Film

[avsfan733]

I am planning on attending the USGP this year with my camera and am looking for ideas on film...Obviously I am going to take some color film for just messing around, But I truly prefer Black and white film for a lot of reasons, mainly because I process it myself and print what I want. I can get film ranging up to 3200 speed, but I think that may be too fast for everythingbut the main straight. I was thinking about pushing 400 film to 800 because I can't find 800 b&w and to allow more grain to show up in the photos and also allow me more play with apertures over a given shutter speed. (I usually use the semi-manual mode with the shutter set up at 1/1000 and the aperture compensating). Thoughts, comments, Suggestions?

[tanalised]

try shooting at a lower speed and panning a few shots to gain movement in the picture. good luck finding somewhere to shoot from!

[Skippy]

Fuji Velvia 50 was always my film of choice. If you require a few extra stops there is no the 100f, but i think the colour staturation is better if you push the 50.

As for B/W the delta series might be usful for you.

And of course film is cheaper in the US, so buy a few different types and see which ones suit you purpose best

[KC]

You could really get some artistic shots with 3200 B/W film, but the grain will be pretty bad. It might work well if the shots are taken from pretty close up. You shouldn't have any trouble pushing 400 up to 800, especially since your doing the developing on it. Bad part about 3200 is it will totally freeze the action, even the wheels will appear to have stopped. This can work awesome if you manage to catch a car going off and dirt and debris flying, but the shots can get a little static looking otherwise.

Do you plan on using any filters? I've had good luck using a Y2 yellow filter to add in more tonal range on Kodak ASA 400 C41, but you do give up about 1/3rd to 1/2 a stop. I think a R2 Red would be too much for action shooting, but boy does it bring out awesome shadows for stills and landscapes.

Since light will most likely be good at noon, possibly too bright, I would probably go with a really good ASA 100 in B/W. The best pro-grade film I have shot is Fuji Provia 400 slide film, the color saturation and detail is superb along with the speed. However, its not cheap to buy and develop and needs to be kept in a cooler before use to get the color saturation. Bad part about this film is that it shows up the smallest mistake in exposure to the maximum.

[avsfan733]

thanks for the suggestions....Im taking my whole Camera bag (about 6 lenses and 30 odd filters but will probably leave most of it at the hotel save a zoom, 50, and telephoto. I usually carry a ND filter with me, as well as having a rotating Polorizer on the lense at all times, I also use a lot of deep red filters to improve contrast on the film with b&w. That comment about the Stop action is interesting, what kind of shutter speeds should I run to make a compromise. KC, I agree about the Velvia and Provia being good film, but I have had no luck in having them developed...I have used them both two or three times and most of the time, no matter how much I enfoce the neccesity of paying attention, the photo labs seem to always screw up!

EDIT: anybody ever shoot Infared film of cars? I have used it for nature stuff so I have the filters

[kdr]

personally i'm of the opinion that b/w film looks good on cars from the b/w era...but you pays your money.

800 seems very fast...whats the aperture on your long lens? if its f4 or even 5.6 you shouldn't need to go much above 100/200asa on a good day.

i'm with skippy....velvia is the real thing. one thing if you've pushed it a lot of places might take no notice and just stick it thru at normal. find a better lab.

[djb]

some B+W film opinions:

for 100 asa stuff, Agfa APX 100 is both very inexpensive and has a very smooth tonal range. Develops very easily and cheaply in Agfa's Rodinal one-shot luiquid film developer. Rodinal is Inexpensive and can be diluted 1:25 or 1:50 so you can get a good number of films out of a 500ml bottle. Only thing is that it doesnt last as long as Tmax developer in an already opened bottle (with any luiquid developer, always squeeze out as much air as you can for storage). APX i00 is easily pushable to 200

for 400, again agfa APX 400 is a good all around film (and cheap), although not quite as sharp a grain as Tmax 400 developed in Tmax one shot developer. Again, both push well easily one stop, with the increased constrast that comes with pushing, although in flat light, the extra crunchiness of the Tmax 400 film can give a more easily printable neg.

as always, dont take anyones word for what is "the best" film, experiment and then worry about taking the pictures, not getting overly concerned about one films grain versus another, as exposure, development and especially printing all makes a b+w print look how it does and so if you do a botch job of any of the steps, one film will not be that different from another.

good luck experimenting.

[avsfan733]

thanks guys, hopefully I will print some good results and post a few of them when I get there