film for lanscape work

[kendra_wise]

I scanned through the archives, but didn't see anything that directly dealt with this question. I'll be heading to southern Utah for a week and plan on doing some B&W landscape work (35mm) while I'm there. I've purchased some Ilford Pan 50, and I'll also take Delta 400 with me. I'm thinking about getting some Tmax400 as well, just to compare. These faster films will be used for candid portraits as well.

 

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I've also picked up a 25A red filter for extra contrast in the skies. I'll be in the desert, so vegetation won't be as much of an issue.

 

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Does anyone have suggestions for other films I might want to try? I do my own processing and BW printing at home, and am still on a fairly steep learning curve.

 

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Thanks in advance!

[peter_hughes]

A few suggestions:

1) Don't limit yourself to a #25A filter. Try a #8 (Yellow) and a #15

(Orange) as well.

2) Overexposure and underdevelopment will give you better shadow

detail and will tame the highlights. Don't assume that just because a

film is rated at, say, 100 that it has to be exposed that way.

3) PMK Pyro is a great film developer. Cheap, easy-to-use, indefinite

shelf life...and the best tonal scale of any developer I've ever

tried. Available from Photographer's Formulary:

http://www.photoformulary.com/index.html

4) Unless you have a very specific vision, where grain and lack of

smooth tonality will add rather than detract from your images, 35mm

is the wrong format for landscapes. Invest in an inexpensive medium

format camera (twin lens reflex), such as a used Yashica, Minolta

Autocord, or Rolleicord. Under $200.

5) Oriental Seagull graded paper is back. Try it, you'll like it.

6) IMHO, the T-Max films are problematical, difficult to develop and

fix properly. Forget them.

7) Ilford Pan-F and Delta 100 & 400 are excellent films. Remember

them.

8) Try Ektaflo Type 2 or Selectol paper developers. IMHO, Dektol is

too harsh for anything but specialty use.

9) Use a tripod and cable release whenever possible.

10) Lock the mirror up on your SLR whenever possible.

11) Print using diffusion, rather than condenser, light sources: cold

lights or dichroic color heads.

12) Use fiber-based papers for serious printing.

13) Tone all prints in *something*. An untoned print is an

incompletely processed print.

http://www.ravenvision.com/rvapeter.htm

[thomas_wollstein1]

If there is a film that you know well and with which your images look

good to you, use that film. You will know from previous shots how

that film reacts to more or less contrasty situations, and what its

other limits are. I have screwed up a lot of times because I thought I

had to have this or that special film or piece of equipment for a

particular opportunity. I have read that previous answer to your

question, which gives a lot of arguably useful hints which OTOH could

almost scare you off trying to shoot landscapes with your 35 mm

equipment. It is evidently true that with medium format or large

format negatives it is easier to produce prints with a rich tonality,

particularly at the extremes of the density scale. I doubt, however,

that you will print all your images in large formats, and with rather

small prints (up to 8 by 10), the loss in contrast is in my eyes

acceptable when compared to medium format. Also, 35 mm has the great

advantage of being affordable, and you need not take along three

sherpas to carry your equipment through the desert. So my suggestion

would be this:

1) Stick with a film you know and you have tested.

2) Don't let anybody scare you from shooting landscapes in 35 mm.

[wayne2]

Tonality is the issue in landscape work, not grain. The best tonality

around these days appears to be in Kodak Technical Pan and Ilford

XP-2. Tech Pan is easy to process in the Photographer's Formulary

kits, which give a useful increase in film speed. XP-2 can be run in

any 1-hour-photo-lab's C-41 (color!) line, though if you get proof

prints they'll look terrible (all brown and gray). Avoid anything that

says T-Max. Avoid Tri-X Profesional, though the ordinary Tri-X is only

marginally bad. Above all, use a tripod. Shoot everything you see;

film is a lot cheaper than the cost of getting back to Utah to

reshoot. Good luck and bes

[anthony_brookes3]

In my experience keeping all the tones is the key to good landscapes

and an orange filter is a sine qua non. For a virtually grainless B&W

I would use ILFORD XP2 but to achieve perfect expanses of cloudless

sky careful home processing is best. Handle the negatives very

carefully as XP2 is a little soft but the results are marvellous.

Good luck.

[karl_almquist1]

I shot my first roll of Ilford SFX 200 on 35mm in Western Colorado.

Used a yellow filter and was very well satisfied with the results. I

developed in ID-11 (1+1). I can definitely recommend the film.

[brian_c._miller3]

Tmax is fine film, just watch how you process it. I am a nut when it

comes to precision processing film, and I have had excellent results

with Tmax. I have processed Tmax film in Tmax, Xtol, Xtol 1:1, Xtol

1:2, and D-76 developers. I don't have a personal problem with this

film at all.

 

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Here's what to avoid: don't develop Techpan in Rodinal. When I first

started photographing, I unwittingly bought Techpan and then had it

developed by a local lab. Man, I was horrified and heart-broken.

Develop Techpan in Technidol or a developer developed specifically

for it. If you use Techpan then you can get some really great,

grainless prints out of 35mm.

 

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Ilford SFX 200 is good film, but what it is designed for is infrared

photography. Unlike Kodak HIE, it is easy to handle and process.

Use a B+W 091 or 092 filter, and you can get some really neat effects

out of it. Konica is also good, <a

href="http://homes.acmecity.com/movies/director/343/landscape/bwstream

.gif">here's one good shot from my first roll.</a> I recommend that

you only use IR film around vegitation, or when you want a large

vista to be completely free of any haze effects.

 

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Pick up a polarizer, and a yellow (#6) filter. One thing to

remember: use just enough filtration to achieve the effect you want.

If you use the #25 against red rocks, the rocks will veer towards

being white instead of grey in the final print. I prefer to darken

the sky with a polarizer rather than a #25.

 

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One of the things you can do is pick up a blue filter. The #47 will

bias your film towards acting like the old ortho films. You will see

a special quality of light in the shadow areas. I use an 80B, and I

like it.

 

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The most important thing above all is to learn and have fun.