Film shooters advice for a simi-newbie needed!

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Bill16

Senior Member
Hey all! Well I'm sorta back to square one again and looking for advice from you old school film shooters! :D

For examples, what films do you recommend for the Nikon F4s, tips and tricks for film shoots, where to get film developed, and so on?

I'm not planning to shoot a ton of film, but I do want to splurge sometimes and shoot a roll or two! :)

All advice welcome! Thank you in advance for any help you can offer! :D

Here is my Nikon F4s! It sure looks cool! Lol :D

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480sparky

Senior Member
I would recommend a type of film that is commensurate with what you want to shoot. Without knowing specifically what you're shooting, it's hard to recommend anything.

It's like asking, "What car should I buy?"
 
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Bill16

Senior Member
OK say some for macro, and say some for walk around type shooting. :)

480sparky said:
I would recommend a type of film that is commensurate with what you want to shoot. Without knowing specifically what you're shooting, it's hard to recommend anything.

It's like asking, "What car should I buy?"
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nzswift

Senior Member
I'd recommend Fuji Velvia if it is still available. Accentuates the green spectrum which will probably work with your macro photography
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
nzswift said:
I'd recommend Fuji Velvia if it is still available. Accentuates the green spectrum which will probably work with your macro photography
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Velvia is slide. Bill, are you looking for color, B&W, or slides?

Down the road you may want to consider a negative scanner which will convert negatives and slides to digital images. And if you choose B&W, you can learn how to develop your own film--you won't need a darkroom just to develop the film, but you would need a few items to do it.
 
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Felisek

Senior Member
+1 for Velvia. I shot thousands of slides using Velvia in my film days. Perfect for landscape photography, beautiful, punchy colours. But don't try it on people! Makes weird orange skin tones.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
It's been a long time since I shot film but I agree Velvia 50 would be ideal for the saturated colors, assuming you you can deal with the low ISO; Velvia 100 for people or just about anything, really.

For B&W shooting I'd be all over Ilford Delta 400 Professional or Kodak T-Max100.

....
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Horoscope Fish said:
For B&W shooting I'd be all over Ilford Delta 400 Professional or Kodak T-Max100.
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I mostly used T-Max because I preferred the higher contrast. From what I've read, Tri-x offers lower contrast and was used quite frequently for newspaper photos.

HF, how would you describe Ilford Delta 400? High or low contrast? Grainy or not too much grain? I remember using some type of Ilford myself but can't recall which type of film I used.
 
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Bill16

Senior Member
At this point, I think color photos would be best for me. The scanner sounds like a good idea too sometime if I can afford one! Lol :)
 
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480sparky

Senior Member
Most places that develop color can also scan your negatives in for you. However, they usually don't scan at a very high resolution... mostly 1000-2000 pixels on the long edge. Just enough for emailing, posting on FaceSpace and MyBook, etc. This is in addition to, or in lieu of, prints.
 
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Bill16

Senior Member
Thanks buddy that is good to know! That sounds like it will do for now at least! Lol :D

Now I just need to know what film will work best at reasonable prices?

480sparky said:
Most places that develop color can also scan your negatives in for you. However, they usually don't scan at a very high resolution... mostly 1000-2000 pixels on the long edge. Just enough for emailing, posting on FaceSpace and MyBook, etc. This is in addition to, or in lieu of, prints.
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Fred Kingston

Fred Kingston

Senior Member
Bill16 said:
At this point, I think color photos would be best for me. The scanner sounds like a good idea too sometime if I can afford one! Lol :)
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I think the thing to do is, drive around your local area, and visit the different places that do the processing and inquire as to their pricing and turn-around times for processing... Buying film from B&H Photo, and Amazon is reasonable... sending the exposed film to far-away processors can get expensive... Between the costs, and the slow turn-around times, it'll kill the thrill... Find a local processor... and see if those costs/times suit you... Digital is great. Film is great. The immediacy, and cost of digital will definitely hurt your perspective of film once you've experienced it...:)
 
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480sparky

Senior Member
There's a dizzying myriad of choices for color. I would try some plain-jane, middle-of-the-road stock and see if you like the results.
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Color Film...some of the options that used to exist are no longer made. First you should decide what speed you'd like to try. I always aimed for ISO 100 but went as high as ISO 400. You can't change your ISO in the middle of a roll of film. Film tends to be grainier than digital so keep that in mind (although post processing can help). For starters you might want to try KodakGold Max 400. It is a general color film--and not as expensive as some of the specialty films.

Kodak GC 135-24 Gold Max 400 Color Print Film (ISO-400) 6034029

What types of subjects will you want to take, Bill? The thing is that film cameras didn't have the settings like we do on digital cameras today (no settings for color saturation, contrast, etc). If a photographer was going to shoot a wedding, certain film was geared towards lower contrast without immensely saturated colors. Many landscape photographers preferred saturated color so they went with the slide film Velvia 50. Kodak came out with film geared towards people photography called Portra. Skin tones were rendered more pleasantly. Fuji Reala was also one I liked.

Let us know if you want more or less color saturation and high or low contrast. That might help narrow down some choices. Whatever you do , make sure you buy 35mm film. I *think* 120 film is for medium format cameras.
 
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Bill16

Senior Member
I'd say pretty good color saturation and highish contrast for most of my shots, if it works sorta like raw postprocessing! 100 iso equivalent works for me I would think! :)
If this camera turns out to be a blast, I may buy a much cleaner condition version! The one I have seems to have been well used/loved! Lol :)

Anything needed to help make this camera work right will be pretty high on my list of needs. So if you have some advice in that direct too, I would really a appreciate it! :D

hark said:
Color Film...some of the options that used to exist are no longer made. First you should decide what speed you'd like to try. I always aimed for ISO 100 but went as high as ISO 400. You can't change your ISO in the middle of a roll of film. Film tends to be grainier than digital so keep that in mind (although post processing can help). For starters you might want to try KodakGold Max 400. It is a general color film--and not as expensive as some of the specialty films.

Kodak GC 135-24 Gold Max 400 Color Print Film (ISO-400) 6034029

What types of subjects will you want to take, Bill? The thing is that film cameras didn't have the settings like we do on digital cameras today (no settings for color saturation, contrast, etc). If a photographer was going to shoot a wedding, certain film was geared towards lower contrast without immensely saturated colors. Many landscape photographers preferred saturated color so they went with the slide film Velvia 50. Kodak came out with film geared towards people photography called Portra. Skin tones were rendered more pleasantly. Fuji Reala was also one I liked.

Let us know if you want more or less color saturation and high or low contrast. That might help narrow down some choices. Whatever you do , make sure you buy 35mm film. I *think* 120 film is for medium format cameras.
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