[stephen_G]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some guidance from film users on the forum.
I plan to do some film photography after a long time off from film.
(I'm having my old film camera serviced as I write).
I've lost touch with what films are available nowadays, does anyone have any recommendations please for film for landscape and wildlife photography?
Also when I have the film processed, what do I need to ask for from the processors in terms of files/formats that I can upload to the forum.
And if anyone can recommend a good film processor, that would be great.

Thanks

Stephen

[ProfessorBuzz]

Where are you located (roughly?) - it's a bit hard to recommend a processor withouth having a locale for you.
Black and White, color negative, or what are you interested in?
Ilford, Kodak Alaris, Fujifilm, Rollei, and many other brands are available.

[3by2]

Well as you're in the UK I have experience using these folks https://www.exposurefilmlab.com/

Unless you have a scanner then you'll need to choose a develop and scan option so your shots are returned as both negatives and scanned digital files. The files can come back in jpg or TIFF normally and I chose the enhanced TIFF scans from the service above which came back as 3649x5433 files around 58Mb a shot. You can then just import and work on these with whichever digital editor you use.

The picture below is from the FP4 they developed and scanned and was edited in Lightroom.

There's still a wide variety of films available, though I believe there's a shortage of some colour films right now. My last film was an Ilford FP4 and I'm actually just contemplating shooting another which will probably be an Ilford Delta. Sadly things like Kodachrome are no longer available, which was my go to slide film.

[ismaelg]

Hello,

Welcome back to film!
Are you looking at color, Black and White or both?
It seems film prices will increase in January so I'd suggest to stockpile a bit now.
Color film is experiencing global shortages and prices are going up. My favorite color film is Kodak EKTAR 100. But Kodak Gold 100 and 200 are also great, if you can find them. PROIMAGE 100 is another good film that was supposed to be a less expensive alternative to Ektar, but the price is getting closer.
I'll soon try Portra 160 (medium format).
It seems Fuji has stopped film production (there is a debate whether temporary or permanent) and prices on current stock is skyrocketing.
For Black and White, Ilford is a great film at still affordable prices. Delta 100, FP4 125, HP5 400 are all great but they have many others I have yet to try. Kodak has Tri-X 400 and TMax 400 which are great as well.
There are some smaller players trying to get into the scene like Lomo, Film Project and others, but I have found those are hard to find. Haven't tried them so I can't comment on that.
As for the scans, most labs will provide the option of regular or hi res scans. For online sharing and general purposes, I'd suggest to go with the regular scans. For serious scans I rather do it myself with plenty of time to try different settings and retry as much as needed.
While I assume you are referring to 35mm film, most of this also applies to 120 medium format film.

Welcome home!

Thanks,
Ismael

---

Last edited by ismaelg; 12-02-2021 at 11:18 AM.

[stephen_G]

Where are you located (roughly?) - it's a bit hard to recommend a processor withouth having a locale for you.
Black and White, color negative, or what are you interested in?
Ilford, Kodak Alaris, Fujifilm, Rollei, and many other brands are available.

Sorry, I forgot to add that I am in the UK.
I want to shoot mainly colour, landscape and wildlife.

Thanks

Stephen

[tuco]

Positive or negative film?

[murrelet]

Blue Moon has some good write ups and examples from currently available films. https://bluemooncameracodex.com/film-fridays They're based in the US but anything available in the US should be available in the UK and EU.

Emulsive has a film lab map: https://emulsive.org/articles/global-film-lab-map

[shyrsio]

If you are serious about film my suggestion is to buy in bulk and fill your reusable film rolls yourself. Its much cheaper, and from what we are seeing the prices will keep on rising. FomaPan is an excellent choice for B&W

[stephen_G]

Well as you're in the UK I have experience using these folks https://www.exposurefilmlab.com/

Unless you have a scanner then you'll need to choose a develop and scan option so your shots are returned as both negatives and scanned digital files. The files can come back in jpg or TIFF normally and I chose the enhanced TIFF scans from the service above which came back as 3649x5433 files around 58Mb a shot. You can then just import and work on these with whichever digital editor you use.

The picture below is from the FP4 they developed and scanned and was edited in Lightroom.

There's still a wide variety of films available, though I believe there's a shortage of some colour films right now. My last film was an Ilford FP4 and I'm actually just contemplating shooting another which will probably be an Ilford Delta. Sadly things like Kodachrome are no longer available, which was my go to slide film.

Thanks for the link to exposurefilmlab, I'll check them out.
Thanks for posting the stunning image too, I remember using FP4 way back and it was great then too.

---------- Post added 12-02-21 at 04:23 PM ----------

Hello,

Welcome back to film!
Are you looking at color, Black and White or both?
It seems film prices will increase in January so I'd suggest to stockpile a bit now.
Color film is experiencing global shortages and prices are going up. My favorite color film is Kodak EKTAR 100. But Kodak Gold 100 and 200 are also great, if you can find them. PROIMAGE 100 is another good film that was supposed to be a less expensive alternative to Ektar, but the price is getting closer.
I'll soon try Portra 160 (medium format).
It seems Fuji has stopped film production (there is a debate whether temporary or permanent) and prices on current stock is skyrocketing.
For Black and White, Ilford is a great film at still affordable prices. Delta 100, FP4 125, HP5 400 are all great but they have many others I have yet to try. Kodak has Tri-X 400 and TMax 400 which are great as well.
There are some smaller players trying to get into the scene like Lomo, Film Project and others, but I have found those are hard to find. Haven't tried them so I can't comment on that.
As for the scans, most labs will provide the option of regular or hi res scans. For online sharing and general purposes, I'd suggest to go with the regular scans. For serious scans I rather do it myself with plenty of time to try different settings and retry as much as needed.
While I assume you are referring to 35mm film, most of this also applies to 120 medium format film.

