120 film recommendation please

[Ian Austen]

I'm going to be experimenting with a medium format film camera in the studio this weekend and wonder if anyone can recommend what film to purchase?

I have no experience with film - any advice would be much appreciated.

Ian

[John]

Black and white or colour?

My favourite BW film is Kodak Tri-X, for its high contrast and gritty, sharp grain structure. Its fast 400 ISO speed means faster shutter speeds and less shake if hand held and grain on medium format will not really be a problem. My ideal developer for it would be Paterson FX39. This enhances the crispness of the film.

For colour transparencies I prefer Kodak films again, so some form of Ektachrome. Many would prefer the warmth of Fuji Velvia, which is another firm favourite.

For colour negatives, I haven't shot any for 20 years or more, so maybe someone else had better recommend something!

[sunsworth]

If you're shooting on a tripod then I'd go for Ilford FP4. It looks wonderful in 35mm never mind 120.

Tri-X is another excellent film. I've used a lot of it - several hundred rolls - in 35mm and loved the look.

I've always used Xtol for both those films, though John's recommendation of FP39 is meant to be very good too.

Slide film, if you are photographing people then Velvia probably isn't the best place to start due to it's saturation (I am not a Velvia fan), something like Fuji Astia or Provia would be my choice.

For colour negative film I'd suggest Fuji Reala.

I've been thinking about 120 film myself and have been waiting for decent weather so I can take the Rolleiflex out at weekend. I have some Efke ISO 50 film that's been in the freezer and I'd like to give it a whirl developed in Rodinal. The weather's been terrible though for the last few weeks.

Have fun

[Walter Brooks]

Depending upon what you want to photograph - Kodak Vericolor negative film for softer and muted colours - popular once for weddings/ portraits: Ilford Pan F fine grain black and white ... just to add a couple to the list.

[Ian Austen]

Thanks for all the advice. Perversely I've gone with a film no-one has mentioned Kodak Portra 160NC - recommended to me as a film good for skin tones in the studio. They've also said to overexpose - set ISO to 125 or 100 and don't tell the lab! I don't know whether I'll be that brave but as it's an experiment I might give it a try.

Does anyone have experience of getting MF films scanned? The lab I usually get my digital prints only scans to jpg but feel like I might be missing out on the quality in the negative. I've found one place which will scan 4000dpi 16bit tif files but they're quite expensive. On a 6x6cm negative I make this to be an 85 megapixel file unless my maths are dodgy!

Thanks for replying - I shall let you know how I get on and possibly post some pictures.

Thanks,

Ian

[John]

A professional scan will be expensive.

An alternative is to tape the neg to a lightbox and photograph it with a digital camera. Results can be excellent, but the camera must be absolutely parrallel to the neg, the room should be dark to avoid reflections and the light box masked out to prevent any flare.