I know the word 'best' is incredibly subjective but i'm trying to find a black and white film with fine grain, gradual tone curve and a large amount of latitude so I can screw up and recover.
I've heard great things about Tri-X but its SOOO expensive over here (not to mention rare), so i'm looking at Fujifilm Neopan 400 that I can get hold of for about $5 USD per roll.
Are there any others I should be looking for? I'm trying to avoid Fujifilm 400 and Ilford 400 since these always look a bit flat to me with poo grain.
well i'd take 100 if it was great but 400 seems more 'general usage' for me- nice grain and exposure times.
Did you just use 'Ilford 100'? Not Ilford Delta or anything?
As far as I can remember it was just Ilford 100 B&W. Though, to be honest, I wasn't that discerning. It came in a simple white box and was among the best B&W film I ever used.
*EDIT* ah, yes, I just looked it up and Delta is the box I'm familiar with. lol. Seems my memory isn't what it used to be.
Kodak BW400CN is pretty sweet. It is not a "true" silver b/w emulsion, but a color negative film "tuned" to be b/w. The disadvantage is that it is not archival in any sense, but the advantages are that it can be processed in any normal color film lab, and it has a smooth luminous tonality, and portraits are especially nice. I know a few guys who tried it for portraits, and never went back to anything else. The link is to the "professional" version, but often one can find a lower price version in the local drugstore. I really like it, and if I still shot with film it would be my 35mm film of choice. I hated developing 35mm film myself, and I hated waiting for 1-2 weeks for a lab to turn around tmax, tri-x, etc. The one hour place can turn this around for you.
I assume you want to do your own printing--this film is nice for that. The prints from the drugstore lab that you get with this will be too automated, but can serve as quick proofs. It is when you print directly yourself from these negs that this film really shines.
thanks for the info. It might be hard to source that specific film but I have a list of films here i'm trying to find over here so I will give it a go.
About the printing: i'm not doing it myself with developers and enlargers and junk but there's a guy in town here who does it in his house, so I can do it with him as it were and say when to stop. There's a few old school guys in NZ who know what they're doing with b/w film so i'm not too worried about that, and since i'll have the negs I can always send them to Mpex or wherever.
Add me to the Illford crowd. I have always loved Illford Delta. The 400's grain is just beautiful IMHO.
ditto!
even though i have just recently started exploring the wonderful world of analog photography i must say the delta 400 produces the best gradation and grain of all b&w films i've tried so far.
