When getting into film photography it can be very difficult to find out not only what films are available but also the differences between them and what they are designed to do. Austrian photography enthusiast Dominik Sobe has built a website that lists available emulsions, shows a collection of images shot on that particular film and links to reviews on other sites.
Almost 50 films are listed and can be filtered by brand, contrast, grain type and speed rating
Filmtypes automatically draws in images from Flickr that are tagged with the film they were shot with and displays them on the landing page for that film, while offering a short description of the film’s characteristics, its origins and the formats in which it can be bought.
The landing page for each film pulls in images from Flickr that use the tag of that film, so users can see for themselves the characteristics of that emulsion
At the moment just under 50 films are included, and users can filter the list by contrast, color/B&W, manufacturer, speed and grain type to whittle the list down to specific requirements. Of course, there is also a link to buy the resulting film.
The site is still young and Sobe says he will continue to add new films but already it is very useful. If you are into film photography go take a look and maybe suggest a favorite film that hasn’t made the list yet.
A commendable start, though I have to agree with others here that presenting a small sample of randomly chosen images from disparate and more or less unknown sources has very limited value in terms of offering useful information about what to expect from any particular film. There are just too many variables in terms of exposure, development, digitization, post processing, cropping etc, which can obscure the relative inherent differences between emulsions.
However, it is quite useful as a quick reference for the films available of each type, or from each manufacturer for example. It has the potential to become more useful with further development. One simple thing that would improve it is to make any searches done persistent. I am finding that when I return to the main search page, I am back to 'all films' and have to put in my search terms each time. The general design and layout is positive however.
While it is commendable to give a list of films and to try to represent some ideas about the films, the lack of standardization will still require any film shooter to get the film and judge for himself/herself.
As an example... I looked at the E6 films and clearly the user biased 5 of the shots to look bluish. That may be how he shot them or how he scanned them.
The Tri X example were extremely grainy even at screen res. That would have kept me from using it but I know that Tri X is not that grainy. Tri X of course has been a very popular and successful film and it would be a shame for it to get a bad rap.
The new Tri-X emulsion of 35 mm film is super grainy and unusable for me at regular ISO (still okay when pushed to ISO 1600). This is independent on the developer: high grain with D-76, still grainy even with Xtol. Possible that you refer to an old Tri-X film emulsion. The old ones were supposedly much better with lower grain.
I prefer the T-grain of the TMax films even I rather still choose Ilford B&W films. I am using TMax films for 120 format and larger, Ilford B&W for 35 mm. Unfortunately the TMax films use a lot of this purple dye (never found out why!) which is very hard to fully get rid off after development.
Tri-X film has two layers of 3D grains -- the fast emulsion layer on top. T-Max also uses two layers with T-Grain on the top (fast) layer, and 3D grain on the lower (slow) layer. The dye is used for color correction.
The upper layer T-Grain crystals in T-Max are flat, platelet, tabular grains. They are parallel to the film surface and close together. They have a larger surface area compared to the more spherical grains in the lower layer, and absorb more light while using less silver.
I use T-Max 120 for pinhole photography because it has a much flatter reciprocity curve.
@ljclark: Thanks for the reply, I was unaware of the different layering between both film types. I was unaware also that the dye is used for color correction in the TMax films (even "color" is not seen in B&W, it is just brighter or darker tonality which is registered).
Nice interesting site. Especially useful for those new to film and for those wanting to try a new film.
BW film is a very flexible and forgiving medium, especially if you develop yourself. I ended up shooting 120 HP5+ in dilute Rodinal semi-stand and had very crisp negatives with a wonderful tonality. Consistency in the development process is the key.
For Black and white films the grain depends at least as much on the developer as on the emulsion. Contrast is the same and heavily depends on development time, temperature and dillusion. So, the aim here is great but I think you cannot judge on most examples. More interesting would be the wave length curve or the base layer. On color films mostly the scanner alone is a big factor.
Personally I found the RNI Films mobile app quite helpful.
They have digitised all the major film stock profiles. Not a replacement for the actual film of course but still gives a good intuition about each stock's rendering.
Pretty accurate based on the films I'm familiar with.
I think the film data presented by Filmtypes can be quite valuable to new film shooters. However, I question the value of such a small sampling of Flickr images. The variables in film photography have a huge affect on the final image. Camera, lens, focus, exposure (shutter speed, aperture, exposure index), environment, development (developer, dilution, method), digitalization (scanned negative, or scanned print/paper grade), and post-processing all influence the image. Without that information how can one make an honest assessment. Or, how to duplicate what you see and like.
As an example, go to Filmtypes' "AgfaPhoto APX 100" page and look at the two photos of the older gentleman in the striped shirt, holding the helmet. The same photo, but with two different end results.
I have to confess that I spend a lot of time using Flickr evaluating film, digital, lenses, etc. that I'm interested in. But, I want to see hundreds of examples, not just 24.
