 BetterPhoto Member |
Best film for a wedding? Hi there, I'd really appreciate your advise on this! I'm shotting a wedding with another friend, he's doing colour, and I'm doing black and white. I was just wondering what you would advise is the best film to use, I guess I need low grain, for blowups etc, but I also really love the grainy 1930's look (I've used Iilford xp 400 in the past, and blown it up, grainier than a desert!) Also, could you please explain to me what "Pushing" you film means, I have been advised by a number of people to use ISO200, and "Push" it to achieve the grain I want... what exactly does this mean? Thank you so very much!
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John A. Lind |
Kodak Tri-X Pan: An ISO 400, true B&W film, it's been around for decades and is relatively grainy. Its round grain is a little softer with more graceful degradation of image detail into its grain compared to the harshness of the newer tabular grain (T-grain) films (e.g. TMax 100 or 400). Tri-X also has a very wide latitude, is very forgiving of exposure error as a result, and is noted for its smooth tonal range in the mid-tones (mid-tones aren't "muddy" looking). Developed and printed properly it renders a "classic" look with some of the graininess you want and is one of the reasons many still use it for portraiture. I recommend shooting it at its rated speed (ISO 400). See my remarks about push processing and wedding photography to understand why. Pushing Film: Wedding Considerations: I assume you're not in the professional wedding photography business, and that this wedding (ceremony and reception) is indooors. Your posting didn't make it clear one way or the other. If so, one of your major problems in doing this shoot will be light: being able to create enough of it. and have enough reserve in your flash that it recovers very quickly for the next shot. It's also a reason I recommended Tri-X (ISO 400). If you haven't shot weddings before I have an on-line tutorial geared for helping the non-professional survive it: -- John
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John A. Lind |
Steve, Forgot about this before hitting the "send" key. One additional film to consider *if* (and only if) you need to shoot some during the ceremony using only available light. ISO 400 Tri-X is very marginal for this at best. I did this once and it was a nightmare running 1/30th second shutter speed with a 50mm lens wide open at f/1.4. For available light inside a church or synagogue consider using Kodak's TMax P3200 and shooting it Push-1 at EI 1600 (*don't* use it Push-2 at EI 3200). TMax P3200 actually has an approximate ISO 800 rating (hence the "P" in "P3200"). It is a multi-speed film that Kodak specifically designed for pushing. At EI 3200 (Push-2) it is contrasty which is OK for some things but not weddings. At EI 1600 it has the approximate granularity of Tri-X and Push-1 opens up the film's latitude making it less contrasty. I've had good results using this film recently for shooting a local monthly "blues jam" using only available light from a relatively poorly lit "stage." Inside a church or synagogue, available light using EI 1600 will likely end up with exposures done using 1/60th shutter speed at f/2.8 or f/4 depending on how brightly lit it is. Focus accuracy will be critical with a lens that wide open. 1/60th should be enough to freeze nearly all motion during a wedding ceremony. If it's a daytime event and there are a lot of windows with plenty of indirect daylight coming through them it might allow you to stop the lens down more or increase the shutter speed. -- John
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
I second John's recommendations. Tri-x is a good film (but it has grain issues if that bothers you for enlargements). Kodak's Tmax films or Ilfords Delta films (my preference) are very good. If you have plenty of light one of the best (and finest grained) films you can use is Ilford PanF ISO 50. Great tones and fine grain. At my weddings I usually use Delta 3200 (at ISO 1600 if I can get away with it)for the ceremony and low light candids. When there is decent light I use Delta 400 or Kodak Portra 400BW. I don't worry too much about grain because on those rare occasions when big enlargements are needed I shoot medium format so grain is not a problem. For the most part, though, enlargements seldom exceed 8x10. Albums are the norm so 8x10 is about the max you need.
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
(this is the first time I've uploaded an image here so we'll see it I screw it up or not) ;-)))
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