Black & White Film Revival – I. Film Selection

With the resurgent popularity of black & white film and film cameras, there are now a wide variety of black and white film stock available for the 35mm format.  Also, while some 35mm film cameras have become quite expensive during this resurgence, there are still some good deals if you use Nikon F mount lenses and flashes.  Some quality, inexpensive bodies are the F/N80 Nikons and for a bit more, the F100.  They work with all the AF-S VR lenses, as well as autofocus support for the earlier screwdriver lenses.  In the flash department I personally can only say I know they work fine with my SB600 and literature shows some of the more expensive flashes supported as well.  I use my two N80 models in aperture priority mode with exposure compensation just like my D610.

The photo below is one of my Nikon N80s with the 24-85mm VR kit lens from my D610 – I paid $80 U.S. for the body last year from KEH.  I have a second body I have been using for years that I paid $65 for in 2012.

Click for an enlargement

On a quick check at B&H, I counted fifteen different vendor offerings, from Arista to an unusually named film called “Street Candy”.  The mainstays for me over the years have been, Kodak, Ilford, and to a lesser extent, Fujifilm.

I will principally focus on the Kodak and Ilford stock since part of this series will deal with home development and those are the primary films I have been working with.  This is not to say the other films are not worthy of trying out with so many offerings out there today.

Below is a list of films that I have personally used:

I have also developed all the films above at home and have obtained consistent results.