Black and White Film

[cavemanxxx]

Black and White Film

I bought some TX 400 film recently expecting nice pictures, but the texture was as rough as the sand on the beach. Not really knowing too much about different types of B/W film, I assume this is intended in the TX 400

Has any one got any advice on what film to use to get a smooth texture, and to get shades of grey rahter than just black or white.

 

[blacknet]

Hello,

TMY film is abit on the grainy side. If your looking for low/no grain film then try TMX, techpan or tpan film. I mostly use TMX film and just push to 400 iso. If your going to use techpan then send it to out for DR5 processing, be sure to shoot it at 100 iso. Some people like the ilford film but I think ilford doesn't have the pop that TMX does. No shades of gray is a good indicator of exposure problems.

TMX pushed to 200 or 400 speed gets very interesting very fast. It really depends on who's developing it and how they develop it. It's a great base film to start with.

Whichever film you do decide to use make sure you have consistent development. Consistency is critical in calibration and education.

If you want you can send me some of your results and I can help you figure out what went wrong.

Ed

 

[cavemanxxx]

I got an orange filter. Would u recommend I use it for B/W underwater on a wreck or without ?

 

[James connell]

caveman once bubbled...
I got an orange filter. Would u recommend I use it for B/W underwater on a wreck or without ?

the orange filter is going to eat up a lot of light ~ 2 stops. do you really need to increase contrast?
kodak TCN film gives very fine grain BTW and it can be processed at your corner 1hour drug store. only problem is in a color print machine you sometimes get a magenta cast if the operator doesn't know how - it's the print not on the film. one thing TCN goes thin fast - over exposure by a stop works better than under, if you miss.

 

[DrSteve]

TCN is excellent film - but I have found on land it lacks some of the contrast other B&W films have. So if you print your own it does need to be printed "harder." But the convenience of a good B&W film where I don't have to develop it is worth it. Use the 3.5x4's as a contact sheet.

 

[TheAvatar]

TX is a grainy film. Try some TMX (TMAX 100). That will work great. TMY (TMAX 400) is great too if you process it in XTOL. I like Ilford Delta 100 sometimes too. Avoid all Fuji B&W film. Avoid Kodak Plus-X. Avoid Kodak B+W (another C41 process film).

I personally am not a TCN fan. Color paper doesn't do black and white right for me even when I take it to a good printer who can do a neutral cast. Bad printers can give you color casts from magenta to GREEN! Most halfway decent printers will give you prints from TCN with a slight sepia-like tone to them. If memory serves TCN is actually designed to be printed on B&W paper... or was that just Portra 400BW (I know it was, but I think TCN too).

 

[James connell]

TheAvatar once bubbled...
TX is a grainy film. Try some TMX (TMAX 100). That will work great. TMY (TMAX 400) is great too if you process it in XTOL. I like Ilford Delta 100 sometimes too. Avoid all Fuji B&W film. Avoid Kodak Plus-X. Avoid Kodak B+W (another C41 process film).

I personally am not a TCN fan. Color paper doesn't do black and white right for me even when I take it to a good printer who can do a neutral cast. Bad printers can give you color casts from magenta to GREEN! Most halfway decent printers will give you prints from TCN with a slight sepia-like tone to them. If memory serves TCN is actually designed to be printed on B&W paper... or was that just Portra 400BW (I know it was, but I think TCN too).

Ilford XP5 is a pretty good C41 prossess film with good contrast.
the problem is in the printing not the film. i think it comes from the machine "trying to hard" to get Some color some where. it doesn't happen all the time and when it does it can vary in a roll. it may be caused by the floresent lighting in the room - that has a green cast to it and the reversal to print gives magenta.
Avatar is completely correct about printing to BW paper! but it's cheaper/convient to proof the shots as 1 hours than reprint the stuff you want.
a good lab will do it quite reasonably. maybe some people keep a darkroom around - i don't - i can rent one for $12 hour, .70 per 8x10. and the print goes dry to dry in 1 minute.
just easier than the upkeep on a seperate room.

as for cavemans Q about 'texture" and tint -
all silver films will have a definate grain it's the nature of silver. with C41 (and E6) you wash the silver out leaveing dye clouds in their place, the grain of the dyes is ~100 times less than silver grains.

to color - that depends on the paper ( and also the toner) used. a very "cool tone" paper will be almost blue in tint a "warm tone" will be brown. you can also very the color by useing various toners ( a good example is sepia). their are also chemicals that modify the print in other ways - i recommend a little time in the photography section of the library.