B&W film + developer recommendations?

[nemeng]

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After ten years of shooting only colour (C41), I'm thinking of getting back onto B&W for a new project.

 

Medium format (120), fine-grain, high resolution. I have all the equipment needed for home-development. I'll scan the results, so chemical printing quirks don't matter. 200 ISO film would be ideal, but I can live with either 100 ISO or 400 ISO.

 

Currently I'm leaning towards Kodak TMX-100 developed in Ilford Perceptol (1+1). This is the setup I had in the early 90's and therefore know it inside out.

 

Aside from digital (please, I want to shoot film!) any more modern suggestions?...

[Guest hagen]

Acros 100, Push 1, ID-11 1+1

[uulrich]

Hi Andrew. :-)

 

Looking at your web page I don't think someone like you need my advice but I try...

 

I think any EI400 would do you nicely. I would look around if one of the local shops in your area stock monochrome film and developers. I would also check out if developers/papers and all the stuff is usually on stock.

 

HP5/TX400 are good alrounder for EI400. Personally I prefer Ilford but the TX will do as well.

 

In a first instance I would give the liquid developer made by the same brand as your film of choice is a try. Stick exactly to the documents both on developer and film box and check their website too. This will give you success immediately for your first roll. I would not recomment powder developer and messing around w/ plenishing/mixing.

 

Try to do your setup in your bathroom or whereever you do the processing and try to figure out what is the best way to maintain the temperature by using warm or cold water. Then give it a try.

 

To be on the safe side I suggest not to shoot important happenings around you exclusively w/ your first roll. However, it is most likely that you will immediately have success.

[vic vic]

andrew - berger 200 film is really cool.

acros fuji is cool too.

fp4 gives in my taste more than enoug resolution for medium format that u want. and honestly the apx100 of agfa, now can be found with maco and rollei as retro film is great too.

another choice is of course the dleta 100 film ilford

 

it depends on what "look" u want. they are slighly ddifferent, both the film and the combo with developers. my choice is fp4 and apx100, but u see what is best for u of course. even if scanned they still give the differance, but the computer post processing will take care about it.

 

generally - among those films, acros and delta will give u best resolution. tmax will do very smooth - even smother than acros, but less "vissible" reolution.

[vic vic]

on nemeg - forgot to mention one little trick (maybe u know it already of course)..

 

strong selenium will help u very much. i mean - after the development and fixing, make first wash and put your negative into selenium (i mix the selenim solution in with tetenal lava-quick). the solution is 1+3, and both kodak and fotospeed selenium is great for it.

 

5 to 10 minutes is enough.

 

i dont know how iy will work with delta though. i do it alot with the fp4 or pan-f or hp5. one important thing - id-11 (1+1) is very good for this complete proces. the rodinal developed film is not that ok.

 

it wil increase a little contrast, but most important it will bring out the detail even further - improving the existed resolution in terms of impression when printed).

 

loupe, fine print in darkrrom or very fine scan (finer than nikon:-) ) is neeeded to take full advantage of those processes (especially when high res is concerned).

[nemeng]

Thanks for the suggestions. Will also give Ilford Delta 400 a spin.

[stunsworth]

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Tri-X or FP4 developed in Xtol diluted 1:3 have given me very good results.

[leicamann]

I mainly use both Ilford Delta Pro 100 and 400 ..both excellent..and of coure life would be life without Agfa Apx 100 or 400....I also us Rodinol 1:25 20C.... I use a small tank..better quality and grain control. I get too many blemishes on the larger dev tanks.

 

Good luck.

 

Regards, Leicamann

[Guest flatfour]

I used B&W C41 Neopan 400C or XP2 in my Rollei, C41 is almost grainless at normal blowups in 6x6.

[Dan States]

Since you are scanning vs traditional prints I would go with the C41 black and white films. They scan as easily as color neg film and you wont have to deal with issues of grain rendition from scanned black and white film. If you insist on straight black and white films Tmax100 and Acros scan very well. Keep your neg contrast under tight control however, as scanning a full contrast black and white negative will give your scanner issues. Techniques to extend your neg contrast range are not usefull for digital scanning.

 

Dan

[nemeng]

I would go with the C41 black and white films

 

Thanks for the suggestion but I really want to get away from lab-based development here.

