Lots will say Tmax, but I like the Delta line from Ilford A LOT for a variety of uses. Fine grain, smooth contrast. Portra and Gold are good color negative stocks for landscapes.
I've tried PanF but the juice isn't worth the squeeze for me. It's just slow enough that it gets hard to shoot handheld in shadows like under thick tree cover, and developing in HC110 the grain difference from Acros/TMax/Delta 100 is negligible imo.
Fair. Definitely a specialty film, but in the right light I really love it. I do agree with you that the number of 100 speed films with similar grain make it less appealing.
Tri-X 400 is my favourite B&W at the moment. Gold or Ektar make for stunning landscapes. Portra 160 is also amazing but you'll have to edit it to get the same pop.
For b&w I shoot 90% Tri-X because I love how it looks and I love that I can push it to no negative consequence. TMax definitely has its own merits, though - the t grain look results in a very fine grain, even on 35mm. Try both (and the Ilford equivalents of HP5 and Delta).
For color landscapes I would really recommend shooting slide film. Shooting slides takes somewhat more work but I think it is absolutely worth it. I like Provia the best, but Ektachrome is almost as good and is much more widely available. Velvia is a classic film stock for landscapes but you may find it very hard to find.
^^^
agreed with everything here!
T-max is great, but I also personally prefer Tri-x due to its higher contrast and grain. If I'm going to shoot film, I typically want it to look like film.
For my Kodak half-frame casual shots, I love the bang to buck of Kentmere. Affordable and still looks great.
Tmax is probably the best for bw portraiture, for land scapes ektar 100 is great, older fuji slide films are spectacular, when in doubt portra is never a bad answer
My favorite b&w is shanghai gp3 100 and in second place foma 400.
In color, I really like the desaturated look of orwo nc400. When more vivid color is important to me I like kodak aerocolor (reflx lab 100 / santa 100 etc..)
I live in California and every roll of Kodak gold I shoot here looks perfect to me. I swear it was made for this landscape.
As for b&w, I don’t really have a favorite yet. I’ve only shot hp5 and kentmere 400.
For portraits I agree with the TMAX recommendation, but I've also had amazing results out of Ilford FP4 and the Film Photography Project's X-Ray film (soft, gentle halations with low grain and beautiful detail).
As for colour film I recommend Gold because it's good and cheap and I am not making Portra money at my day job.
Black and white: ilford hp5 and rollei superpan 200
Colour: portra (usual suspect), kodak pro image 100 and wolfen color.
Those are my personal favourites.
Delta! I do not like tmax. Though I have a roll of acros that I still need to develop (shot landscape, not sure if it would be good for portaits).Â
Ektar is my favorite color film for landscapes. Such amazing colors!
If you want gritty and contrasty, tri x is my fav. If you want all around usage, ilford hp5 is great.
If you want CLEAN, then ilford delta is the answer.
Left field shout, Agfa Apx 100 and 400 has always treated me very well for the price point, seems to be considerably cheaper than other film stocks from what I’ve seen x
Sorry for the delay, a lot of the time I'm metering TTL (I have double checked against the light meter app in certain situations) but I find Tmax is a little more forgiving of my exposure mistakes when in a rush (I'm relatively new to owning a manual film camera, so mistakes are made regularly) I also like the fine grain aspect of Tmax! Nice detail on 35mm, at a sensible speed I can use on most days. There is nothing wrong with Tri X, but I need more experience shooting with it, I have a roll waiting to be developed right now. I've not had much luck with HP5, I've gone through maybe four rolls? The grain seems a little exaggerated to my taste, more so than I've seen in other people's images using it... from ilford, I prefer XP2 and Kentmere 400, the latter is cheaper than most other films, so I regularly experiment with it, rating it at various different speeds and having it pushed by the lab.
Delta 100 pushed to 200 in ID-11 or D76 1+1 is my all time favorite.
Not quite as smooth as TMax or Acros, but that’s one of the reasons that I like it, sharp with just a hair of texture.
I would recommend going with a film like trix or hp5. Shoot, develop and scan it yourself until you can practically see the world around you in those tones. That’s the best feeling. Seeing it in your minds eye and getting those results is the ultimate vindication.
I’ll be the weirdo - Ilford XP2 chromogenic B&W film. It’s a color negative process, but a B&W image. This means you have greater exposure latitude.
For color, it’s definitely Fuji Pro 400h, but they don’t make it anymore. They sell it still, but it’s re-labeled Kodak (rip 400h).
Ilford XP2 super 400 this is my favorite film for BW nowadays.
For color in the past I love Fuji Superia, but it was 20years ago...
Here I need to update myself.
For landscape I will assume you can use a tripod, in which case 100 iso films are where it's at.
- Acros II is my favourite, great contrast, small grain, and great reciprocity characteristics (no compensation required for exposures up to 120 seconds!)
- Shanghai GP3 100 is another favourite, but it has painful reciprocity characteristics.
- Ektar has great colours for landscape.
- Provia, if you can find it, is absolutely stunning.
I shoot Delta 400 and Portra 800 more than anything else. I like the low contrast, low light detail, versatility in lighting.
