Tri-X: Best film ever?

[Digital Skunk]

Velvia for the personal stuff.

Back when the I was in college it was Tri-X or T-max for the win.

I didn't dabble too much with Ilford, but I did dig their paper.

 

[ChrisA]

^^^ I shot a wedding with that - awesome film.
...

Thinking about it now I shot a wedding with Tri-X. I did the entire thing with a Nikon F2 and one lens, a 135mm f/2.8. The idea was to cover it as if I were shooting for a news magazine. I just re-discovered those images, many of them are great. This was shot about 20 years ago.

 

[georgemann]

Of the tens of thousands of shots I've taken, film or digital (of which at least 30 or 40 are worth a damn), my belief is that Tri-X has saved my bacon more often than not. It's taken the most mundane setups and made them worth looking at, and my good ones great.

400 was my favorite, and I used it for everything, from photojournalism to portraiture to art shots. Darn near the perfect film.

What was your favorite?

Strange, I don't remember it that way, I used it of course, but only when necessary. My favorite was Panatomic X (at ISO 50) push processed in Rodinal (and there was some other secret step, that I have now forgotten, in the processing) to get that edges glowing effect. Such a long, long time ago........

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I like the Polaroid 600 film a lot. Basic, sure. But easy to find still and never boring to use!

 

[Xfujinon]

Velvia was awesome. I used some Sensia too, but I preferred Velvia.

I used some Agfacolor 50, or some such thing, not too many rolls.

400 T-X was used most commonly, though.

I miss the old "crank---focus----wait----wait----wait----FIRE!" of my manual cameras. I have eight old Fujica ST701s sitting around...the 40D has upset their ten-year reign.

 

[gkarris]

I miss the old "crank---focus----wait----wait----wait----FIRE!" of my manual cameras. I have eight old Fujica ST701s sitting around...the 40D has upset their ten-year reign.

I know. I finally took the "plunge" with an Olympus E-500 dSLR - extremely DAUNTING compared to the old Nikon FM I used to have...

I feel like chllin' with my old Kodak Pocket 110...

 

[tcphoto]

I will agree with that statement. I rated it at 200 and processed normal. I think that Kodak's 100SW was the best E6 film but do not miss the three trips to the lab. First to drop off, then three hours later to judge the clip and finally to pick up the balance. I liked XP2 but the base was very fragile and had to be processed by hand or it would be scratched. But the toned prints were beautiful.

 

[phrehdd]

Of the tens of thousands of shots I've taken, film or digital (of which at least 30 or 40 are worth a damn), my belief is that Tri-X has saved my bacon more often than not. It's taken the most mundane setups and made them worth looking at, and my good ones great.

400 was my favorite, and I used it for everything, from photojournalism to portraiture to art shots. Darn near the perfect film.

What was your favorite?

I have to agree that Tri-X is a wonderful film.

For me, I used 35mm

Agfa 25
Ilford HP4 for flash work
Tri-X pushed to 800 or higher if needed
Technical Pan

Larger format

Agfa 25, 100
Tri-X

This was several years ago. I used all sorts of developers depending on the film and the desired development involved ranging from Rodinal to soft developers for Tech Pan and even Diafine for Tri-X.

- Phrehdd

 

[qveda]

For landscapes I settled on Fuji's Velvia transparency film. When Fuji stopped making it, I gave up photography for a while... until I took the plunge and went digital...

The debate continues about 35mm vs digital for landscape work. almost all the images featured in Outdoor Photography magazine are shot on film - not Canon or Nikon DSLRs .

What about Velvia 100, and scanning the transparencies , vs digital?

if you don't mind sharing.. What were the things that finally convinced you to go digital, and what camera did you choose ?

 

[ajpl]

Another vote for Tri-X here.
I used to rate it at 1250 ISO and process in Acuspeed, nice crunchy grain.

Another fave was Kodak Recording film [1000 ISO] also pushed in Acuspeed to 3200 ISO. Made Tri-X look fine grained!

 

[rouxeny]

I just started shooting with Velvia when I moved onto digital. I regret not having started with Velvia earlier. There's still nothing like it in the digital realm. Maybe with some big software work....

Part of me really misses shooting film, it was always fun to open up the envelope and see what your shots looked like.

But, the benefits of digital in terms of personal improvement are incalculable.

 

[compuwar]

I just started shooting with Velvia when I moved onto digital. I regret not having started with Velvia earlier. There's still nothing like it in the digital realm. Maybe with some big software work....

http://www.prime-junta.net/pont/How_to/100_Curves_and_Films/_Curves_and_films.html

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/tutorials/GiveYourPhotosAVelviaTouch.pdf

http://www.alienskin.com/exposure/

http://www.dxo.com/us/photo/filmpack

...

 

[John T]

I was an Ilford fan - HP4 and Pan F. Rodinol and Definol were my preferred developers.

It's a funny old world! In those days we were quite happy - and even tried - to have a reasonable amount of grain on our photographs. Using an "edge enhancing" developer such as Definol, really dramatic and impactful results could be obtained.

Now, in the digital age, the fashion seems to have reversed with the accent on ultra smooth, over sharpened and over saturated pictures with the very thought of grain an absolute anathema - even at really high ISO speeds.

Must be gettin' old

 

[CTYankee]

reminds me...I have a roll of Tri-X from my teen years I never processed...wonder if it still has anything on it. Been in the fridge for years

 

[alleycat]

I used Tri-X in 4x5 and 35mm. It was definitely a great film.