Black and White

[timlaug]

I know this is a digital site but I know there is a wealth of knowledge in here! Also this is my first thread and if I put it in the wrong place please move it!

I'm taking a trip west at the end of the month to route 66 and Grand Canyon just to shoot. I am thinking of taking along my Nikon FM film camera just to play a bit with it. I haven't used it in 15 years so I cleaned it up and ran a roll through it to make sure the operation of the camera was still in order.

So does anyone have an opinion of what B&W Film I should buy considering the location and the camera or should I just get any old film and shoot!!!

I was looking at:

AgfaPan APX
Kodak T-MAX
Kodak TRI-X


Thank you

[RLucas]

Originally Posted by timlaug

I know this is a digital site but I know there is a wealth of knowledge in here! Also this is my first thread and if I put it in the wrong place please move it!

I'm taking a trip west at the end of the month to route 66 and Grand Canyon just to shoot. I am thinking of taking along my Nikon FM film camera just to play a bit with it. I haven't used it in 15 years so I cleaned it up and ran a roll through it to make sure the operation of the camera was still in order.

So does anyone have an opinion of what B&W Film I should buy considering the location and the camera or should I just get any old film and shoot!!!

I was looking at:

AgfaPan APX
Kodak T-MAX
Kodak TRI-X


Thank you

I only ever shot b/w with TRI-X, so that is about all I can suggest. Good luck with it. I am interested too. I have thought about buying some T-Max myself, so I am interested in what others have to say here as well.

[Murtasma]

I've used Tri-X and T-Max I didn't notice a huge diffrence but I only did a few rolls of Tri-X and I can't really remember the results clearly. Remember that film is goign to be grainer then your DSLR which isn't a bad thing because I love the look of film grain but keep that in mind. What kind of images do you plan on shooting? What kind of lens will you be using on your film body? Don't forget to take shots with your DSLR in black and white to get a feel for what the contrast and picture will lok like on your film body. While it won't be identical it will give you a good idea of what it might look like. Things look diffrenet in black and white so you might be suprised by what you get. It can be difficult to visual things in black and white.

Seeing as how your going to the grand canyon I suspect most of your images will be landscape with a wide angle lens. If that's the case I would go with a slower film and use the tripod to minimize the grain.

[timlaug]

Funny think is I have a roll of Tri-X I left in the camera for 15 years. Gonna have to develop and see whats on it, I was doing a high school photography project last time I used it so who knows if it will even develop! So that is what I used to use!

[Murtasma]

15 years good god! That's like a time capsule!

[OsmosisStudios]

Save yourself the trouble: Kodak and Ilford both make C-41 process black and white films. I prefer the Ilford (the Kodak has an odd structure that comes through), shot about +2/3EV

[timlaug]

Originally Posted by Murtasma

I've used Tri-X and T-Max I didn't notice a huge diffrence but I only did a few rolls of Tri-X and I can't really remember the results clearly. Remember that film is goign to be grainer then your DSLR which isn't a bad thing because I love the look of film grain but keep that in mind. What kind of images do you plan on shooting? What kind of lens will you be using on your film body? Don't forget to take shots with your DSLR in black and white to get a feel for what the contrast and picture will lok like on your film body. While it won't be identical it will give you a good idea of what it might look like. Things look diffrenet in black and white so you might be suprised by what you get. It can be difficult to visual things in black and white.

Seeing as how your going to the grand canyon I suspect most of your images will be landscape with a wide angle lens. If that's the case I would go with a slower film and use the tripod to minimize the grain.

The widest I have for that cam is a 28mm 2.8 but I will be using a tripod.

[timlaug]

Originally Posted by Murtasma

15 years good god! That's like a time capsule!

Yeah, not sure if it will develop but if it does it will be fun to see how I shot in High School vs. now!

[timlaug]

Thanks Osmosis, Picked up 5 rolls of Ilford at the lcs now I can play the old school way!

[milosh]

I've also used a C41 process b&w film from Fujifilm, the Neopan 400CN (might be too fast/grainy for your application though). You can take a look if you want on my Flickr page, each b&w image there is from the 400CN: Flickr: Milos Kondic's Photostream