Best 35mm B&W film for studio portraits

Sooty_1 (Critique Team)

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24 May 2011 - 1:44 PM

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I would go for FP4 too, or T-Max 100. Better to get as sharp as you can on the film, even if you diffuse the image, so slower film would also be fine, such as Pan F. Yes, exposure time affects the grain as well as the effective speed of the film and the contrast.


For an old-fashioned look, try diffusing at the printing stage - the shadows bleed into the highlights giving lovely smooth skin tones for women. Diffusion at the taking stage has the opposite effect, and is not so subtle. Plus, at the printing stage, you can control the amount of softness much more easily.

Nick

pentaxpete

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24 May 2011 - 3:16 PM

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Colleges usually have Studio Flash units so you would have plenty of power to use 50ASA Ilford Pan F + and process it in Ilford ID 11 1+1 dilution -- it will be very smooth grain-free and kind to female skin tones better than Rodinal 1+50 . I got some 20x16" Exhibition prints off my 1978 Canon FTBn + 100mm f2.8 Canon lens like that and I did it in my home lounge with 1980's Bowens Monolite !

filmforever

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25 May 2011 - 3:47 PM

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Quote:
Most colleges have large and medium format kit and this is why I suggested using a 6x7 camera - easy to use but it gives nice large negs. It was the fashion photographer's favourite for a good reason.

Yes...my old Mamiya 6x7 was truly superb as a studio camera, and also on location (with a tripod).
I wonder if any of today's full frame digi SLR's can match the quality of say a 20x16 print from a 6x7 neg. on Ektar film?

I wonder if anyone's done a direct comparison?