35mm Film - Where and what to buy?

AlbertZeroK · September 5, 2010

I'm wondering what people are buying for 35mm film these days? I just got given an Elan 7 and of course, that means, I just have to buy some film and try it out.

Is Fuji still recommended as best? As a general rule, I always check expiration date, should I worry about buying film from Wal-Mart? Of course, I have to shoot some Black and White film, but what's avaialble?

Lastly, where do you recommend developing it at? I'm interested in both wet prints and high quality film scanning.

ziggy53 · September 5, 2010

Film choice will vary by subject matter. What do you intend to shoot?

Color or B&W?

Do you need high contrast?

Do you need fine grain?

What ISO?

AlbertZeroK · September 5, 2010

I'm looking primarily at B&W and would like something with high contrast. I would like both fine and coarse grain which is as I recall, related to ISO. Of course, I'd like some 100 or 160 for outdoor shooting, and perhaps 400 or 800 for indoor.

For color, I'm thinking of getting a good, general purpose 200 or 400. I don't think I'll use color film much, unless I want a higher dynamic range or get a roll specifically to have a course grain.

For film processing, I have been recommended FromEX for film processing as they are inexpensive and can do real black and white prints and to pick up a film scanner, although, I have a film scanner attachment already for my LiDE 600 scanner.

ziggy53 · September 6, 2010

For B&W, Tri-X was always my faviorite film, along with Plus-X for bright daylight. Nowdays, T-Max 400 is a finer grain version of a modern Tri-X.

Be sure to try some Ilford XP-2 Super (ISO 400) which can be processed by any C-41 lab. (Chromogenic, C-41 process.) Not as sweet as the Kodak film, but it has the convenience factor.

For a really grainy but fast film, try Ilford Delta 3200 or Kodak T-Max P3200. Rated at ISO 1600 they are both a very pleasant amount of gritty grain. Pushed to ISO 3200 (but you want to rate it at about ISO 2400 or so) the grain gets really coarse and simple subjects look really "hard" and impersonal.

For color and with people stuff, I still like Kodak Portra 160NC. Flesh tones look very pleasing and natural with daylight or daylight balanced flash.

For color and landscapes/nature I prefer something with punchier colors and stronger contrast. Fujicolor Superia 100 is a pretty good choice, but watch out when you have saturated reds as you can lose detail.

Do try some slide film as it forces you to be precise with your technique. Fujichrome Astia 100F is a very nice slide film for natural color work and Fujichrome Velvia 50 for very fine grain and rich, saturated colors.

For processing, if you are really serious about B&W work it would be best to set up a wet darkroom so that you have control over the process. The ability to vary chemicals as well as time and temperature are critical in fine art B&W work.

For color stuff almost any lab will do as you hone your technique. The "pro" labs do tend to change/replenish their chemicals more frequently than consumer labs.

Scanning is best left to drum scanning for art-level quality. Do use a personal scanner for sorting and selecting. Remember that even the very best 135 format scan will only scan to about the quality of a modern 6 - 8 MPix dSLR so don't expect results beyond that capability. For the best results from film use an optical process to print as that maximizes the capability of the format.

35mm Film - Where and what to buy?

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