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-   -   help/advice film suggestions for greece trip (http://www.film-and-darkroom-user.org.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2729)

sam glos 1st July 2010 08:44 PM

help/advice film suggestions for greece trip
 
Hi everyone

first time here and looking for any advice with regards to 35mm film for my trip to greece. I hope to photograph a mixture of landscapes, street life and portraits using colour and mono.
Ive recently got back into photography after being given my dads camera, i know a bit but not alot and would be greatful of any help.

Sam

Carl V 1st July 2010 10:42 PM

With regards to black & white film, I can thoroughly recommend any of the Ilford range. Personally, for landscapes I like to use a slow film such as Pan F (50 ISO) or Delta 100 as these will offer very fine grain indeed. The FP4 (125 ISO) is an excellent general purpose film suitable for landscapes and portraits, but if the light isn't particularly good, then you could try a faster film such as HP5 (400 ISO) or the Delta 400. I use HP5 very often and is a very versatile film which can be uprated if required.

At the end of the day it's down to personal preference. If this is your first attempt at black & white, I'd start off with FP4 and HP5 as these are a little more "forgiving" of exposure errors I would say, and are pretty straightforward to process yourself if you fancy doing that.

As for colour film, well I haven't used any for years but I've heard good things said about Kodak Ektar 100. Fuji offer their own equivalents but to be honest I couldn't tell you much about them so I'll leave it to somebody else to offer any recommendations.

Mike O'Pray 1st July 2010 11:19 PM

Sam Welcome to FADU. I have used Fuji Superia 400 to good effect in Cyprus which will have similar light conditions to Greece. In colour it is a good all round speed which caters for most light conditions. A colour neg film at a speed of 400 is generally less grainy than a similar B&W film at the same speed so you may as well use a 400 speed, especially if you use a polarsing filter to accentuate the blue skies and cut reflections from water.

Unless you intend to shot a lot of pics indoors in poor light I'd go for a slow film such as FP4 in B&W. Old technology films are probably more forgiving but I have had good negs from Fuji Acros 100. Both of these in good light can be used with an orange filter for skies and still be handholdable at the shutter speeds you will need.

Generally in good light such as Greece around ISO 100 is fine and slower films have finer grain and produce less grainy prints. It depends how big you want your prints to be. At 5x7 you won't really see much grain in a print from almost any film but at 8 x10 a print from FP4+(ISO 125) will look less grainy than say HP5+ (ISO400).

Have a good time and take more pics than you think you need to. If you think that a pic might be worth taking then take it. Once you're back in the U.K. then if you regret not taking a pic there's no going back the next day :D:

Mike

Larry 2nd July 2010 10:25 PM

Hi and welcome Sam,

Not much to add except I fully agree with all of the film suggestions already posted but would also like to add my bag of favourites.

Mono

Agfa apx100/rollei retro 100 (rebranded) excellent tones from a older technology film. Excellent in bright or dull light rated at boxed speed. (best iso is dependant the your processing developer).

Fuji Acros 100/Legacypro 100 (rebranded) very smooth fine grain film (similar to ilford delta 100 or tmax100) but has better long exposure capabilities for night shots up to 120secs without extra exposure compensation or try Neopan400/Legacypro 400 again this time with no exp.comp required for 25secs.

Colour
I've always used Kodak Portra 160NC which is very accurate for skin tones and national daytime shooting, Not over saturated but as the your eyes sees it at the time of capture.

In fact, you be hard pressed to to find a bad film from any of those suggested, it's down to personal preference and cost!

Anyway enjoy your visit to Greece, it a beautiful country with nice friendly people, has many local events throughout the year.

You need to get into the villiages and out of the major cities off the tourist track and mix with the natives - good photo opportunities.

Best wishes and enjoy.

Larry


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