what's the best B&W film to use for studio portaiture

[darko1]

You should also give a try to EFKE 50. Nothing better...

[kparratt]

Wolf ... I'm glad you cleared that up, if only just to get that salesman off your back.

 

I have valued your contributions always. The information you have provided about R3 has been very helpful.

 

Thankyou. Kevin.

[alan_rockwood]

What kind of look are you after?

 

For an Audrey Hepburn look a-like my bias would be toward a smooth elegant look, i.e. not too grainy or too contrasty.

 

A few thoughts, probably obvious, and I am not a true expert, but forgive me if I make them anyway. A high speed film is going to be grainy, especially if the enlargment is big. (You didn't tell us how much you plan to enlarge.) On the other hand a low speed film might tend toward too much contrast.

 

That kind of puts us right in the mid speed range (100-125 ASA, oops, I mean 100-125 ISO), just the range most people have suggested. Then just decide if you want a traditional-technology film (FP4+ or plus-X) or a modern-technology film (Tmax 100 or Delta 100).

 

The other possibility would be chromogenic a film like XP2, probably the smoothest of all, and it has the advantage/disadvantage that you don't need to process the negatives yourself. Will your committee accept a project on chromogenic film?

 

On the other hand you might want to go counter to the smooth elegant look and deliberately emphasize grain and/or contrast. This might have a certain reverse-psychology advantage, i.e. you won't look like you are trying to imitate an old-time studio shot taken on large-format film, which is something you might not be able to quite pull off using 35mm any way. If so then ignore my suggestions above.

 

A final wild-card might be to shoot orthochromatic film, though that would put you pretty much in the pre-hepburn era. Actually, you could probably get the orthochromatic look with a regular panchromatic film and an appropriate filter, so you wouldn't need to find a special film.

 

Alan

 

P.S. Audry Hepburn was probably my favorite actress... loved the "Ascot Opening Day" and "Just You Wait, 'Enry 'Iggins" scenes from My Fair Lady.

[arjun_mehra]

Ilford's Pan F Plus? Grain about as fine as you can get with B&W film (i.e., when processed the right way for this), and a nice bit of contrast, in my opinion.

[alan_rockwood]

Another thought. Will you be scanning the film? If so then chromogenic film might be a good idea... dust removal in the scanner.

[jtk]

You can shoot Audrey Hepburn with anything you like :-)

 

Grain only bothers people who are bothered by grain. Chromogenic film and ultra-fine grain bother people who don't like film :-)

 

What does your instructor think about grain? If he hates it, avoid it, and avoid him/her after this class :-)

[philip__b_temple]

THE TWO VERY SAFE ANSWERS ARE 1] TRI-X 400 OR 2] T-MAX 100. DON'T START

JUMPING AROUND IN THE FILMS YOU USE. GET TO KNOW ONE OR TWO VERY WELL.

 

TRI-X400 IS A VERY VERSATILE FILM. IT HAS BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME AND IT HAS

GOTTEN BETTER AND BETTER AND BETTER WITH RESPECT TO GRAIN SIZE AND MANY

OTHER FACTORS OVER THAT LONG PERIOD. YOU CAN RATE IT FROM ISO 100 TO ISO

1600 VERY EASILY AS LONG AS YOU KNOW HOW AND WITH WHAT YOU ARE DEVELOPING IT

IN. D-76 AND XTOL ARE VERY GOOD STANDARD DEVELOPERS? STICK WITH ONE OF

THEM AS WELL AS THE FILM YOU USE FOR 100 ROLLS OF FILM OR SO AND YOU'LL BE THEN

SOMEWHAT ACQUAINTED.

[samantha_savino]

THANX ALOT FOR ALL YOUR ADVICE GUYS. BUT I THINK IM GOING WITH ILFORD FP4 +

[al_kaplan1]

Ilford FP4+ is a great choice, one of my favorites. Either D-76 or Ilford ID-11 (really the same developer) diluted 1:1 works great. Shot some tests to determine film speed and optimum developing time. Stick to one film and developer combo until you know it inside out and backwards. Don't shoot a roll of this and a roll of that and keep trying various developers at this stage. Learn ONE.

[paul_gray4]

This is going to sound very flip, but the correct answer is to use a film you are already very familiar with - whatever that is.

The best advice I can give is shoot 3 times more film than you were planning to, and bracket bracket bracket - film is cheap, really it is.

[profhlynnjones]

Hi Samantha,

 

Since you are using 35mm, I strongly suggest that you use the new Plus X Pan, developed in full strength D76. It will easily tolerate grainless prints of over 20" wide and the richness of the tonalities really that is very useful for portraits. Use normal exposure and normal processing, you don't need for portraits to be "horror flicks".

 

Lynn