Hi,

I have the chance to shoot a friend performing at a local club and as this kind of photography is fairly new to me I was wondering if any of the group could suggest what kind of film speed I should be looking at? Would HP5 be fast enough or should I try some 3200. I have some Kodak Portra 800 I was given so I could try that.

Any suggestions would be great.

I'll have my M6, 35/2 and 50 with me and will be fairly close to the stage.

Cheers

Mark

-- Mark Griffin (gripper@mark-griffin.com), May 28, 2001

Answers

Color or B&W? I've found Kodak Supra 800 is cheap, fast, and scans well. Delta 3200 is the fastest, and the grainiest. Up to 11X14 works for me. Neopan 1600 in Xtol is my favorite. You can often use a monopod, braced against your table or chair. Lighting, like milage, varies greatly. Try to get an incident or spot reading, performers are often small, relatively bright areas agains a black background, and an average reading fools you into overexposure. It's usually dimmer than it looks, and I shoot a lot at 1/125 wide open, and take what I get.

-- Phil Stiles (Stiles@s-way.com), May 28, 2001.

I've found that HP5+ is good to about EI 1,000; above that, shadow detail is very poor. Of course, with the style of lighting in clubs, black shadows may be unavoidable no matter what film you use. Delta 3200 works very well up through 3200 and still holds a decent amount of shadow detail at 6400.

-- Mike Dixon (mike@mikedixonphotography.com), May 28, 2001.

I would recommend Ilford Delta 3200 ASA et EI of 800 ASA in HD-110. Use an incident light meter.

-- Eric Laurence (Edgar1976@hotmail.com), May 29, 2001.

Hi Eric

What dilution/time do you use ?

Cheers

Kaj

-- Kaj Froling (saluki@mail.tele.dk), May 29, 2001.

Kaj,

I just move and all my notes are somewhere in a box (Dont know which one, I got about 15 boxes written "PHOTO" on it!). I'm really in color in the moment. From what I remember for sure is; Ilford 3200 ASA at EI 800 ASA (This EI was for an average contrast, about N), I always process at 20 Celsius. I dont recall the dissolution (Perhaps B, I "usually" go for the strongest dissolution) and I got two processing time I kept thinking while I'm writting this, 8:30m and 12:00m. I dont know if this will help. As soon as I find my notes, I'll email you the data.

-- Eric Laurence (Edgar1976@hotmail.com), May 29, 2001.

Portra 800 is my choice for shooting inside clubs and theaters. It holds up acceptibly at up to a full stop under, has a broad tonal range. It can be color-corrected in printing with good results, and grayscale conversion is also pleasing. I stopped using the B&W chromogenics altogether, and I like having the option of printing color or b&w from the same neg.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), May 29, 2001.

One of the British photos mags (Practical Photography or Amateur Photography) did a comparison of Ilford HP5 and Ilford Delta 3200 both at 3200. Their conclusion (supported by examples) was that HP5 will be sharper and less grainy, but that Delta 3200 had better tonality - a little more highlight/shadow detail. I preferred the HP5 look myself but tastes vary.

By the way if you can find these British magazines, they do a much better job at tests ans comparisons than American mags...lots of sample pictures printed large enough to see what the hell they're talking about. Plus they love old cameras and rangefinders - PP did a full-bore comparison of M6, Bessa-R, G2, and Hexar RF (M6 won!). In Denver the downtown Barnes & Noble carries them - try bugging your local newsstand to get them in.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), May 29, 2001.

I like tri-x,has a nice deep in shadows very pushable but grainy, my developer is HC-110, at ambient temperature, from 20c to 32c, I prefer not to deal with temp changes so I develop wathever sink water temp I find, from developer to dry.

-- R Watson (al1231234@hotmail.com), May 29, 2001.

You might want to try Fuji's high-speed B&W, Neopan 1600.

-- Christopher Chen (furcafe@cris.com), May 30, 2001.

It all depends on the lighting of the club, and does it ever vary. Most of the time the lighting is terrible. As a general rule I like to use the Ilford 3200, and the graininess is a nice effect given the atmosphere. I've rarely been able to use color film to much good effect (I don't use flash), though that is me rather than the film I'm sure. I've preferred the Ilford to the Fuji Neopan 1600. I use an R7 rather than an M6, and use 35, 80, and 180 lenses -- I find that I use my 80 Summilux the most, and the 35/2 next. My guess is that you'll find using your 50 to best effect and you'll be itching for a 90 after a few rolls. I would strongly recommend using a spot meter or the spot meter setting, particularly if you are doing portraits of individual performers rather than wide group shots.

-- Donald Brewster (dpbrewster@prodigy.net), June 04, 2001.

Hey Mark,

NHGII- true rating about 640 ,can be easily pushed a stop to 1250. Little contrast increase with pushing.

Portra 800- true rating 800, maybe even 1000. Can be pushed a stop to 1600.

TC400N- rate it at 1250 and push it 2 full stops in development time. It'll blow you away....grainless...

Pro films are MUCH lower in contrast, especially when pushed.

Us Kodak for more subtle colours (ie classica artist) and Fuji for punch (rock, etc)

Check with your labs about additional cost in push processing.

Cheers.

-- Simon Wong (drsimonwong@hotmail.com), June 09, 2001.