I take images since school age. Since the time of studying medicine I used my home photography lab for developing and printing which I got from my grandfather. For the past fifteen years I took digital images, but since two years, the majority of my images are now again shot on film.
I am now particularly interested to explore the different films stocks which all have different looks, and I like choosing the right one for every occasion. Nevertheless, my standard film types are now Ilford FP4 and Fomapan 100. I also highly recommend ADOX CHS II (ortho-panchromatic), a wonderful, fine-grain film showing a perfect palette of grey tones superior to other film stocks – from my point of view totally underrated and a true insider´s tip.
For colour film, there is – unfortunately – no way around Kodak. I now prefer Kodak Ultramax 400, Kodak Portra 400 and Kodak Gold. Adox Color Mission 200 is very interesting, but its special colour palette makes it a film for defined occasions only.
Contact: photo@tzoller.de
My camera gear
| Digital | Analog 35mm | Analog medium format |
| Fuji X-pro 2 | Leica R7 | Hasselblad 501c |
| Leica M-P 240 | Leica R6.2 | Rolleiflex 3.5f |
| Fuji GFX-50R | Leica M6 | Pentax 67 |
| Nikon FM2 | ||
| Olympus XA |
Dev & Scan
I develop my film using Jobo development tanks, my favorite developer is Kodak HC-110 due to its versatility for all film stocks. Avoiding dust and stains on the film is essential, therefore I use and recommend Kodak Photo Flo. For scanning, I use my Fuji X-pro 2, the XF80mm macro lens and the Essential Film Holder with modifications. I also use the Novoflex copy stand for holding the camera, as recommended by Kyle Mc Dougall. I use Negative Lab pro for image conversion, and follow the excellent workflow suggested by Hashem from Pushing Film.
Printing – the real-life EPSON vs. CANON comparison
For digital printing, I used the Canon-PRO 300 for one year, and changed then to the EPSON P-700. To make the long story short: the print quality is identical (if it is not, you should work on your settings…). I prefer the EPSON printer over the Canon Pro-300 simply for a long list of practical and economical reasons, see my comment at Keith Cooper´s comparison video.
Practical / concept comparison between both printer systems:
| Canon image prograf PRO-300 | EPSON SureColor SC-P700 |
| Large printhead (carries all ink cartridges !) | Small, lightweight printhead, connected to ink cartridges via small flexible tubes |
| Small ink cartridges (14ml only) | Medium size ink cartridges (23ml) |
| Permanent exchange and stock management of cartridges, permanent waste of empty cartridges | Significantly reduced frequency of cartridge exchange, reduced waste |
| Higher price per ml of original ink (due to small ink cartridges) | Cheaper price per ml of original ink (due to larger inc cartridge size) |
| Use of third-party inks possible in theory, but almost impossible in real life, as ink level monitoring won´t be possible. Chips of cartridges cannot be reset. | EPSON chip can be reset, with some caution use of third-party inks possible. See excellent reviews and tutorials by Patrick Ludolph on this topic. |
| Wobbling of printer during printing, as the printhead has to carry all cartridges | No / minimal wobbling, as the printhead is lightweight, and connected to the cartridges with flexible small tubes. |
| 100% print quality | 100% print quality |
Just for those practical reasons alone, the EPSON using 23ml cartridges is for me the clear winner in all categories above.