Black and White film quality.

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

In my 46 years of serious photography I have used ADOX, AGFA, ANSCO, ARGENTA, BEGGER, DEKO, FUJI, FORTE, FERRANIA, GEVAERT, GEKKO, ILFORD, KODAK,KENTMER, LEONAR, MIMOSA, ORIENTAL, PERUTZ and a few more. Mostly when there are faults, they are mine. But somehow AGFA, ILFORD, KODAK and FUJI have risen above the rest.
There is no scientific proof, just personal preference.

[Don7x17]

Hi all : I do develope the film myself, ....I use a Unicolor type drum to develope my film, D76 1:1 or xtol 1:1 to 1:3. All chemicals are one shot, and every thing mixed with distilled water and distilled water final rinse.
I am posative some of the pin prick marks are dust, I use all the tricks with my film holders and camera ( To keep them clean) that I have learned from posts here, but here in the dry desert they are pretty much dust magnets.

The HP-5 problem looks like a wrinkle in the coating.

The Delta-100, one sheet had two spots where the emulsion was gone. The other sheet has a spot that looks a small finger print full of pin pricks.

The Arista film-- Pin pricks,scratches on both sides, dark spots, spots that look like drying marks from using tap water.

...I finally found the nerve to make a post.

Thanks, Mike Hansen

Great that you posted. there's a lot of experience and people have shared some of it.

I lived in the desert with 8x10, 7x17 and 12x20 for many many years, so dust is one of those things. Ever wonder why dust always seems attracted to the sky? take the back off...see all that dust on the bottom of the bellows? When you pull the darkslide of the holder..the sky is right next to that. Clean it out.

Find the equivalent of the old Kostiner antistatic brush - -one of the big ones that cover 8 inches. Use it on all holders before you put film in. Use it in the field one the holder before inserting it.

Is the HP-5 wrinkle caused by a scratch, or is it permanently in the emulsion? Contact Ilford. That delta problem sounds an awful lot like a contaminated finger print. You'd have to scan it and post. Sounds like you are doing the right things with developing chemsitry - distilled water and one-shot.

[MIke Sherck]

You should try an experiment. Load up half a box of film and share or trade the other half with another photographer -- anyone will do, most likely. Shoot & process and compare results. Process vs. manufacture problems should be pretty plain.

Mike

[Mike Hansen]

I'm glad to rear that my problems are the exception and not the rule. I had about decided that flaws were just the way it is.

I went out today and shot four more sheets of the Delta 100, and all four are perfect.
I am thinking that the first two sheets were stuck together and I did the damage when I pulled them apart.

Shot six sheets of Tmax 100 and they are all perfect.
I feel a whole lot better now, and have no regrets buying the better film.

Thanks, Mike Hansen

[pkphotog]

18 years of using Kodak Tri-X and TMax films processed in D76 with Jobo CPA 2 and have had no problems at all. I exposed 500 sheets of Tmax 400 this year and processed them in Pyrocat HD and they all came out great. I have had a few issues with Ilford and Agfa, but never with Kodak or Fuji.

[brad martin]

Wow,

I've always assumed that the dust spots and scratches were my fault. I feel way better.

Thanks.

[Frank Petronio]

I found Ilford HP-5 to be miscut so it was 1/4" shorter than normal. And boxed so that the two inner boxes were facing the same way. Both times I complained, and the reps apologized to the lab owner but never made any effort on my behalf (some properly sized film would have set things straight) so they lost my business. That was last year when I shot over 1,500 sheets of the stuff.

I went back to Kodak and have never had a problem. That includes all the 1,000s of sheets I had to deal with when I was a young assistant doing catalogs and such.

[eddie]

one extra thing i do to try and keep the dust down i keep my changing tent zipped up when i am not using it. when i take out the film and holders i immediately close the flap. i just did a trip out west with a friend. i call him the dust monster....all he talked about was the dust the dust the dust. i kept after him and teased his incessantly about "seeing" so much dust. turns out he has been shocked that his negs have "no" dust (not yet at least).

i want to use kodak and ilford...i really do but they are WAY more expensive than my favorite film foma100/arista.edu.ultra. i have no doubts that K&I have top of the line quality control....(and i love their films don't get me wrong!) BUT i have not had any problems with the foma films....except the problems i introduced!

i simply shoot too much LF film as a hobby to be able to justify K&I. i think this last year i have shot about 700 sheets of 4x5, 300sh of 8x10 and 100sh 11x14 (i just started shooting 11x14 )! i have been shooting this film for over 5 years. as i have said i have no problems that i could attribute to the manufacturer.

so now for the interesting break down! basically when i compare the prices i pay for the arista.edu.ultra to the prices of the same amount of Kodak film from THIS years film purchases i have already made, i have saved exactly $1550! NOW that is a HUGE savings! (i think i should shoot less film...if my wife ever finds out.....)

so lets break this down a bit further. that savings has afforded me the entire 15 day trip to utah this year including car rental, lodging,gas, and plane ticket....AND it has also paid for my share of a one week house rental in maine this year (split with some of my photography pals) and the gas to get there and back....AND i still had a bit extra money left over for my new wet plate interest....maybe one day i will no longer need to buy film......!

the long and the short of it is i guess i am lucky! i have had no issues with my film. it prints on silver very nice. i have been using it with Alt process with great success AND i have saved enough money to pay for two trips this year alone. i am very happy.

when/if i can get some one else to pay for my films i may try some of the other great films from K&I....i sure would like to bang away on FP4 and Tmax400....i really would! but until that day i will continue to shoot A.E.U.

eddie

[Michael Kadillak]

This subject has been bantered around extensively.

I have come to the conclusion that photographers that use film on the lower end of the cost scale continue to defend the practice and diminish the adverse consequences that they realize in the process. If it is a case of just being excessively frugile it really does not matter. I feel that if it is worth doing, it should be done to the best one ones capabilities which should favor the highest quality materials, but this is just not the case.

I understand that students learning the craft obviously do not have the financial resources nor the requirement to use the best film possible. But those that have been making photographs for years do not necessarily fall into this category.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for.

Cheers!

[Vaughn]

Was the tranny film all ready-loads?

Vaughn