Gigabit film is a slow microfilm type emulsion packaged with its own developer, so you need to be prepared to process it yourself- it is also only available in 35mm format.
This film is actually Agfa Copex a document copy film which would normally not yield pictorial results, hence why Gigabit package it with a low contrast developer.
There have been claims made that this film can resolve 600 l/mm which although theoretically possible, in reality under normal usage will equate to less than 200 in perfect conditions, and about 100 for 'normal' photography.
Gigabit include a nice little datasheet, development calculator and blurb about the above, although it makes me smile when I read "Theoretical resolution with perfect optics at wavelength 590nm" Please leave a comment anyone should you know where I can find those 'perfect optics' any lens mount will do!
How does the film fare under average shooting conditions? Well it's a slightly difficult film to use, that is it doesn't have a lot of exposure or development latitude. Shadow detail seems to be the first thing to suffer, but if you get the exposure reasonably accurate nice contrasty negatives will be the result.
The picture above shows exactly what sort of results the film is capable of; punchy, sharp images, a good film for monochrome landscape work, but not so much for soft portrait or 'retro' type images.
As I now scan and print my negatives digitally I find that very high contrast emulsions can be more difficult to print.
And below a 100% crop that really shows how fine grained this film is.
Gigabit is a good replacement for Kodak Technical Pan and gives very sharp results albeit slightly contrasty for my taste, but if you want to see what your lenses are capable of and your technique is good (I think conventional enlarger with diffuser head would be better than scanning)
If you want a 35mm film that is sharp, do you own processing and can find a supplier this film is worth a try.
Next: Fomapan 100 'Classic'
All Images and text ©Mark Antony Smith 2007
2 comments:
I also have a "Book of Projects" and that works well for me.
At the moment I'm testing Fomapan 100 and 400 ISO film for what will be the best film in combination with Caffenol developer.
Best regards, Rob.
I also have a "Book of Projects" and that works well for me.
At the moment I'm testing Fomapan 100 and 400 ISO film for what will be the best film in combination with Caffenol developer.
Best regards, Rob.
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