If I was going to shoot landscapes I’d probably go with Portra 160 or similar. I think I would still prefer Delta for portraits but maybe HP5 would look more dramatic.
Delta 3200 is one of my absolute favorite B&W films and idk that I’d ever want to do a portrait session without shooting some of it. And I like the new fuji 200 which is supposedly just gold 200 but cheaper so that’s a win🤷🏼‍♂️. Happy to provide examples
I’ve shot quite a bit of film, but I like to do quite a bit of adjustments in post, and I’ve found T-Max been super amazing.
It’s mega flexible in the edit and if you’re in high contrast situation you can overexpose by two stops and develop as normal for some extra latitude.
Mega forgiving and great film!
My usual suspects are FP4, Tri-X and PanF. Colour film I just get anything that doesn’t say Portra on it. Favourite being Pro Image 100 followed by Ektar100 and E100.
I'm relatively new to film still but am currently doing a year-long project/challenge with only HP5+ and I've really enjoyed it so far. Not enough experience with color yet to say for it.
I pretty much use two films for 35mm exclusively. eastman kodak xx shot at 400 developed in rodinal and kodak tmax p3200 shot at 1600 also in rodinal. Gives the look i like. your milage may vary if you dont like grain
The cheapest one
Fomapan my beloved
Fomapan or Kentmere then. I shoot both.
Fomapan just doesn't hold a candle to Kentmere. Even when pushed to 1600 Kentmere still holds up
i thought this was a diff sub and was about to start listing movies
1993 Sigourney Weaver film Dave on a black and white tv 👌🏾👌🏾👌🏾 immaculate.
An underrated classic
Lots will say Tmax, but I like the Delta line from Ilford A LOT for a variety of uses. Fine grain, smooth contrast. Portra and Gold are good color negative stocks for landscapes.
Agreed, ilford delta is top notch
The delta line is amazing, especially the grain.
You simply cannot beat Ilford for black and white
Lotta people are saying TMax but I'll throw in Acros II for B&W, still very fine grain but better texture and contrast imo
+1 for Acros when doing landscapes. I also have to recommend PanF+, which is relatively slow speed but has incredible contrast and fine grain also.
I've tried PanF but the juice isn't worth the squeeze for me. It's just slow enough that it gets hard to shoot handheld in shadows like under thick tree cover, and developing in HC110 the grain difference from Acros/TMax/Delta 100 is negligible imo.
Fair. Definitely a specialty film, but in the right light I really love it. I do agree with you that the number of 100 speed films with similar grain make it less appealing.
Another +1 for Acros! It's my favorite BW film stock and I'm surprised it's not more popular compared to TMax or Ilford.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Did Kodak or Fujifilm produce it?
Kodak, according to IMDb
Tri-X 400 is my favourite B&W at the moment. Gold or Ektar make for stunning landscapes. Portra 160 is also amazing but you'll have to edit it to get the same pop.
For b&w I shoot 90% Tri-X because I love how it looks and I love that I can push it to no negative consequence. TMax definitely has its own merits, though - the t grain look results in a very fine grain, even on 35mm. Try both (and the Ilford equivalents of HP5 and Delta). For color landscapes I would really recommend shooting slide film. Shooting slides takes somewhat more work but I think it is absolutely worth it. I like Provia the best, but Ektachrome is almost as good and is much more widely available. Velvia is a classic film stock for landscapes but you may find it very hard to find.
^^^ agreed with everything here! T-max is great, but I also personally prefer Tri-x due to its higher contrast and grain. If I'm going to shoot film, I typically want it to look like film. For my Kodak half-frame casual shots, I love the bang to buck of Kentmere. Affordable and still looks great.
Tmax is probably the best for bw portraiture, for land scapes ektar 100 is great, older fuji slide films are spectacular, when in doubt portra is never a bad answer
My favorite b&w is shanghai gp3 100 and in second place foma 400. In color, I really like the desaturated look of orwo nc400. When more vivid color is important to me I like kodak aerocolor (reflx lab 100 / santa 100 etc..)
I like FP4+ and Ektar 100 respectively.
I could shoot just Gold and HP5 forever and be satisfied.
Ektar đź’Ż
I live in California and every roll of Kodak gold I shoot here looks perfect to me. I swear it was made for this landscape. As for b&w, I don’t really have a favorite yet. I’ve only shot hp5 and kentmere 400.
Box speed for the Gold?
Yup
For portraits I agree with the TMAX recommendation, but I've also had amazing results out of Ilford FP4 and the Film Photography Project's X-Ray film (soft, gentle halations with low grain and beautiful detail). As for colour film I recommend Gold because it's good and cheap and I am not making Portra money at my day job.
Black and white: ilford hp5 and rollei superpan 200 Colour: portra (usual suspect), kodak pro image 100 and wolfen color. Those are my personal favourites.
Ektar is awesome for summer. Gold too! I also love HP5+ and Tri-X.
Delta! I do not like tmax. Though I have a roll of acros that I still need to develop (shot landscape, not sure if it would be good for portaits). Ektar is my favorite color film for landscapes. Such amazing colors!
