How to learn a type of film?

[Drew Wiley]

When starting out, don't overcomplicate things. Start with just one film and developer combination, stick with it, and learn to print well from it before wandering off other directions. FP4 would be an excellent first choice, and is compatible with many different developers, although I personally use PMK pyro just like a number of others here. Foma 200 is quite different, with more idiosyncrasies needing to be ironed out.

[esearing]

Learning how your chosen film reacts to what you think will happen with lens choices vs exposure vs development vs printing is the technical side of photography. You don't learn everything at once but grow and change with experimentation and learning from the experience of others. Even after you get comfortable something is bound to change due to product availability or a change in you. Because of the LF high costs per image or gear or chemistry, it can be hard to take multiple shots of the same image and make adjustments to your process to see the differences.

[jnantz]

HI Vinay

best way to learn a film is to use it and develop it and make prints from it.. films and developers and papers are never the same between people ... what works for me might not work for you .. so the only thing I can suggest is get a box of each the Ilford and the Foma and bracket some exposures and develop them in your favorite developer and make prints and see which one looks best and make some more exposures .. and don't forget to have some fun, no fun, no point
John

[Heroique]

You don't learn everything at once but grow and change with experimentation and learning from the experience of others.

Yes, I try to learn about specific films with plenty of field notes and darkroom notes – even notes about the experiences of others. And I refer back to all these notes in advance of future field outings, future darkroom work. One film/developer combo I started taking notes about was Kodak T-Max 100 in T-Max rs. It’s a combo that can vary in results with even small changes in field or darkroom choices. One might also take notes on how well the film scans, as I did with my Epson 4990. I learned so much with sustained study that it became my favorite b/w combo. I’m still learning, still going back to old notes, but I feel the combo behaves most of the time like I tell it too! BTW, it’s surprising to me how many lessons I’d forget without the benefit of all those spiral-bound notebook scribbles.