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Even today, as film is supposedly dying, there are a huge number of black and white films available to us. Many of them seem to be very similar; Kodak, for example, makes two 400 speed films (Tmax 400 and Tri-X). How do you decide what film to use, and how do you choose from the huge variety of black and white developers on the market, not to mention the hundreds of formulas you can make yourself?

On the Film Developing page, I have tested developing times for a lot of films, but I really only use a few films anymore. It is better to find one or two films that cover your needs and standardize on them. So how do you choose?

Here's how I choose a film:

For street photography, portraits, and documentary work,

I mainly use 35mm 400 speed films, with Kodak Tri-X my favorite. Though slower films have finer grain, I don't bother with them in 35mm for several reasons.

I want to use 35mm cameras handheld. If I have to use a tripod, I might as well use a medium format camera, which gives far better quality than any 35mm can give. I like to use soft, overcast daylight. Where i live, that kind of light is too dim to use with 100 film handheld unless you use very wide apertures. A 400 film gives more freedom to choose the aperture I want to control depth of field.

I also use Kodak Tmax 3200 in 35mm for night photography and indoor work by available light. It gives far better tonality than a 400 film pushed to 1600 or 3200. Ilford Delta 3200 is good too, but I use the Kodak film because its cheaper where I live and both films look equally good.

For landscapes and architectural work (including my old buildings and houses),

I mainly use 100 speed films in 120 size. I always use a tripod for landscape and architecture work, to get the highest sharpness, and slow films like Kodak Tmax 100 and Fuji Acros 100 give the best resolution and grain.

Choosing a developer:

There are a huge number of black and white developers you can choose from. I've tested a lot of them and settled on three of them. The reason for so many is that some films work better with certain chemicals in my opinion, plus each developer gives different grain, speed, tonal rendering, and sharpness

Kodak D-76 diluted 1+1:

D-76 is an old developer, introduced in 1927. It comes as a powder that you have to dissolve in hot water to make a stock solution that can be used straight from the jug or diluted 1+1. Its considered the the standard by many, and virtually all films made today work well with it. It gives good sharpness and grain and beautiful tonality. A good choice if you want a normal rendering. My favorite developer with Tri-X and a close second with Tmax 100.

Agfa Rodinal diluted 1+50:

Rodinal was introduced in the 1880s, making it the oldest commercially produced photo chemical available today. It is a highly concentrated developer that is diluted in a great amount of water to use. Because of that, it is very inexpensive, though I don't think that should be a consideration as all developersare cheap on a per-roll cost basis. Rodinal can be developed between 1+25 and 1+100 but it gives the best results with most films at the 1+50 dilution.

Rodinal is a sharpness enhancing developer, but it gives more grain than usual. This increase is barely noticeable with slow films like Tmax 100 and Acros, but it gives higher speed films like Tri-X a gritty look that works well for some styles of work. Rodinal's tonal rendering is beautiful, with contrasty midtones and soft highlights when used on slow films, and a little bit harsher tonality with fast films that works well with the gritty grain these films give in Rodinal.

This is my choice for Tmax 100 and Fuji Acros 100 and I use it on ocassion for Tri-X. It works well for Tmax 3200 if you like A LOT of grain!

Kodak Tmax Developer:

This is a liquid developer designed to develop Tmax 3200 and for pushing 400 speed films. It works beautifully for those tasks and is the best developer that I have tested with Tmax 3200 and Ilford's Delta 3200. It is ok as a general purpose developer to replace D-76 for those who do not like messing with powdered chemicals, though it does not have as nice a tonal rendering as D-76. Grain is good though. Dilute 1+4 for 3200 films and 1+7 for 400 films.

PMK:

PMK is a modern developer based on Pyrogallol, a developing agent that was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is unique because it imparts a greenish-brown stain to the image that is proportional to the amount of exposure. So, highlight areas stain more than shadow areas. The stain makes up part of the image density, so it provides smoother gradation and better separation of values than an image made up of just silver. The downside is that there is a speed loss of about a stop with most films, and the developer is finicky to work with. It requires a different agitation method than most developers, and it is more toxic. I've been using it extensively for Tri-X, because of its unique tonal rendering, which gives an image that looks like you could almost reach into it. Worth the effort, but not really a good developer to learn with because of its quirks.

I now use the following film and developer combinations for most of my work:

Click the names of the films to see examples of it in different developers. Since developer choice affects the effective speed of the film (see the film developing page), you should decide what developer you will use before you actually shoot the film.

Kodak Tmax 100:

This is an extremely fine grained film with beautiful tonality and fine detail resolution. I use it for landscapes and architectural work (abandoned buildings, mostly). Works great developed in either Rodinal 1+50 or D-76 1+1.

Fuji Acros 100:

This film has the same fine grain and high resolution as Tmax 100, but with the bonus of having virtually no reciprocity failure with long exposures. I have used it for exposures in very dim light as long as 5 minutes. I use it for interiors of abandoned buildings. At very long exposure times, it is actually a faster film than any of the 400 speed films (they lose speed in very dim light) and still has very fine grain. I don't like it as well for work in normal daylight conditions because it has rather flat midtone tonality compared to Tmax 100.

Kodak Tri-X 400:

I use this as my general purpose film when shooting 35mm film. Great for street photography and portraits. The grain is not as fine as 100 speed film, but it gives a grittier look that worksfor a lot of documentary and street photo work. D-76 1+1 gives smooth tonality and finer grain, and is considered the traditional standard developer for Tri-X. Rodinal 1+50 gives sharper grain and a harsher, grittier tonality that works for some types of images.

Kodak Tmax 3200:

This is my lowlight 35mm film. I use it for night photography at carnivals, street photography in the evening and nighttme, and candid portraits indoors. There's really only one developer that I have gotten truly great results from. Tmax Developer. That developer was designed specifically for Tmax 3200, though it is ok as a general purpose developer. I usually expose this film at 1600 and develop for the time that Kodak recommends for 1600.