Best 120 color film??

[zydeholic]

Yes, I know, an unanswerable question.

Here's the deal. I've been shooting color slide for a very long time. Someone once told me color negative film is more forgiving as far as exposure latitude. I'm willing to try some, but don't know my stuff.

Here's what I'm looking for, in this order:

good exposure latitude
saturated colors
easy/inexpensive to get processed (neg only)
inexpensive to buy

Even though expense is at the bottom of the list, it is still a consideration.

[zydeholic]

I guess I should stipulate: for shooting pinhole.

[keithwms]

Shooting pinhole with colour film is going to get you into some serious chromatic aberration. But anyway, why not shoot something fast enough to avoid reciprocity issues. I would suggest just about any colour 160 or 400 film.... rating it at a half stop or so slower than box speed. E.g. fuji pro c at 125 or 100. Fuji pro h at 320. Or the comparable kodaks. By he way I rate 800z at 640 or so and like it as well- you'll [probably] not be enlarging a pinhole shot much anyway.

Enjoy!

[zydeholic]

Thanks.

Does the color neg suffer from reciprocity failure more than color slide?

[tony lockerbie]

I don't know about the neg versus tranny reciprocity issue, but the buzz word for negative is latitude..... it has plenty. Bear in mind though, that the latitude is much more biased towards overexposure, typically 1 stop under and 3 stops over will give you acceptable results.
As Keith has mentioned, you should go for a 400 or 800 speed film, which will give you shorter exposures anyway. A lot of the pro film has a softer colour saturation for the wedding/ portrait market, ie....NPS, NPH and the Kodak Portra NC. You don't mention which size film you are using, but if it is 120, then go for the saturated film such as Kodak Portra VC, as you will need all the contrast you can get with the Pinhole.
Tony

[fschifano]

If you want to go with the Kodak products, you have several choices. The Portra line of films comes in 160 and 400 speeds with two color palettes, NC and VC, and a single 800 speed version. I can tell you from experience that the 160 and 400 speed materials are gorgeous. I especially like the NC versions for the slightly muted color palette. I've not used the 800 speed version. Here's the tech sheet: http://www.kodak.com/global/en/profe...4040/e4040.pdf.

Alternately, from Kodak, there is the relatively new, and newly available in 120, Ektar 100. This is a high contrast, high saturation film. See the tech sheet here:
http://www.kodak.com/global/en/profe...4046/e4046.pdf.

Unfortunately, neither publication offers any advice regarding reciprocity failure compensation. Bet your bottom dollar though that the color balance will get screwy once you get above or below the recommended exposure time range.

Any C-41 material is going to offer a greater dynamic range than an E-6 material, and one heck of a lot more exposure latitude. Over exposures are well tolerated, under exposures less so.

[zydeholic]

I do mostly landscape. Is the Portra going to work well for that?

[keithwms]

Sure. But again, I'd be tempted to rate it considerably slower for a bit more well defined colours. By the time you factor in that and reciprocity, I don't know, you might be bumping the exposure by a stop to get what you want. Hard to say.

It'd really not occur to me to use an 800 print film for landscape, normally speaking. But for pinhole... sure why not. You'll be enlarging very little, right? If ISO 640 keeps you away from reciprocity issues, then it might be the ticket. I am thinking that chromatic ab. plus multicolour reciprocity issues may make for an intractable problem if you get into long exposures.

[tiberiustibz]

If you're shooting 120 there's no better a time to try Ektar when it comes out this month. The reciprocity issue isn't as well defined by film as age of film design. Look at the Kodachrome reciprocity! I know ektar is pretty good w/ reciprocity. It has given me good colors, better than the last films I tried (Fuji 200 and Reala and Superia 100.) A wise man once said "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

[zydeholic]

I think I might try a couple of rolls of that Ektar if I can find it in the stores yet. I can't find a price on it yet, but I'll keep looking. I've seen a couple of reviews of it saying that it's really 50 or 64 asa, and I sort of intended on over-exposing it anyway.

Might try a roll or two of the others too. It's all about experimentation, hey? Just needed some help narrowing down. Thanks everyone.

Here's one of my pinhole shots. Looks like I used to shoot a lot of Kodak E100S.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...&id=1542973032

Oh, hell, here's the whole album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...2&l=27f20d0fa2

This is my best pinhole work. Had a trip to Ireland planned, hurriedly built the camera, and did the field testing over there. It helps when there's awesome things to shoot.

Looks like a have another roll shot in a Holga that was Fuji RMS. Colors looked mega saturated in those, but it wasn't pinhole.

Man, it's nice to find an active pinhole list. I used to be on the list-serve one, years ago, but it seems to have died. The ones on Facebook and Yahoo Groups don't seem to have much activity, or much interactivity, and no experienced people offering help.

Thanks everyone.