Advice for a MF film n00b

gloobag

Howdy film folks,

So, I may have "accidentally" bought a Mamiya 645 with an 80mm f2.8 lens and both 120 and 220 film inserts included while surfing the bay' last night.

I've been admiring a lot of MF film stuff online (here included) over the last few months, and I've really grown to love that "look", if that makes any sense?

Anayways, I haven't a clue when it comes to film to be honest. I've done a lot of research on the camera that's on the way to me before I bought it and know exactly how use it (focus, load film, etc.), but other than that I'm in uncharted territory. Things I'd like to know from some of the experts here, if ye don't mind:

• Where's cheapest to buy film, either online or in Dublin city? And, where's cheapest to get it developed? I'm planning on getting an Epson V500 scanner as well so I only need the dev.
  
• What are some recommended films for Ireland's blazing hot sunny climate? I see the likes of Portra160/Portra400 seem to be quite popular and I really love the look they seem give. Any other recommendations? What's good for B&W?
  
• Just any general advice on stuff I may have overlooked...

I really only plan on using this camera for some personal projects which will most likely be 90% portraits by the way. And mostly on location Natural light stuff.

Thanks for any help

DaireQuinlan

I buy all my film in bulk from 7DayShop, every now and again they also do great deals on short dated or out of date film. It's the cheapest reliable place I've found to get it online.

I'd shoot at least 400 most of the time, having 2.8 as your fastest lens can put a crimp in things occasionally otherwise. On the other hand one of the advantages to medium format is that you can swap the backs out. If I'm going out on a sunny day I might bring one back with fairly slow film loaded up , because the OTHER thing about medium format is that that 1/500 top speed can really get you sometimes :-)

Film wise I shoot portra 400 and 160 in colour almost exclusively. Bit of Ektar and portra 800 occasionally too. B&W it's all tri-x @ 1600 in Diafine & neopan 400 @ 400 in DDX. It probably behoves you at least once to try a roll of slide though, just so that you can ooo and ahhh at 120 transparencies. Better in 6x6 and 6x9 of course

Dev I don't know, I dev all my own B&W and colour.

thefizz

Everyone will have their own preference for films but the 160 and 400 Portras do seem to be very popular and would be my best selling colour films in 120. Next would probably be Ektar but this film may not be what you want for portraits as the colours are very saturated. Fuji Reala is an excellent all round film with natural colour and is also popular.

For B&W my own personal preference for a slow film is Fuji Acros 100 and for a fast film Kodak Tri-X 400. But that’s just me, the next person may not like them and prefer others. Ilford also have an excellent range of films from 50 to 3200 ISO.

There are so many B&W films available that you just need to try a few a see what takes your fancy.

I currently have expired stock of Ilford SFX film in both 35mm and 120 at reduced prices. This film is actually quite nice for studio portraits.

Regarding development, Gunns are well recommended for both B&W and colour negative. If you shoot regularly and want to save money in the long run then developing yourself is the way to go.

Good luck with the new camera.

DaireQuinlan

Actually just comparing 7dayshop and thephotoshop.ie right there, taking P&P into account, it's cheaper to buy a 5 pack of tri-x from thefizz than it is to buy it from 7dayshop, so I stand corrected. Pick up some of that cheap SFX along with some portra 400 and you'll most likely still end up ahead. SFX is nominally an enhanced red sensitive (into the near IR) film, but I've gotten lovely results from it shot straight or through a blue filter (which I figured might allow blue and some IR component through, the jury's still out on that one :-))

Which 645 did you get incidentally ? is it one of the mamiya SLRs or a rangefinder ?

gloobag

Thanks for the advice guys

@DaireQuinlan - It's the 645E, one of the more modern (2004 according to Google) and as far as I can tell, one of the cheapest they've had in their range. Probably why I ended up getting it for peanuts I'd say.

pete4130

DQ's film choices are good. The portra 160 and 400 are really nice. The portra 800 is really nice too and the grain isn't that bad at all.
The ektar 100 is really nice too. I'm shooting a lot of that recently, but being 100 ISO its probably a little slow for Ireland.

For B&W I'm all about the Tri-X but don't be afraid to try something totally different and see if you like it.

For slide I like Fuji Astia, it's a bit more expensive but really consistent tones with it, especially for skin.

gloobag

Just received a couple of 5 packs of both Portra160 & 400 from thephotoshop.ie. They even threw in a free roll of Neopan100

Worked out a little cheaper than 7dayshop and delivery was super quick. Only ordered the stuff yesterday afternoon. Can't fault that kinda service!

Thanks thefizz for making yourself known to me

thefizz

You're welcome Brian, enjoy the films and your new camera.

Heebie

Things about film emulsions that are potentially interesting.

Kodak in general, and Kodak Portra films especially exaggerate the reds and yellows in the image slightly. It's colour-balanced this way to make caucasian people look like they have a healthy glow.

AGFA film tends to be VERY neutral color-wise.. no exaggeration. True German precision.

Fuji films tend to be colour-balanced to make Asians look hale & healthy by exaggerating blue and magenta.

This makes Portra good for shooting people, even better if you're shooting wildly coloured flowers and such.
It makes Fuji films great for shooting landscapes where you want nice verdant greens.
AGFA films are good generally all-around.

The grain structure of the emulsion can make a big difference as well. You might find that for certain types of photography, different films work better regardless of the color properties of the film.

Kodak T-Max films (they're black & white) have fans because of the T-shaped film grain that tends to make edges really sharp. (the use of Kodak T-Max developer accentuates the T-shape of the grain, too.) I prefer something like Ilford Pan-F myself, but you need ridiculous amount of light or insanely long exposures to use it.

Hopefully some of this will be useful in making your film choices.