But, that deals with my point, Ants Mani. You can't necessarily make a good assessment of the capabilities of a film with just a few images. If I want to investigate something like Adox Silvermax 100, I know it sounds excessive, but I want to see as many of the 3000+ Flickr images I have the patients to go through. I may even discover someone's processing method I want to try with it.
If you scan through a good quantity of Flickr images for a given film, it is surprising the varying image qualities you find.
myself I think that you need to just explore them and work with them yourself. Your (or the other testers) ability with scanning as well as developing (as you mention ADOX) will make a difference, as will the light where you work. I've found that between Finland and Australia all understandings are revised
Probably a little late for this, but Ants Mani, my point is not to be negative about Filmtypes' site. I stated that i think the data they present can be quite helpful, my comments are based around my belief that only 24 images from a specific film stock is not enough to discover its character. I understand they are planning to expand the service, but I suspect they are referring to adding more film stocks. As it looks, they are settling on only 24 images per stock. And, that was the reason for my critic. I hope they do expand, as I said, it could be a useful site.
Let’s examine this a little further, Ovatab. Do you fell an overwhelming desire to see the world conform to your ideas of correctness? When alone in a room does it seem as though you’re the most knowledgeable person there? When you order coffee do you have a great desire to verbally abuse anyone that doesn’t agree with your choice of cream, or no cream? Do you hear voices in the night telling you how others will never reach your level of understanding? It must be a terrible burden.
Really useful site! I'd love to see it grow and include other film types--especially 120. I imagine adding 120 wouldn't be much of stretch, since the info on nearly every film offered in 120 is probably already on the site. For most, it would probably just be a matter of indicating that it's also available in 120. It would also be great to see unusual stuff like 127.
Many here who complain do so from mama's basement and are just mad that she's late with the meatloaf again. Nikon/Canon/Fuji/Pick One could announce they are going to UPS everyone on this forum a new camera for free, and the board would light up with complaints asking why not FedEx.
It is a nicely made website which at least gives you examples of different films and some basic idea behind each of them. The search function works well because the films listed are not sorted alphabetically or by ISO number. I just wish it had also some information about larger format films (120, 4x5 sheets) of the same type - but this might happen later.
Big data is seductive but this encompasses too many variables. Perhaps if you looked at enough shots from different people you might get a "crowd wisdom" sense of averages for an emulsion. But it's just as likely that the hidden variables of scanner and post-processing (Photoshop) are primary determinants.
The problem with this concept is the results are skewed by individual tastes of each of the photographers. I picked a film, and one example gives the impression that it is low in contrast with open shadows. Another example of that same film shows the opposite! Even coarseness of grain varies wildly from one example to the next. Seems to leave the viewer with more questions than answers!
Absolutely - every time I see this on Youtube videos comparing how one emulsion is warm and another cool it is just making everything much more confusing for those new to the genre.
I own a Fuji Frontier scanner and I can make Kodak Portra 400 look anyway I want from warm to magenta to cool etc with the tap of a button or two.
The way I scan my Portra is very different to the way for example Richard Photo Lab scan theirs and then you go to Europe or Asia and there are definitely regional looks to scanning. Same film stock, same scanner but a very different look - many thousands of examples on IG/Flickr of this.
Unless you're looking at slide film on a light table there is really no way to compare film stocks or even Black and White. The same B&W film stand developed in Rodinal is going to look far different to something devved in Ilford DDX.
That's why they tap into a large data repository. If you looks at enough different works then you can start to get an idea of commonalities ("crowd wisdom"). But that's difficult to do as an individual because of personal biases and limited mental faculties.
To be statistically meaningful one should analyze thousands of instances for each emulsion and calculate standard errors and so on. The next step for this site might be to implement algorithmic (or "AI") regressions that reveal distinctive features for each film type. The results could be presented as examples of "the most typical images" or as AI synthetic images.
Grain varies from shot to shot? All colour neg films vary in grain as a function of exposure. In genral overexposure lowers the grain. Its very difficult to compare films and as one from the "old school" if you want to do it you should print optically onto color paper processed in standardized conditions to eliminate the scanner/software variables. Makes it a bit tougher to put results into a website though!
I still waiting for these fancy film SLRs to support dual film rolls. My photography is so important that I can't risk a failure and loosing any pictures.
It's a good first effort. However, they don't show (that I could readily find) similar photos as taken with each film so you can tell how they render subject colors under the same lighting conditions. A few of the more popular photography magazines did just that in the 80's and 90's and it was really helpful. Furthermore, different labs and development will affect grain, sharpness, and color so that complicates things as well. On the plus side, they do provide links to the film datasheets so if you understand H-R diagrams, it gives you a great way to determine dynamic ranges, etc.
I do appreciate the time someone took to put this all together for those of us who still like to wind in a fresh roll of film now and then.
Check out https://getflavr.online/collections/35mm-film-catalog if you're interested. This site did what the article's creator tried to do, with a little more consistency. Each shot was done in a studio and each film group within a specific ISO group (i.e UltraMax 400 was done at the same time as Porta 400) used the same camera and flash settings.
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