Re: c-41 film

I've used C-41 process black and white film for 35mm (mainly for street
photography and informal portrait work). Although I have a roll of 120 slated
for use in my Zero multiformat pinhole camera, I haven't had a chance to try
it out yet. That being said,

I've tried Ilford's XP2, Kodak's Portra B&W, and some really cheap Kodak B&W
film that I got at a drugstore. Of the three, I really prefer the Ilford
film. The cheap B&W film simply did not have enough contrast to print well
(even at grade 4), was excessively grainy for enlargements of any size, and
the film base was extremely thin. The Kodak Portra B&W film was better,
although the prints that I made from it were on the soft side. The Ilford
film, though, printed well with just normal printing (grade 2- 2 1/2) and
tolerated englargements up to 8x10 without noticeable grain. My experience
is that it also has a fairly wide exposure latitude - it was very forgiving
on a couple of shots I inadvertently overexposed by more than 3 stops, and it
also tolerates changes in rating (the film is rated by Ilford at 400, but
I've rated it at 250 with good results). All three films, by the way, were
processed by the same vendor.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has had experience with the film after
correcting for reciprocity failure.

My only concern about using C-41 is that it doesn't have quite the same
lifespan as regular film. However, while I don't think that I am going to
give up my 'traditional' film (Ilford Delta 100 and 400) in favor of a C-41
process film, I can definitely see situations in which its use would be an
advantage. It's nice to know that one is available that will work well.

M Billingslea
Received on Tue Aug 20 11:19:31 2002