Trying Black & White Film... Recommendations?

net1994 · June 30, 2007

A while ago my boss gave me his old Nikon N70 film camera. (I know, I know it was never a 'AWESOME' camera to begin with. But its a free film camera thats pretty good for what I'll need to do.) Well its sat in its bag. Going to Florida and would like to bring this along with my D200. I have always felt that for B&W, film is still the best.

It may be unrealistic for me to quickly pick up on how to use the N70, but I will try. I will use my Nikon DX 18-200VR lens most of the time on the N70 (manual mode, of course)

As for the B&W film, anyone have any recommendations. Never bought before so not sure what to get/look for. I would like to get two kinds: grainy with a moderate contrast, and portrait type with crisp detail.

I know Fuji and Kodak are the big players.

Suggestions.......?

ziggy53 · June 30, 2007

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. 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.

claudermilk · June 30, 2007

For the smoother film, take a look at Fuji Acros 100. I'm really liking what I'm seeing so far. Not that a crummy scan-to-websize pic will tel lyou much, but the images in the Medium Format gallery on my site were taken on Acros 100 in 645 format.

Trying Black & White Film... Recommendations?

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