of the things I liked about the MPP ( with the caveat that mine was well used and shabby) was that you could leave it on the tripod and dump it in the back of the car, closed up it's surrounded by a thick aluminium shell and is pretty bombproof.

    I live in Leigh on Sea near Southend, if you fancy a trip out this way, email me, it's only an hour away.

    Cheers,

    Charlie.

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