Recently I shot a roll of Kodak 400 TX thinking it was the
21st century equivalent of the old Tri-X 400 I used to shoot back in
the last century. Boy, what a disappointment! This stuff is very grainy with
high contrast - the exact opposite of what I recall of the older version. The
photo above is the “pick of the litter.” It’s another one of the Biloxi beach
sculptures I blogged about in an earlier post.
Here’s another really cool shot. I just happened to be there
when a fire truck went by with the siren howling. Too bad I wasn’t shooting
color at the time! Anyway it looks to me like an old grainy picture taken 50
years ago instead of a modern B&W photo.
I realize it may have something to do with the fact that I
was shooting in the late evening near the ocean so that everything was either
bright or dark shadows and I haven’t done this kind of thing in a while but
still – I expected better results. I have some more of this film including some
120 roll film for the Holga so I’m not done with it yet but I will have to
rethink my choice of black & white film if future experience with it
doesn’t improve significantly.
In the meantime I am patiently waiting for a roll of Ilford
HP-5 to be processed so I can see how it compares. I also used this film back
in the 20th century but I always thought the Kodak was better. We’ll soon see
if that has changed in the 21st century.
*****September 5th, 2013*****
I just re-read this blog post after noticing some folks had been reading it lately and thought I'd better update it. You see I subsequently realized my problems with my Tri-X experience was not the film at all but rather with the scans. If you "zoom in" on the photo you quickly discover it's not grain you see but pixels!
As far as the contrast, many folks like Tri-X for its contrasty look. I always thought it had incredible shadow detail and dynamic range but that with Tri-X blacks are truly black and the whites are really white so it looks more contrasty thank it really is. In this case shooting on the beach near sunset just multiplied the shadows and created more contrast than usual.
In more recent experiences I have confirmed to myself that Tri-X is still the same beautiful B&W film I have always known and loved. In fact I recently commented to a friend that I find it amaxing that when browsing Flickr it seems that about nine out of ten of the B&W photos that I am drawn to turn out to be taken with Tri-X!
*****September 5th, 2013*****
I just re-read this blog post after noticing some folks had been reading it lately and thought I'd better update it. You see I subsequently realized my problems with my Tri-X experience was not the film at all but rather with the scans. If you "zoom in" on the photo you quickly discover it's not grain you see but pixels!
As far as the contrast, many folks like Tri-X for its contrasty look. I always thought it had incredible shadow detail and dynamic range but that with Tri-X blacks are truly black and the whites are really white so it looks more contrasty thank it really is. In this case shooting on the beach near sunset just multiplied the shadows and created more contrast than usual.
In more recent experiences I have confirmed to myself that Tri-X is still the same beautiful B&W film I have always known and loved. In fact I recently commented to a friend that I find it amaxing that when browsing Flickr it seems that about nine out of ten of the B&W photos that I am drawn to turn out to be taken with Tri-X!
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