 

Part of the problem of shooting medium-format C41 in Sydney is that good quality colour labs which can handle 120-film have almost vanished. There are still a few left on the eastern seaboard, but they're all > 70km from where I live. It's possible to get 120 film developed at some 1-hr minilabs, but the results are always "disappointing" (streaks, scratches, thumb-prints, foot-prints...)

 

I have the tanks & equipment. Traditional B&W chemistry is easy do and stores well, completely unlike C41 which goes off in a few weeks. So... home development rules for this project :?)

[rob_x2004]

I can't help it. I just love those silver bullets. Agfapan, since this thread is now just a vote thread. Can't get enough. Anyway Andrew knows more about developing it than I ever will.

[egpj]

To my eye FP4 has a very classic look to it with long mid-tones. I like using this film with the 90 Summicron ASPH for portraits "Creamy butter baby!" or with any of the Summicron's really. The Delta films almost seem analytical to me. The Delta's might be good to use with the Noctilux or something like that. Big fan of HP5 as well and have just recently started using some Tri-x 400. Everything gets souped in Ilfotec DDX and have excellent and consistent results. Good Luck.

[uulrich]

Andrew;

 

If slow film doesn't bother you... ILFORD PAN F EI 50.

 

I tried and - oh boy - what a crisp and sharp stuff. I did it straight forward exactly according to the books w/ ILFOSOL S and it turned out so well that I'll order a brick.

 

Since you aim at 120 rolls I checked ILFORD's home page today. Yes, it is available as 35mm and 120 roll film. :-)

[Findus]

C41 misses the full tonal range....

 

Any prefered combination is good, all comes down to personal preference.

 

Personally I use APX100 and rodinal and Tri-x and HC110 most of the time, actually 80% of my work which adds up to some 100.000+ developed frames.

 

I like efke 25 but it involves an extra step in the process.

[nemeng]

Journeyed into Sydney yesterday to buy some B&W developer. What an eye-opening experience! Of the four major camera stores I tried (Foto Reisel, Ted's, G&V and Paxtons), only Ted's had a reasonable range of film developers.

 

Foto Reisel suggested I try D76 or ID11 (I was - er - looking for Perceptol!), and G&V and Paxtons didn't have any B&W chemicals. At all. Period.

 

I eventually bought some Microdol-X from Ted's, although the sales staff had no idea about any of the B&W merchandise. I kid you not - actual quote:

"Er, this stuff is way before my time. We just stock it for students and old-timers. If you're not in a hurry, come back on Tuesday, when Ralph will be in, and you'll be able to ask him."

Thanks. No thanks. Handed over my money and left.

 

A bit of online research this morning thankfully confirmed my suspicions that Microdol-X is practically the same as Perceptol, so I can use the same development times with TMX that I did in 1992.

 

Phew - I'm in business. TMX 100, Microdol-X 1+1, ISO 100.

[cbretteville]

Enjoy Andy! It is getting to where I get all my supplies via the web. I just get sad going into the stores I used in the 80s (those that are still around) and all I see are digital p&s cameras and PC with card readers where customers can "develop" their snaps for the family album.

 

- Carl

[uulrich]

Congratulations Andrew. You just put yourself back into the driver seat.

 

OT:- Some months ago I went to Jessops (retailer in UK); I needed slides or any color material. They told me they do not stock slides and don't hv. film handy. :-) They also couldn't resist asking me why I don't go digital....? Ooooops. I avoid Jessops at all costs.

[nemeng]

Thing is, all the stores I went to had plenty of customers and trade appeared to be brisk. So it looks like those who made the transition to digitoy will survive. Good luck to them.

 

Mind you, it was irritating going from store to store, knowing exactly what you want, and all you got is "Eh?..."

 

Nevermind. The next time I need to buy anything, I'll simply get it online. Even if it means importing from t'other side of the world :?)

 

BTW, I just saw this British B&W retailer mentioned in another forum thread:

 

Retro Photographic Ltd - Black & White Specialist Photographic Products

 

Looks like a useful alternative to B&H (who are okay, but seriously overcharge for shipping to Aust.)

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[Justin Low]

Andrew, perhaps it's a little exotic, but I use Tri-X developed in Pyrocat-M. This combination is not the finest grained, nor does it produce more shadow detail, but the tones are beautiful, and the detail is sharp. But best of all, I have not used anything else that gives me wonderful and repeatable images shot at night. If you're scanning, it does take a little time to 'dial in' your settings, but it's not too challenging.