Black & White with Pentax K1000: Just aquired a Pentax K1000. I would like to try some black & white photography. I will be shooting street scenes with it & have no idea which black &...

Johnj168 Loc: Granbury Texas

Just aquired a Pentax K1000. I would like to try some black & white photography. I will be shooting street scenes with it & have no idea which black & white film would be best. Some would be daylight & some would be night. Any help would be appreciated.

corryhully Loc: liverpool uk

Kodak tri x 400 classic film.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

corryhully wrote:

Kodak tri x 400 classic film.

:thumbup:

(Back in the day I'd say Panatomic-X, but alas, they also took my Kodachrome away.)

((Great, now I miss my darkroom......))

Beowulf Loc: Aquidneck Island, RI

Corryhully has it right...Tri-X for sure.

BebuLamar

Yeah the Tri-X is the standard although I hate it.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

I used to like Tmax 3200. Interesting grain.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

BebuLamar wrote:

Yeah the Tri-X is the standard although I hate it.

I dislike the grain of Tri-X 35mm, and would recommend T-Max 100 or 400. Ilford Pan F Plus, FP4 and Delta 100 Professional are also good alternatives.

Darkroom317 Loc: Mishawaka, IN

Can't go wrong with Tri-X

(Especially when developed in Rodinal)

Photocraig

Johnj168 wrote:

Just aquired a Pentax K1000. I would like to try some black & white photography. I will be shooting street scenes with it & have no idea which black & white film would be best. Some would be daylight & some would be night. Any help would be appreciated.

I'd try one of the films that are B&W emulsions that are processed by the C-41 color process. You get prints back just like they were color, but they're B&W. Sometimes the chemistry will give these little prints (think proofs) a color cast. But the negatives are good and can be enlarged and burned and dodged in a darkroom just fine. That's the way to "get 'er duuunnn" in an afternoon and get the feedback you need to get taking great photos.

There were a few from Ilford and Kodak, including one, Portra, I believe that was meant for digital scanning. And when I used them 2 decades ago they were really good and avoided the wet film development steps. The Processors also provided a JPEG CD with the images digitized.

Processing Tri X or any of the other films would require finding a B&W lab and some costly processing. If you want, look up Image Experts in LA. I used them with my more serious film work back in the day. There are others, but don't expect low prices.

I have a niece who still raves about her B&W wedding pictures. Makes me smile.

Griff Loc: Warwick U.K.

Anything with 400ASA on the box and which the shop says can still be processed.
Yours is a great journey of discovery . . .
I hope and trust you will get really bitten by the 'bug'.

www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk/ is helpful, among others.

Tim Stapp Loc: Mid Mitten

My personal favorite is Ilford's HP5+

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Johnj168 wrote:

Just aquired a Pentax K1000. I would like to try some black & white photography. I will be shooting street scenes with it & have no idea which black & white film would be best. Some would be daylight & some would be night. Any help would be appreciated.

Ilford Delta 400.
--Bob

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Johnj168 wrote:

Just aquired a Pentax K1000. I would like to try some black & white photography. I will be shooting street scenes with it & have no idea which black & white film would be best. Some would be daylight & some would be night. Any help would be appreciated.

Basically any b&w film.

Tri-X 400

Ilford HP5

Kentmere 400

And on and on...there are a dozen choices at least.

pick one and try it.

There are labs that still develop B&W, and you can do it yourself with minimal equipment and trouble.

check out http://istillshootfilm.org/post/111177747637/where-to-get-film-developed-online to see a list of folks who will develop and scan your film for you.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Johnj168 wrote:

Just aquired a Pentax K1000. I would like to try some black & white photography. I will be shooting street scenes with it & have no idea which black & white film would be best. Some would be daylight & some would be night. Any help would be appreciated.

Ilford HP5+ developed in ID-11 for smooth gradation, or Microphen for sharpness and ISO speed gain.

Tri-X developed in T-Max for fine grain, D-76 for smooth gradation, Agfa Rodinal for sharpness and contrast, or Acufine for sharpness and ISO speed gain.

When I used film, my preference was for Ilford, even when I worked in a lab that sold Kodak films. (I use digital workflows for B&W now, and prefer both the workflows, and the results.)

Development matters a LOT. Do your own for best results. Follow the method used in the classic Time-Life Library of Photography series. Use a super-accurate thermometer, a water bath to temper the chemicals, an accurate timer, and follow the film/developer manufacturer's instructions for agitation very carefully.

Kodak and Ilford films behave very differently in different developers. They require different agitation intervals and methods for best results. After doing it a couple of times, I NEVER mixed them in the same tank.

Bear2 Loc: Southeast,, MI

T-Max 400