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Date: Tue, 07 Oct 2003 10:27:28 -0700
To: 
From: Carl Cook 
Subject: Re: Pricing again and film
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At 11:42 AM 10/7/2003 -0400, you wrote:

>
>If you don't mind, tell me about this.  It's been almost forever since I
>bought b/w film.  In fact, what film would you buy (b/w) if you were goin
>g
>to buy it now.  And what's this about developoing times?


Kodak is consolidating some of their manufacturing plants, and in the 
process, reformulated many of their black and white films. There have been 
a number of mixed reviews on the quality of these "newer" films. Ad a part 
of the reformulation, Kodak recommends different, usually shorter 
developing times. Photographers have been experimenting with these times, 
and like I mentioned earlier, I was told by a person at a major film 
supplier in my area (Rainier Photo in Seattle), quite a few of their black 
and white customers have told them they prefer to process the new emulsions 
at the old times.

The bone of confusion for me is how Kodak chose to rename the films; Tri-X 
400 is now 400 Tri-X, TMax 100 is now 100 TMax and so on.

I confuse easily.

I still buy black and white film, though due to shooting a lot of digital, 
not as much as before. Just shot a roll of of black and white TMax 3200 the 
other night, a roll of Tri-X yesterday for my class, and  a roll of Plux-X 
120 medium format this morning (along with digital) of a neighbor's grapes 
and dead sunflowers.

For finer grain, TMax 100 (or 100 TMax) is very good, but developing can be 
tricky (highlights block up easily). I don't know if Kodak is going to 
discontinue Plus-X which I have always liked. Really miss Verichrome Pan 
for portraits. An excellent film -- hasn't been made in years.

Illford makes some excellent black and white films, like 400 speed HP5 -- 
much like Tri-X, and their Delta 100 and 400 films aren't bad. Ilford's SFX 
film is really weird -- not a true infrared film, but sort of emulates it. 
Strange but fun.

Many black and white shooters are using Kodak's 400 speed C-41 (color print 
film)  process black and white film. They love the fine grain and the full 
tones the film provides. Plus, many love the brown tone of the prints that 
come back from the film processor.

There are many processors that have found a way to squeeze an extra dollar 
out of users. In order to print true black and white with the C-41 film, 
they need a special paper (is that true?),so they charge quite a bit more 
to process a roll of this film. I guess they have to change the paper in 
the machine.  One processor I know of will not accept this film for 
processing unless the customer agrees to buy prints made on the "special 
paper."  Says "You won't like the brown tone of the prints."

Martha Stewart is on TV. Did you see that movie with Cybil Shepherd. Camp 
Classic or what?!

e-mail: clcook{at}olywa.net
http://www.clcookphoto.com

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