FATAL FRAME: Maiden of Black Water

This will require you to get S+ on all stages playing on normal and nightmare difficulties. Scores are NOT based on time played or deaths. You get points for damaging enemies, taking photos of ghosts and ending the chapter with items/films.

The most important item to have to get high scores is the "reward" lens. Ren wont be able to use it though. You get it in chapter 7 after doing some running around. There is another upgrade called infinite that gives you infinite film. It is not all that helpful but it can make a little difference if you are having trouble. Infinite upgrade is available after completing all stages on normal and nightmare.

In short, if you dont get an S+ your first time playing a stage, play it again later. I suggest playing through all stages first. Follow a guide to get photos of all ghosts and find items.

-It's all about the points. Take your time. Your total score is based off points earned from fights, points earned from taking photos of echos/specters and points from unused items.

-Take photos that earn high points and low damage. Depending on the enemy, you can stretch a battle out to 20 minutes and earn over 100,000 points.

-Use 07 film only. Dodge often.

-Get all echos/specters each stage.

-Dont buy any items at the start. This will actually lower your score.

-Collect as many items as you can. Late levels will offer 50,000+ for item bonus.

-Take photos of all the echos/specters

-Use the video guides for item locations, echos and specters.

-The only item you should ever use are the herbs. They are only worth 250 points. The mirror-stones are really valuable and should you accidentally use one by dying, you may consider reloading the checkpoint. On some of the early stages, you should not even use any herbs.

-Ren's 8x shot generally do little damage and earn around 1,000 per cycle. Fatal frame combos with 8x are a good way to go too.

-Yuri should ALWAYS use the reward lens/green highlight on ghosts. Focused shots with cn_LT typically get more points and low damage. Try to avoid shutter shots as they usually give high score but high damage too. Keep spamming cn_RT during fatal frame combos.

--For the thread levels, the flashlight does no damage so, you can just keep hitting enemies until you have the score you need.

-Some guides have enemies listed as random. If you wait long enough at a location while fully drenched, the enemies will appear. The longer you play a stage, the more likely the random enemy will appear. Some stages, the enemies will keep coming back. Rather than pausing, stay on screen.

-Infinite film upgrade can come in handy. A few stages have really long stretches between check points. Having the option of using higher film to take out enemies fast is great. The infinite film upgrade is great for these times because if allows you to keep the points but you can use the rare film. Again, infinite upgrade is available after completing all stages on normal and nightmare.

This is A list of S+ scores. Here is a link to another interesting link...it does not have a normal/nightmare distinction though. Scores with asterisk are my personal scores that I can attest to.
First Drop:
Normal: 22,422 Nightmare: 24,651
Second Drop:
Normal: 142,387 Nightmare: 150,671
Third Drop:
Normal: 106,970 Nightmare: 120,659
Fourth Drop:
Normal: 225,262 Nightmare: 231,014
Fifth Drop:
Normal: 142,961 Nightmare: 182,522
Sixth Drop:
Normal: 182,252 Nightmare: 210,492
Seventh Drop:
Normal: 116,406 Nightmare: 146,294
Eighth Drop:
Normal: 112,408 Nightmare: 138,354
Ninth Drop:
Normal: 120,120 Nightmare: 107,404
Tenth Drop:
Normal: 148,916 Nightmare: 116,629
Eleventh Drop:
Normal: 177,381* Nightmare: 158,986
Twelfth Drop:
Normal: 188,348 Nightmare: 221,381
Thirteenth Drop:
Normal: 127,572 Nightmare: 112,593
Final Drop:
Normal: 437,938 Nightmare: 413,185
Second Thread:
Normal: 59,427 Nightmare: 35,839
Third Thread:
Normal: 43,083 Nightmare: 14,862
Last Thread:
Normal: 45,350 Nightmare: 14,284