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03-30-2018, 01:13 PM   #1
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Film suggestions

Bismillah

What color and BW film do you recommend for a Pentax SFX? Thanks.

03-30-2018, 02:00 PM - 1 Like   #2
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For color try the Kodak Portra 160 and for b&w try the Kodak TMAX 100. You can also try the ISO 400 versions of each if you need more speed.
03-30-2018, 02:03 PM   #3
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That’s an impossible question to answer completely without some additional information...

What’s the subject, the lighting, the effect you’re after, the lens you plan to use? All of that can matter.

Are you doing the processing? A local lab? Are you sending it out?

I shoot Ilford XP2 black and white much of the time so my local lab can process it. Ilford FP4 if I can tolerate the slower ISO and the wait to send it out.

I just finished some Fuji 200 color print film. It gives generally good results and seems to scan pretty well.

Again, you’ll have different needs for different films, so you may have a very different set of preferences...

Good luck 🙂

-Eric
03-30-2018, 02:21 PM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by halimj7 Quote
Bismillah

What color and BW film do you recommend for a Pentax SFX? Thanks.
The imp in me says, "35mm".



I am curious what you shoot and how you plan to use the output. Will it be scanned and if so how? Will it be wet printed? To what size and what subjects?

03-30-2018, 02:29 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by TwoUptons Quote
That’s an impossible question to answer completely without some additional information...

What’s the subject, the lighting, the effect you’re after, the lens you plan to use? All of that can matter.

Are you doing the processing? A local lab? Are you sending it out?

I shoot Ilford XP2 black and white much of the time so my local lab can process it. Ilford FP4 if I can tolerate the slower ISO and the wait to send it out.

I just finished some Fuji 200 color print film. It gives generally good results and seems to scan pretty well.

Again, you’ll have different needs for different films, so you may have a very different set of preferences...

Good luck 🙂

-Eric
Bismillah

Sorry I’m a newb to film. I plan to shoot street, portraits and landscapes using the 28-80mm f3.5-4.5, smc 28mm f2.8 m lens, and smc 135mm f2.5. I also plan to have it developed at CVS or Riteaid. Thanks.
03-30-2018, 02:40 PM   #6
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If it were me, XP2 for sure for the black and white.

I would start with Kodak Max 400 for color, as the lab probably can get good results out of it...

Once you get your lab ‘trained’ to what you like, Portra 160 is ideal for portraits with the 135... but it may take the lab techs some time to color balance it in their machines...

-Eric

Last edited by TwoUptons; 03-30-2018 at 02:47 PM.
03-30-2018, 02:40 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by halimj7 Quote
Bismillah

Sorry I’m a newb to film. I plan to shoot street, portraits and landscapes using the 28-80mm f3.5-4.5, smc 28mm f2.8 m lens, and smc 135mm f2.5. I also plan to have it developed at CVS or Riteaid. Thanks.
With this in mind, the XP2 will be good for b&w. Any color 400 speed film can work, it’s going to take some experimenting on your part to find what you like.

I process my own film, color and b&w. There’s plenty of brands and types available if you ever go that route.

03-30-2018, 02:42 PM - 1 Like   #8
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Kodak Ultramax 400 is great, it's all I use. You can get 10 packs of 36 fairly cheap on ebay from US sellers. I do not like the colors of Fuji, except the Reala, and the 1600 speed color, but I'm not sure they make either anymore. My CVS was so bad when they were still doing film. I once saw the person drop a full strip of film on their carpet, and pick it up bare handed. My one roll from there came back scratched and full of dust.
03-30-2018, 02:45 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by halimj7 Quote
Bismillah

Sorry I’m a newb to film. I plan to shoot street, portraits and landscapes using the 28-80mm f3.5-4.5, smc 28mm f2.8 m lens, and smc 135mm f2.5. I also plan to have it developed at CVS or Riteaid. Thanks.
If you are going to have CVS/Riteaid process your b&w film, then a chromogenic b&w film like Ilford XP2 will be something they can handle.
03-30-2018, 03:13 PM   #10
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If you don't have much experience shooting film, get something cheap like Ranchu is suggesting. I also prefer kodak gold/ultramax to fuji superia. It's also good because it looks "average," from there you can decide what you'd want to change: more/less contrast or saturation, what iso, etc. If you're used to digital you'll suddenly realize how often you need to bracket, that 1/15 is a no go with 50mm lens (no ibis), all your favorite sports are too dark for iso400 handheld, etc, so you'll go through film quickly.
03-30-2018, 03:26 PM   #11
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It's true that if you are only used to shooting digital - where it is so easy to blowout highlights, that you might expose the scene as a digital camera would. Well, you will find most film to be near impossible to blowout. Below you will notice that while digital raws are completely unusable by about +3 or +4 stops, film just seems to keep going.



So unless you are good with metering and your camera is performing as it should, you should always err on the side of overexposure as it will be far easier to deal with then grossly underexposing. I have personally tested many color and b&w films and they can all handle quite a bit of overexposure.

Last edited by LesDMess; 03-30-2018 at 03:34 PM.
03-30-2018, 04:02 PM   #12
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Bismillah

Thanks everyone for the great advice.
03-30-2018, 08:38 PM   #13
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Just to be a little contrary, my recommendation for color is Fujifilm C200, because it has great, natural color, and it's dirt cheap for color film. If you must go Kodak, I'd look for ColorPlus over Gold.

If you want good color and Kodak, go for either Portra or Ektar.
03-30-2018, 08:44 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by twilhelm Quote
With this in mind, the XP2 will be good for b&w.
QuoteOriginally posted by LesDMess Quote
If you are going to have CVS/Riteaid process your b&w film, then a chromogenic b&w film like Ilford XP2 will be something they can handle.
Although Ilford XP2+ is one of my favorite B&W (monochromatic chromogenic) films and is processed in C-41 color chemistry, many labs struggle with printing it on color paper as it does not have an orange stain like color neg films. So I would start with a single test roll with CVS/Riteaid unless @twilhelm of @LesDMess know for certain they will not only develop XP2+ but also either scan or print it.
03-30-2018, 11:26 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by LesDMess Quote
If you are going to have CVS/Riteaid process your b&w film, then a chromogenic b&w film like Ilford XP2 will be something they can handle.
I'm not sure CVS even processes color film at their stores anymore? They may send all their film out for processing these days.
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