Good high-ISO films?

<p>Hello all, I've been using 400/800 speed 35mm film for ages now, and I was wondering whether or not this is good enough, or should I find some higher ISO (1600, 3200, etc.) to shoot with. I don't tend to take pictures of anything going too fast for 800 speed, but I thought it would be a great idea to take a picture of some old WWII planes in flight (300-400 mph probably). If I need higher ISO film what would you guys recommend?</p>

<p>There are no good films higher. TMZ and Delta 3200 are about ISO 1250, but aren't so good.</p>

<p>Seems that Kodak recommends pushing Tri-X to 1600 or 3200 instead. Since flying planes don't have a lot of shadows, I suspect you will do fine.</p>

<p>Well, a bottom view of a plane with the sun above should be open shade, so you could expose for that. Unless you mean at night!</p>

<p>High-ISO films are progressively being discontinued, as digital is easily out-performing them. All that's left in color is Kodak Portra 800 and Fuji Fujicolor Superia X-TRA 800. In black and white there is Ilford Delta 3200 (which is really an ISO 1000 film that you push to 1600).<br>

The "consumer" Kodak 800 film is discontinued as a stand-alone product. (Although it's probably still what's in their disposable cameras.) <br>

Kodak's T-MAX 3200 got the axe recently.<br>

For planes, pan your camera. One more stop of film speed isn't going to help much.</p>

<p>I've checked out the Portra 800, and it looks good (albeit expensive). I'll pick up a roll or two and experiment with it a bit, it seems like quite a good film for shooting in low light conditions also (though this event is during the day).</p>

<p>Portra 800 is very fine film. But you will see that Portra 400 is <em>much</em> better.</p>

<p>I'm sure 400 is better (it is my preferred ISO after all) but maybe too slow for this project. I will, however pick up some of that also</p>

Porta 800 pushes well to 3200. Fuji Natura 1600 has decent grain and can be used out to 3200 and 6400.

<p>I have read that Fuji Natura 1600 is very good. From my own experience, Fuji Superia 800 and Kodak Portra 800 have done very well. <br>

Back about 10 years ago, when film was still fairly common, there were some pretty comical posts on this board concerning high ISO film. They would go something along the lines of :<br>

Can someone recommend me a good high ISO color film?<br>

Sure, try XYZ 800. It's a great high ISO film. Just expose it at 200 and it looks wonderful. </p>

<p>For black and white films, the ISO rating is with optimal development time, which is longer for faster films.</p>

<p>For C41, the ISO rating is at the normal C41 development time, which is less than optimal. Faster C41 films should push reasonably, as the development time approaches the optimal value.</p>

<p>There used to be an E6 film that was ISO 400 in normal E6, but was designed for two stop push to 1600, or one stop to 800. Should be better than EL pushed to 800 or 1600. </p>

<p>Tri-X pushes well enough that Kodak doesn't suggest a longer develpment for 800, and offers times for 1600 and 3200, maybe more. </p>

<p>Panning and ASA 100 film.</p>

<p>When I was shooting just film I grew to love Alford Delta 3200 in both 35mm. and 120 format. It is still available and I hope it will stick around for a good while.</p>

<p>-O</p>

<p>I’m shooting High speed film eventually but they are not for general use anyhow.<br /> My 1^st choice would be Natura/Superia 1600 usually rated at ISO1250. Wonderful film, with natural contrast. I can yield a nice 8x12 print and you can hardly see any excessive grain. Can’t say it much grainy than Portra800 or Fuji 800Z.</p>

<p>The 2^nd choice would be Portra 400 shot at 1250 and pushed 2 full stops. The contrast would be higher than Natura, some minor color shift (easy to handle in PS) and finer grain. Quite saturated also.</p>

<p>And the 3^rd choice is Provia 400X (still available on the Global market) shot at 1250 and pushed 2 stops again. More color shift, visible lost density in the shadow areas but the grain is very fine.</p>

<p>I shot a couple times with TMZ3200 rated at 1600 and ask my local lab to adjust the processing time accordingly. The result was exceptional. Came out with nice prints. I did the same with Delta 3200 and the result was much less satisfactory. May be it’s just matter of processing.</p>

<p>All those examples are related to the low light photography, dusk, night city etc. when I was lazy (or not able) to use a tripod. I agree with Les that for a sunny day (and the proper propeller blur!) it’s better to use a slower film.</p>

<p>As I understand it, TMZ was discontinued since TMY pushed about as well.</p>

<p>Both TMY and TMZ don't recommend high EI in Diafine, though.</p>