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Anyone do any B&W Film Photography?

airmenair

airmenair

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2005
Messages
2,556
Location
Arlington, Texas, USA
I've seen alot of awesome digital pictures on here just surfing around and I've played around with a Nikon D40, D80 and a little bit with a D200. I have to say though, doing B&W film photography is the most rewarding for myself. Any of you do any B&W film you could share? I'd like to see if so.

Also, what's the best method for taking actual paper photographs and putting them onto a computer? I have a scanner but it never seems to do the photos justice. I have some I'd like to put up here.
 
I just got into B&W film with my Voigtlander recently, I'm waiting for my scanner to arrive so I can post them.
 
Yup - I still take a fair few B&W shots, though the film and chemicals are getting more expensive here. As you say, it's very rewarding and some shots look fantastic in true B&W - and you still can't beat the feeling of seeing your own shots appear on paper when you can print them yourself.
So far I haven't digitised any of my shots, but when I stop spending elsewhere, I plan on buying a film scanner to get them in.
 
monkeymax said:
Yup - I still take a fair few B&W shots, though the film and chemicals are getting more expensive here. As you say, it's very rewarding and some shots look fantastic in true B&W - and you still can't beat the feeling of seeing your own shots appear on paper when you can print them yourself.
So far I haven't digitised any of my shots, but when I stop spending elsewhere, I plan on buying a film scanner to get them in.
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Film scanners? Does it scan the image or the negative? That's interesting, I might have to look into that. I wish I had more time, it's such an involved process that you really have to dedicate an entire day in the darkroom.

Luckily my mom teaches photography at a local college, so when I'm in town I can go and work in it and all the chemicals and supplies are paid for by the school! :thumbsup:
It's a pretty sweet deal but I imagine it can get really pricey having to supply everything yourself.
 
Try scanning at a much higher resolution than needed, and if possible at 16bit, then do your adjustments and resize/sharpen. Scanning will always degrade the image, even scanning the film.
 
hansvonaxion said:
Try scanning at a much higher resolution than needed, and if possible at 16bit, then do your adjustments and resize/sharpen. Scanning will always degrade the image, even scanning the film.
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I'll give it a shot, too bad my photos are in one location and the scanner in another!
 
My photography has been all digital so far, but I'm currently looking for a cheap Nikon film camera (but not too cheap, I want a proper tool, something manual with a metallic body from the Nikon F-series) to start shooting some film, both color and B&W. At first I'll probably ask my friend to scan the few rolls I shoot, but who knows, maybe later I'll buy my own scanner.
 
Raparperi said:
My photography has been all digital so far, but I'm currently looking for a cheap Nikon film camera (but not too cheap, I want a proper tool, something manual with a metallic body from the Nikon F-series) to start shooting some film, both color and B&W. At first I'll probably ask my friend to scan the few rolls I shoot, but who knows, maybe later I'll buy my own scanner.
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You can get second hand SLR bodies fairly cheap with no major flaws in them. You might have to replace seals and you want to make sure there are no scratches on the mirrors either. But they are easily had for not much at all. Olympus and Minolta are some good ones too. It gets more expensive when you start buying different lenses, but still astronomically cheaper than the digital SLRs.
 
airmenair said:
You can get second hand SLR bodies fairly cheap with no major flaws in them. You might have to replace seals and you want to make sure there are no scratches on the mirrors either. But they are easily had for not much at all. Olympus and Minolta are some good ones too. It gets more expensive when you start buying different lenses, but still astronomically cheaper than the digital SLRs.
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Well, I've already got a bunch of manual and AF lenses for Nikon, so there's really no point in looking at other makes :) And proper metal made F-series Nikon bodies can easily cost 100-200 euros or more, because I'm looking for a proper camera, not some 80's/90's plastic wonder which has funny shooting modes and is made of cheap plastic etc... :p

Oh, and after you add the price of film, developing and scanning them, it ain't that cheap anymore...and these days old manual Nikkors may cost even more than their modern day equivalents!
 
Aha! I found one of my pictures on one of my photo sharing sites! Its pretty low quality and it isn't as dark as it looks like, but it's a photo to add to the thread.

stang.jpg


It's a shot of my '67 mustang by the way.
 
hansvonaxion : is it a true medium format or just stylized crops ? if it's mformat indeed, do you use some sort of classic old mamiya or hasselblad, and what film were the pictures above taken with, some ilford 400 ? just out of interest :)
 
They were taken with an old Yashicamat TLR, I have a Mamiya RB but its a brick so I left it at home. I didnt realise until it was too late that the lens on the Yashica had developed a fungus while travelling through the tropics so most of the pics I took were ruined. As far as film goes I use Tmax 100/400 or Delta 100/400, whichever.

@ Airmenair, theyre sake barrels. I think when people donate to the temple they get their name written on a barrel and displayed out the front. Maybe.
 
I did some B&W shooting not too long ago. One tip though, unless you have access to a B&W film processor (I do at work) look at getting B&W film that can be run through normal colour processors. it cost me $40 to get a standard roll developed before i realised i could use my processor at work!

here's a shot from ages ago, shot on a Konica FT-1. It's not the best, but I can't be bothered re-scanning and uploading the better ones.

and on that note, what about getting the B&W images put onto CD when you get the film developed?

http://img139.imageshack.**/img139/3103/tmp7417cl3.jpg
 
Most of them do, although here it's not cheap as scanning costs rougly $4 per frame, thats why i bought a film scanner (a no-go for a midformat though), which will pay off after ~20 rolls.
 
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