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That
depends on what you really need to do. There is no best all
around film for everything. It also depends on your taste/
style what films you favor. Here are a few guidelines for
choosing a film:
For optimum sharpness with the least grain, you want the slowest
film that you can get away with for that job. If you are taking
pictures of something that doesn't move, using a tripod, you
can use a very slow film, say 25 or 50 asa/ iso speed.
When you have subjects that move, such as people, and still
want fairly fine grain, you may need a little faster film,
to go with the faster shutter speeds, say 100 or 125, especially
if you are hand holding your camera. Ilford’s Delta 100, or
Kodak T-max 100 are good examples.
When you are taking pictures of things that move fairly fast
such as kids being kids or a bicyclist riding down the street,
Most photographers opt for at least 400 speed film, such as
good old Tri-X, or Delta 400.
When there is not a lot of light, a 400 speed film may not
even be enough, so consider some of the very fast films out
there, such as Fuji’s Neopan 1600, or Kodak TMZ 3200, or Ilford’s
Delta 3200.
When you increase film size, say when you go from 35mm to
120 size, you can use a faster film, and still have the same
graininess in the print, because it has to be blown up less.
To make things a little more complicated, each of these films
can be developed in several different developers, and each
giving a slightly different feel and end result.
One
last tip on film. Give it enough exposure to get the shadows.
The most common error for black and white negatives is underexposure.
The next tech tip will discuss this further.
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