Would you use 2 different films in the same photoshoot?

So would you ever use 2 different films e.g. Agfa Vista and Fujifilm Superia in one photoshoot (fashion, commercial, etc)?

If so, why?

Would / did. Many possible reasons - most common ones - for film speed to meet changing light or in an attempt to take advantages of different color characteristics of different films. Sometimes had to reload cameras with different films in the course of a shoot with partial rolls exposed. In those cases, labeling cartridges became important.

The only time I ever used two different films in a professional studio shoot was when the client needed both color and B&W images without compromise in quality in the pre digital era. If I were on location and had different lighting constraints then I might.

Not fashion, but documentation. In a single shoot I have used Polaroid Type 52 4x5, Tri-X 4x5, Kodachrome 35mm, Kodak False Color infrared film....

 

Once you dig it up, the original context is lost except for your photographs and notes.

Edited June 16, 2019 by JDMvW

When shooting transparency film, I'll often keep one camera/back loaded with Velvia and another loaded with either Provia or some flavor of Ektachrome. The former is for scenes where I want over the top color, while the latter is for anything where I want more faithful color representation and/or anything where people are an important part of the photo.

Thanks to all of you!

My father was once photographed by National Geographic. (In 1966.)

 

It was unusual lighting conditions, and the photographer used a Polaroid camera instead of a light meter.

 

First shot: all black. Subsequent shots got closer, eventually converging on the final shot.

 

I don't know that this is usual for all NG photographers.

The two films were used for different purposes. I was visiting friends in Alaska who owned a small weekly newspaper, and they asked me to do a shoot for them. They lent me a Nikon with black and white film, I don't remember what kind, that they could process immediately for print. I also used Kodachrome 64 on my Olympus OM-1 for tourist photos. Had the Nikon stopped working, I was prepared to use the Olympus for the shots the paper needed. The b&w photos got published and my slides came home with me.

I usually stuck with one emulsion at a time, ultimately Fuji Reala (negative, 100) for travel. However when traveling with an orchestra in Europe to document the tour, I had two bodies, one with ISO 100 film (Reala or Velvia) and the other with ISO 400 negative film (Fuji something). That gave me fine-grained results outdoors, and marginals speed for indoor work. Film faster than 400 was, in a word, ugly. Carrying 150+ rolls of film through international and regional airports was a real pleasure. That was 2001, and by the next tour in 2005, I was fully digital, and not looking back.

If I had a choice, I wouldn't shoot more than one emulsion. However, as AJG pointed out, there were reasons to do so. I recall that photographers who covered fashion shows were asked to shoot both slides and b&w negatives. To the best of my knowledge, sports photographers were usually not asked to do this.

For personal use, from not so long after I met my wife-to-be, we had two cameras, one with

color negative film, and one with slide film. Sometimes both used for the same shot.

Otherwise, scenery more often on slide film, and people, especially if likely to be used for

a Christmas card, on negative film.

 

More recently, I often enough have a digital camera and film camera.

I've done this myself many times. Usually on trips or important shoots. I usually bring two cameras to make it easier. One loaded with B&W and the other color slide. It can either be 2 35mm cameras, two medium formats, or a mix of that.

I also sometimes carried two cameras- one with B&W, one with color. At least I looked like a photographer and not a tourist.

It depends on the needs of the client. Different films, different looks. Now, shooting digital, I do all sorts of things in Lightroom that simulate different films and I do that on almost every shoot.

Did a lot of this at wedding and my own personal shooting; color & b/w.

It was standard practice for advertising studio work when I was a kid. Polaroid so the art director could see the lighting etc was exactly as they wanted it, then slow speed slide film for the money shots. I think there where even occasions at shoots I attended where multiple brands of slide film were used - perhaps due to the photographer & art director having different personal favourites, or just to give a wider range of looks for the customer to select from ;)

I usually stuck with one emulsion at a time, ultimately Fuji Reala (negative, 100) for travel. However when traveling with an orchestra in Europe to document the tour, I had two bodies, one with ISO 100 film (Reala or Velvia) and the other with ISO 400 negative film (Fuji something). That gave me fine-grained results outdoors, and marginals speed for indoor work. Film faster than 400 was, in a word, ugly. Carrying 150+ rolls of film through international and regional airports was a real pleasure. That was 2001, and by the next tour in 2005, I was fully digital, and not looking back.

 

THIS

In the old day, I shot Tri-X (ASA/ISO 400), but daylight exposure was 1/500 sec at f/16. That was the limit of the camera. The SLR was now a box camera with ONE exposure setting.

To get any control of exposure I used the slower Plus-X at ASA/ISO 125, to get me down 2 stops, so I had some control of the exposure; to target either an aperture or shutter speed.

 

Plus-X (or Panatomic-X) was the open sun film.

Tri-X was needed when shooting in shade/deep shade/indoors.

Always do. I bring many different types of film and cameras. Expired and fresh films. Polaroids up to medium format.