I know nothing... which film and chemicals would you reccomend?

[Ash]

Be careful though. LF is a lot slower and a little more complex than 35mm. The film isn't sealed in a can then sealed in the camera. You gotta load the sheets in total darkness, and develop them the same way. There's also the chance you'll ruin a shot by accidentally slipping the darkslide out an inch or so before or after exposure.

I did that yesterday. I looked down and saw half a sheet staring at me!

Just a warning to take it easy and don't rush

[davidb]

Ilford FP4+ and ID-11.

Nice and easy.

[rivermandan]

I've been drooling over this for a few months now, slowly buying the required equipment while reading up on the topic religiously, so I think I am pretty well prepared, and taking it slow and easy is the way I roll The only thing I don't feel comfortable about is the developing side of things, because I have little experience. My goal is to have my first photo turn out well, if that happens I will be grinning ear to ear, though I am pretty sure I will be posting asking you guys what I managed to do to this poor piece of film.

[fhovie]

In this thread I guess I missed the part where all the details of what was being shot and how prints were going to be made all that information that would help one choose a film developer combo. So in light of that .. TRI-X and D23 split - a completely full proof system - TRI-X has huge latitude and Split D-23 will develop anything and make it printable. I use this combo with my TLRs when I am knocking about without a light meter and winging it. (which is rarely)

Why TRI-X?
Can be had cheap on ebay - yep - just bought 80 rolls at $1.50 a roll -
(sheets are not that hard to find either - cheap - expired is fine - but not from the 80s)
Can be pushed to 1600 and do a great job
Can make 5 stops of brightness fill the range of Grade 2 paper
Can be pulled to suck up 12 stops of brightness
Stains well with my favorite developers
Is very forgiving and tolerant.
Is relatively fine grained
Is everywhere available

Why D-23 Split?
It is really cheap to make from chemicals you can get from artcraft chemical or photoformulary.
It has a lot of capacity (many many many rolls)
It is tolerant of many temperatures and timing is not critical
It is compensating (your skys will look good)

Why I don't use this combination normally:
I know my enlarger and paper(s) and know what densities I am looking for. For LF - I am normally shooting landscapes in the morning or evening and most often I need to expand the contrast. FP4 is better at expanding contrast than TRI-X. I need tight controls and want greater control over densities which I cannot get with the above mentioned combo. I use Pyrocat-P - I like what the stain does in my prints, I like the sharpness and I like what the p-aminophenol does to the mid-tones. So I have tuned my film and chemistry and paper and enlarger head to work together to make what I want. If I was doing contact prints on AZO or portraits, My film choices and developer choices would differ. I use a different combo for Roll film because it has to do many things and do it hand held - often.

So you could get a hundred answers to your question and all would work well for what someone is doing - maybe even fine tuned to their process. For general purpose, you will get acceptable results with generic films (Traditional grain TRI-X PanX FP4 HP5) and developers (D-76 XTOL and their clones) - but not great results always. That is why combos are fine tuned. Start with acceptable results, figure out what you will shoot most of the time and then start calibrating.

Just my $.02

[Erich Hoeber]

Much good advice here. Trad films and XTOL, D76, HC110 are all good choices for the aformentioned reasons. I'd just add that a year ago I switched to Clayton F76+ which is extremely reliable and cheap and has the advantage of being a liquid instead of a powder or syrup which is extremely convenient for those of us who only develop every couple weeks or so. Also, you will benefit greatly from doing some testing. The BTZS method is excellent, but Steve Simmons has a simplified method on the View Camera site that will get the basics for you with a lot less work. Good luck!