I've had excellent results with short dated or expired film from http://www.ultrafineonline.com/ They also have an *bay store.
Look for camera shows in your area. We get two a year here in Southern Aridzona. Last fall a guy was selling expired film for a buck a roll! Some was nearly a decade out of date (!), but the majority had lapsed within the year. I scored multiple 5x boxes of reasonably fresh 120 and 220, E6 and C41 goodness. So far, everything I've used has looked great.
I've only had one 'bad' batch of out-of-date film. Several years ago I bought some recently expired 35mm 'Porst' chrome from B&H for a buck or two each. The stuff was supposedly re-badged Sensia, and should have been OK, but mine had a strong magenta cast and a slight fog. Maybe it got too many x-rays, being shipped all over the planet? A little PS tweaking reversed about 90% of the funkyness.
pawlowski6132 wrote:
I think most hobbyists such as my self approach B/W film as a craft. And feel it necessary to have control of everything from the previsualization through the final print.
Labs fill a niche and provide services for people who want to oursource their development (and printing still??). So, I would think, labs are set up for high volume, one-size-fits-all, most common denominator service. They don't provide custom boutique services. To wit, the generic level of knowledge.
Kinda like having a discussion about beer with the bartender at Chili's vs. a good local Brew Pub.
In general, I agree, but larger cities still have labs with very experienced staff that process to a request, B&W, E6, C41, 120mm, 4x5's, etc. They are getting fewer and fewer in number though.
I think anyone who needlessly slams Kodak, Ilford, or Fuji B&W films, ANY of them, probably has something to learn about those products. I'm not saying I can wrangle all of T-Max's potential out of the film, but I've seen some absolutely wonderful images taken on it that does not look like a 4 bit gifs. Same goes for HP5, Delta, Neopan, Tri-X...
YOU might not mesh with a particularly film from one of those three companies, but as long as you don't expect miracles (Acros grain from Tri-X, etc.), then if something isn't going right, it's probably your exposure and development.
kidtexas wrote:
I'm not saying I can wrangle all of T-Max's potential out of the film, but I've seen some absolutely wonderful images taken on it that does not look like a 4 bit gifs.
OK - I admit, you caught me exaggerating. I still think there is something in T-Max that produces a less linear rate of tonal transition. It is a subtle thing and certainly doesn't spoil an image, and maybe there is a way to develop around it that I don't know. I always used to use the T-Max developer with T-Max films on the assumption that Kodak would know something about how to develop their own films.
Haha ok. I don't use T-max 400 (only 3200). I don't claim to have figured it out at all. But I have seen some amazing stuff out of it. And there's currently a thread or two over on APUG where a couple people are claiming you can really make T-Max do anything you want with the right developer.
Again, I'm only relaying information, but the word on the street is that T-Max 400 (for example) has a MORE linear curve than trad films. The word is also that it is more sensitive to developing technique as well. Where as with trad films (Tri-X, HP5+) you can basically do anything you want to them and still get a usable image.
I don't know - I've never put any films up on a densitometer. All I know is that if you held a gun to my head, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the Tri-X and HP5+ that I've developed, even though I 'prefer' Tri-X.
I tossed some 120 and 220 Kodak 400VC that expired in 2002 - it had a nasty, greenish tint. Free to me, and free to the garbage, after I shot three rolls of it. It was amiss and even conversions to B+W via PP'ing couldn't really put the sharpness back into it. If the stuff made the Mamiya 6-series lenses look fuzzy, something was really out of whack.
TWoK wrote:
... I've yet to have an issue with any of the film I've purchased even the stuff that's close to 10 years expired.
I still have about 10 to 13 rolls of Portra 120, varying speeds/VC and NC, a roll or two of Ektachrome 100VS, and a dog's lunch of 135 color print & possibly reversal film, circa 2001 drop-dead date.
You want it? Just pay shipping from stateside. I don't have access to MPS, so likely you'd pay USPS rate to Okinawa.
Not if it's color-shifted. I honestly have way to much film at the moment, but I have a few people here that would like to use it. That is if it's in reasonably good shape. I'm definitely not into lomo!
I knew a guy that always bought out of date color film because he wanted the color shift. He never knew what he would get but that was part of his expression. Interesting.
ISO1600 wrote:
yeah and i would probably hate them if i met them in person.
Ilford and Neopan are two very different films, and they attract different people.
I love Neopan.
so dont leave us hanging what type of people ARE attracted by Illford
haha.