Toronto Photography Meetup Group

I would like to hear from those who use a number of different films, depending on the situation, what are the reasons that go into choosing the best film for thier needs at the time? Colour, B&W; Neg, Pos; Particular Type, Ektar vs Porta etc; Kodak vs Fuji?

Okay, I'll start- I use Kodak Portra (usually NC and sometimes VC) primarily for portraits where I am looking to highlight skin tones and colour and don't want it to look overly sharp. I've found that when I use slide film (or digital), the images may be sharp to the point of being unflattering- and I don't find the tonalities quite so pleasing (though Astia seems to have a nicer colour profile for portraits among the slide films I think). I find that Portra has a "painterly" quality- a certain look that I really like for certain types of portraits. I usually use Portra with natural light whenever I can. I've shot Fuji slide (iSO 400) for portraits but never been really happy with it.

I shoot a lot of portraits in black and white as well (and sometimes I'll alternate) - it depends on the type of image I'm going for- usually I shoot Tri-X for portraits though I'm trying some other films.

I shoot colour slide quite a lot for nature - and to a lesser extent for architectural and landscape - I just find it much sharper than print film and a nice colour palette (I've shot a lot of Velvia). I shoot lots of B & W for architectural and still life- the film I use depends on the look I'm going for and shooting conditions - I generally prefer slower films when I can use it- ie. Ilford Pan-F and Acros (I'm a tripod shooter) but I have used a lot of Tri-x and like it when I'm looking for some grain and shooting handheld. I find Pan-F has a wonderful tonal range- I find it richer than higher ISO bw films.

I've picked up some Ektar (and other films) but I haven't tried it out yet.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Film is like cooking or buying a new DSLR everyone has different tastes and budget.

For those of us who want to shoot film but have little experience and little budget, bring together in one place the experience of others on a variety of films is, I think, a usefull thing.

Still too general a question to answer without confusing the new film user.

Check out the differnt film types in this thread.

Virtual I Shoot Film Challenge

Part 1: http://tpmg.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=92 ... +challenge

Part 2: http://tpmg.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11 ... +challenge

I usually shoot either Kodak E100 slide film or Provia. I tend to stick to colour slide film. But also dabble in black andn white from time to time. I have XP2 loaded right now.

For landscape work that has a lot of greens, I used to use Fuji Velvia 50 shot at ISO40. For fall colours, I used to use Kodak E100S and E100SW. For people pics, depending on the look I'm after, I'd use Sensia, Astia or Provia 100F. For sports I used Fuji 100/1000 but that's long discontinued I believe. I found that there was less grain on the Fuji reversal film.

I develop all my own film and print in a wet darkroom so that effects my choices, i.e. I only shoot black and white and film/developer combinations have an impact on film choice. I decided to standardize on Fuji Acros and Kodak Tri-X, developed either with Rodinal or Diafine. That gives me the latitude to shoot between iso 64 and 1600 and is skewed to toward contrasty sharp negatives for printing.

Main reasons for these choices are;
a. those film tend to be cheaper and widely available,
b. lots of information and examples
c. I find they are fairly forgiving with regard to metering so I can use older more manual camera gear (i.e. cheaper).

Just like Metrix/Ryan said, it is a bit like asking the proverbial "which lens should I buy" question. You need to do a bit of examining of what you are looking for in a film and then try to find out which film/development system works for you. You may love the look of colour slide film but hate its lack of latitude and finding somewhere that does E6 processing (and paying for it) etc. It would help the experienced film shooters to give some more targeted advice if you gave them a few more boundaries to work with.

Q) What film?
A) what's in the freezer/basement cold-storage

My film choice is mostly based on what camera I'm using, 35mm, medium-format or 4x5. For 35mm, I shoot most B&W when I feel like working out an old classic. I have Ilford FP4+, Agfa APX100, HP5+, Tri-X and Neopan 1600 to handle the various levels of darkness.

I do also shoot an occasional roll of E6 slide film for colour saturation that I would never otherwise set on the DSLR's. That's when I'm not even remotely interested in colour accuracy

For almost everything, I use Kodak Ektar 100.

who stocks Ektar in the city?

Henry's lists Ektar on the new ?improved? site, and I bought a few rolls at Vistek last summer, and they still list it on thier site. Both mark it as in stock.

I really don't have the experience to give boundaries nor have I decided what in particular I am going to use film for in the future. However I am moving in the direction of using film only for anything I am serious about, and my P&S G9 for snapshots and lazy travel photography and maybe indoor stuff where the lighting gets complicated. The broad strokes that Conac gave to start things off with gave me some usefull heads up. Type of film, for what purpose, and why. Albeit subjective, but still usefull, I think.

I don't think a long comprehensive answer form everyone is required, but a bit of this and a bit of that from a bunch of experienced people can possibly add up to a comprehensive answer.

vistek, downtown, TIW and Henry

Vistek also marks 120 instock, Henrys only carries 35 mm

You will pay more for it at TIW but if that is where you have to go call first there is sometimes limited availablity on some films at tiw.

I've bought 35 & 120 ektar at downtown camera before.

Yep, I pickup ektar 100 at Downtown Camera as well.

I've started to shoot a lot more C41 process film the past month... Ektar 100, and Ilford XP2 400ASA. Although I just got a bag o' film off of Ken ... so I have 10 rolls of various slide films. Should be interesting to see the results.

I use Kodak Porta VC for colour portraits and Kodak T-Max and Tri-X for Black and White portraits. I love Tri-X"s grain structure but it does not transfer to digital well. I haven't tried the E100 yet but plan on testing it for Landscape. I usually use Fuji Velvia for colour landscapes.