For 4x5 Portraiture

[takahiro_suzuki]

<p>I'm looking to do some BW portraiture with my 4x5 camera using mainly natural light.<br>

For all my BW 4x5 work thus far, I've used HP5, but I've been looking at some sample images with people using the TriX320 and Acros100 films, and I'm leaning towards a switch to the Acros film. <br>

Does anyone who's used the film have any comments about it? <br>

Or does anyone have suggestions for any other film? Or should I just keep using HP5, save myself the money of buying a different film stock and do everything in post? (Since I'm probably doing large-scale prints, I'll be digitally printing)<br>

Thanks,<br>

Taka</p>

[john_shriver]

<p>Tri-X 320 is the last of the "portrait" B&W films, with an "upswept" HD curve. Designed to hold highlight detail in a low-key portrait. This is discussed in the old Kodak F-5 sheet film handbooks (the small ones).<br>

There used to be a lot more of these portrait B&W films, like Plus-X Professional, Royal Pan, etc. Tri-X 320 is the last survivor, and only in sheet film sizes.<br>

Obviously, you can get the same thing with a grey scale curve in digital post, so long as you capture the entire dynamic range on HP5+ and in scanning.</p>

[Dave Luttmann]

<p>HP5 is a great film for portraits. In 4x5 it's clean, moderate contrast.</p>

[ian_gordon_bilson]

<p>Well, in my neck of the woods, I have come across a Chinese -made film called Shanghai 100 ,which I can acquire for the US$ equivalent of about $0.75 a sheet.<br>

It is not premium quality, but I can't fault it for the price.</p>

[henryp]

<blockquote>

<p>It is not premium quality, but I can't fault it for the price.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Remember the movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097322/"><em>The Fabulous Baker Boys</em></a>? In a comment about her expensive cigarettes, Michelle Pfeiffer's character says, "But I figure, If you're gonna be sticking something in your mouth, might as well make it the best."</p>

<p>Same with cameras. :-)</p>

<p> - Henry</p>

[Dave Luttmann]

<p>True Henry. There has been a lot of issues with quality control from Shanghai products....although it is getting better.</p>

[takahiro_suzuki]

<p>Yeah, I'd considered giving cheaper films like Foma or Efke a shot because I planned on scanning in and doing digital prints, but there's a part of me that also wants to go back in the darkroom and get some nice 11x14 or 16x20 prints on warmtone paper, so I think I'm going to stick to the more "higher end" stuff.</p>

<p>I just bought some Acros100 to test it out. </p>

[Tony Evans]

<p>Takahiro,<br>

Acros/Rodinal (1+50) as per MDC is hard to beat.</p>

[stuart_richardson]

<p>Acros is wonderful, but for an available light portrait, I would suggest a faster film. Unless you are doing it in direct sunlight (rarely the best lighting for portraits), having a faster film will help you get a higher shutter speed and a smaller aperture. If you want to get decent depth of field, (as in having the nose in focus as well as the eyes etc), you will want to stop down a bit...maybe f/11-f/16. This is still fairly shallow depth of field with a 210mm lens (what focal length are you using?). Portraits in 4x5 can be difficult to do wide open because of people's tendency to move slightly in and out of the plane of focus, and the delayed reaction time between focus and shooting in 4x5 (unless you are using a press camera with a rangefinder). So I would say TriX 320 would be a good choice, or the new Tmax 400, which is very fine grained and pushable to 1600...</p>