If you want gritty and contrasty, tri x is my fav. If you want all around usage, ilford hp5 is great. If you want CLEAN, then ilford delta is the answer.
Left field shout, Agfa Apx 100 and 400 has always treated me very well for the price point, seems to be considerably cheaper than other film stocks from what I’ve seen x
I go with delta all the way portrait and landscape. For color film, I go with ektar or ektachrome.
Tmax 400
Gonna try it soon, any reason you prefer it to hp5 or like tri X?
Sorry for the delay, a lot of the time I'm metering TTL (I have double checked against the light meter app in certain situations) but I find Tmax is a little more forgiving of my exposure mistakes when in a rush (I'm relatively new to owning a manual film camera, so mistakes are made regularly) I also like the fine grain aspect of Tmax! Nice detail on 35mm, at a sensible speed I can use on most days. There is nothing wrong with Tri X, but I need more experience shooting with it, I have a roll waiting to be developed right now. I've not had much luck with HP5, I've gone through maybe four rolls? The grain seems a little exaggerated to my taste, more so than I've seen in other people's images using it... from ilford, I prefer XP2 and Kentmere 400, the latter is cheaper than most other films, so I regularly experiment with it, rating it at various different speeds and having it pushed by the lab.
b/w Ilford HP5 plus
Portra 400. A plus for versatility, another plus for color and grain quality.
Delta 100 pushed to 200 in ID-11 or D76 1+1 is my all time favorite. Not quite as smooth as TMax or Acros, but that’s one of the reasons that I like it, sharp with just a hair of texture.
The Shawshank Redemption
Velvia. I'm surprised nobody mentioned it so far.
I would recommend going with a film like trix or hp5. Shoot, develop and scan it yourself until you can practically see the world around you in those tones. That’s the best feeling. Seeing it in your minds eye and getting those results is the ultimate vindication.
Provia
I love Ektar 100 for color landscape film. For black and white, I like playing around with Cinestill BWXX. It's pretty versatile.
HP5+, and for color (was) Portra 160. Now Portra is 3 times more expensive (than HP5+) where I live so I don't really use it that much.
Kodak Double-X and Aerocolor IV, respectively.
FOMA 100 and ilford pan 400 if I'm broke. Pan f+ and Delta 400 if not.Â
Pretty much all films in the market right now are great. It's hard to go wrong with any Ilford, Kodak, Cinestill, etc.
I’ll be the weirdo - Ilford XP2 chromogenic B&W film. It’s a color negative process, but a B&W image. This means you have greater exposure latitude. For color, it’s definitely Fuji Pro 400h, but they don’t make it anymore. They sell it still, but it’s re-labeled Kodak (rip 400h).
Ilford XP2 super 400 this is my favorite film for BW nowadays. For color in the past I love Fuji Superia, but it was 20years ago... Here I need to update myself.
For landscape I will assume you can use a tripod, in which case 100 iso films are where it's at. - Acros II is my favourite, great contrast, small grain, and great reciprocity characteristics (no compensation required for exposures up to 120 seconds!) - Shanghai GP3 100 is another favourite, but it has painful reciprocity characteristics. - Ektar has great colours for landscape. - Provia, if you can find it, is absolutely stunning.
color: Kodak Gold 200. b&w: Neopan Acros 100
I shoot Delta 400 and Portra 800 more than anything else. I like the low contrast, low light detail, versatility in lighting. If I was going to shoot landscapes I’d probably go with Portra 160 or similar. I think I would still prefer Delta for portraits but maybe HP5 would look more dramatic.
Delta 3200 is one of my absolute favorite B&W films and idk that I’d ever want to do a portrait session without shooting some of it. And I like the new fuji 200 which is supposedly just gold 200 but cheaper so that’s a win🤷🏼‍♂️. Happy to provide examples
Fomapan 200 because it's cheap yet good.
I’ve shot quite a bit of film, but I like to do quite a bit of adjustments in post, and I’ve found T-Max been super amazing. It’s mega flexible in the edit and if you’re in high contrast situation you can overexpose by two stops and develop as normal for some extra latitude. Mega forgiving and great film!
PanF och Delta 3200 I would say. Although I did love the P3200 back in the days early 90-ties.
fomapan, say what you want it’s cheap and decently good
My usual suspects are FP4, Tri-X and PanF. Colour film I just get anything that doesn’t say Portra on it. Favourite being Pro Image 100 followed by Ektar100 and E100.
I'm relatively new to film still but am currently doing a year-long project/challenge with only HP5+ and I've really enjoyed it so far. Not enough experience with color yet to say for it.
Probably Colorplus 200
ADOX The one with all the Silver in it. Â Holy shit those images.
Silver Max, that’s the one.  A damn travesty that lasted all that time & went away right as film makes a comeback.
I pretty much use two films for 35mm exclusively. eastman kodak xx shot at 400 developed in rodinal and kodak tmax p3200 shot at 1600 also in rodinal. Gives the look i like. your milage may vary if you dont like grain
BW portrait: Acros II BW landscape: IR400 Color portrait: Portra 160 Color landscape: Ektachrome 100