# Film! What's the best Film left? Just got an EOS 1V Film SLR... and an FD A-1...



## CanonGrunt (Apr 1, 2013)

Hello everyone!!! 

As the title says. I just picked up an EOS 1V... or at least it will be in my hands at the end of the week. I also will have an FD mount Canon A-1. 

So... What is the best film to use? What are the best options left? I prefer black and white for the most part, but I will also use some color and IR as well. Any difference in what I should use in the 1V vs the A-1? 

Any thoughts on what FD lenses I should pick up for the A-1? I have a little budget for this, but most seem inexpensive. 

Also, any other film tips? 

Thanks everybody!


----------



## dr croubie (Apr 1, 2013)

Best landscape film is Velvia, RVP50, RVP100, RVP100F, it's the film that killed Kodachrome and then Ektachrome. But being slide film, it has a fairly limited dynamic range. I'm not sure what's being made in what sizes anymore, they canned the 4x5" sizes in everything, then just brought them back at a huge price increase, and 35mm only comes in 36 rolls, no longer in 24s (not that anyone ever shoots 24s). I presume the 1V is like my 3, you can do a mid-roll rewind (set a custom-function to make sure the film tab stays out after rewind).

For people, I hear good things about Portra, but I don't shoot people with film.

For B+W, I'd suggest Efke KB25 and some nice wide-open f/1.2 glass. Except I think Efke's also just gone the way of Kodachrome (or was it just Efke's 4x5 sheets? It's hard to keep up).
So for me it's now Ilford Pan F 50 for slow, Delta Pro100 for finegrain normal. HP4 125 or Tmax100 for daytime street, Tmax400 (sometimes pushed to 800) for nighttime street and events. Ilford Delta P3200 for nighttime event but only on 120 MF cameras.


----------



## Drizzt321 (Apr 1, 2013)

I'm just getting into film myself (RB67 6x7 MF though), and Porta is pretty nice color, while the Ilford line has some great B&W films. I believe the Tri-X is also a well regarded B&W film. All those are negative, not positive (slide) film. I haven't tried going into any positive film yet.


----------



## PhotographerJim (Apr 1, 2013)

dr croubie said:


> Best landscape film is Velvia, RVP50, RVP100, RVP100F



+1

Velvia is the best landscape film for sure. 

I really like Ilford Delta Pro 100 a lot too. Finest monochrome film out there.


----------



## ragmanjin (Apr 2, 2013)

One of my faves for medium format is Fuji Pro 160NS, but apparently they don't make that in 135 anymore. If you don't want to spend too much while you're getting the hang of film, Fuji Superia is nice and cheap ($20 for 5 rolls at many drug stores), waaay cheaper than Portra, and the colours can be pretty ridiculous. Plus, if you're in Canada, there are still a couple places you can get C-41 developed (Superia, Pro160NS, Portra, etc.). Slide films like Velvia, not so much, and you can't even buy colour developer anywhere in Canada anymore to do it yourself.
On the plus side, B/W film is a lot more flexible to develop and you can still find chem for it wherever. I usually stick to t-grain films for the texture (Kodak T-Max, Ilford Delta, Lomo Lady Grey, etc.), but you should be able to find developer for any type of black and white you prefer. I'd recommend picking up "Massive Dev Chart" on the iOS app store if you are going to be developing yourself, it takes a lot of the math out of pushing/pulling an ASA.


----------



## paul13walnut5 (Apr 2, 2013)

I love chromagenic film for b&w, ilford xp2 has a lovely grain, can be processed at any colour lab in an hour (standard c41 process) and used with a red or orange filter has nice contrast, it's iso400, so can take the filtering.

In the us you might find kodak 400cn easier and cheaper to get a hold of, nice film, ilford has the edge imho.

For colour print film I always loved fuji reala 100 and 800. Slide: i usedto love agfa scala (long since dead, specialist chemistry dead too) sensia is a bit more sober than velvia, but discontinued i think, try lomography.com (shudder! Did I just say that?!) for so e other options, beware dead stock that cannot be processed, you want c41 or e-6.


----------



## docholliday (Apr 2, 2013)

I don't shoot much color film anymore, as most of my color output is in digital format...so to match my 1Ds/1D III's, I have a 1VHS. Since I just can't find anything digital that outputs B&W even close to good, I use mostly B&W films. Try the following:

- Fuji Acros 100. The best normal B&W and my favorite in 4x5 as well as on Hasselblad
- Rollei ATP - the best "Tech Pan" since Tech Pan
The Rollei Ortho and IR films are also quite good.

I still have about 1000 sheets of Agfa paper, and a full chem lab at home to mix, from scratch, almost any developer I use...

The only place I can reliably get good B&W materials? Freestyle: www.freestylephoto.biz.

Hope that helps...


----------



## wickidwombat (Apr 2, 2013)

CanonGrunt said:


> Hello everyone!!!
> 
> As the title says. I just picked up an EOS 1V... or at least it will be in my hands at the end of the week. I also will have an FD mount Canon A-1.
> 
> ...



for black and white, ilford


----------