Welcome home!

Thanks,
Ismael

Thanks Ismael, I appreciate your help and suggestions.

---------- Post added 12-02-21 at 04:25 PM ----------

Positive or negative film?

It would be negative film that I will be using.

---------- Post added 12-02-21 at 04:26 PM ----------

If you are serious about film my suggestion is to buy in bulk and fill your reusable film rolls yourself. Its much cheaper, and from what we are seeing the prices will keep on rising. FomaPan is an excellent choice for B&W

I don't know at this stage how much film I will be shooting, but I will bear what you say in mind. Thanks.

[Michail_P]

Ektar is a great emulsion if you can find it. My personal favorite, probably. Otherwise Kodak Gold should do the job nicely and it is relatively affordable. I shoot some lomography rolls from time to time, the 100 and 800asa are interesting choices for color negative.

[stephen_G]

Blue Moon has some good write ups and examples from currently available films. https://bluemooncameracodex.com/film-fridays They're based in the US but anything available in the US should be available in the UK and EU.

Emulsive has a film lab map: https://emulsive.org/articles/global-film-lab-map

Thanks for the links to Bluemoon and Emulsive, I'll check them out.

[pentaxus]

Sounds to me like Kodak Gold is a good place to start. Film photography's popularity has come as a bit of surprise. There are supply issues for chemicals used to make the film. Initially film producers were using existing stocks. When it new stocks of the chemicals were needed the true cost of current production hit. My understanding of the Fuji problem has to do with the company that makes (made?) the film base.

[disconnekt]

Since you're in the UK, I'd suggest checking out Analogue Wounderland (here: https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/), they also recently opened up a film lab (currently developing only 35mm b&w & c41 film, and 120 b&w film)

[sfkazimierczak]

Hi Stephen.

I think that in terms of color negatives you can't go wrong with the Kodak Portra family. I love the 160 variant. But since it's not the cheapest film out there I'm also using a lot of Kodak ColorPlus 200. As much as I would like to shoot Fujifilm, their color negatives are either unavailable or quite expensive. I managed to secure 2 rolls of Pro400H, but I'm saving it for summer weather. If you would like to try something new, then Lomography films are an interesting alternative to old household names. Just keep in mind that what might be sold as a 36 frames roll is in fact a 30-ish frames roll. I was really dissapointed when winder in my SFXn stopped after 28 frames of Metropolis XR.

In my opinion BW is much more interesting right now in terms of what is available on the market. You got your usual Ilford/Kodak/Foma/Rollei films, but also very interesting niche products from Adox and Lomography. I was pleasantly surprised with Lomography Babylon 13. It's very low sensitivity film and it is not DX coded, so make sure your camera has manual asa setting that goes that low.

Have fun!

[stephen_G]

Hi Stephen.

I think that in terms of color negatives you can't go wrong with the Kodak Portra family. I love the 160 variant. But since it's not the cheapest film out there I'm also using a lot of Kodak ColorPlus 200. As much as I would like to shoot Fujifilm, their color negatives are either unavailable or quite expensive. I managed to secure 2 rolls of Pro400H, but I'm saving it for summer weather. If you would like to try something new, then Lomography films are an interesting alternative to old household names. Just keep in mind that what might be sold as a 36 frames roll is in fact a 30-ish frames roll. I was really dissapointed when winder in my SFXn stopped after 28 frames of Metropolis XR.

In my opinion BW is much more interesting right now in terms of what is available on the market. You got your usual Ilford/Kodak/Foma/Rollei films, but also very interesting niche products from Adox and Lomography. I was pleasantly surprised with Lomography Babylon 13. It's very low sensitivity film and it is not DX coded, so make sure your camera has manual asa setting that goes that low.

Have fun!

Thanks for the great information, it all helps. I've got a bit of catching up to do!

---------- Post added 12-03-21 at 03:17 AM ----------

Since you're in the UK, I'd suggest checking out Analogue Wounderland (here: https://analoguewonderland.co.uk/), they also recently opened up a film lab (currently developing only 35mm b&w & c41 film, and 120 b&w film)

Thanks for that, I did spot them on a web search. I'll check them out.

---------- Post added 12-03-21 at 03:19 AM ----------

Sounds to me like Kodak Gold is a good place to start. Film photography's popularity has come as a bit of surprise. There are supply issues for chemicals used to make the film. Initially film producers were using existing stocks. When it new stocks of the chemicals were needed the true cost of current production hit. My understanding of the Fuji problem has to do with the company that makes (made?) the film base.

It's very like the CD v Vynil issue isn't it? A lot of people are turning back to vynil, (bands included for their new releases), and apparently there are supply issues there too.