Who buys into this?

kshapero

kshapero

South Florida Man
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Film for B&W and Digital for color. I hear this often. Who does this and why? Who doesn't and why.
 
I don't buy into it, all the way. I like B&W film, and I like E-6 film and sometimes Portra, Kodak Gold and a few others. I do use digital for color family shots but that is about it.
 
I think a lot of it has to do with how inexpensive/easy it is to process B&W at home. The time/money investment is significantly less than with C41. Plus, odds are good that the negatives will turn out far better than what you'd get from a C41 minilab. Also, then you can use your cool old film cameras cheaply.

Since C41 and E6 are more expensive to process (even if done at home) and more difficult to scan well, I think that it just makes a lot more sense for most folks to use a digital camera for color.

Just my thoughts. Right now, I do color and B&W on film.
 
You can't tell from looking on the web, because every poicture is digital by the time it gets to the web, but if you're shooting for prints, I think I'd rather end up with a gelatin silver print in black and white. I don't shoot color, so...
 
I don't at all. I'm completely fine with digital for both. However, I prefer color mostly. And yes, I have used film and printed my own B&W for many years... even did it as a living for a little while. I just actually like the crisp clean look of digital these days. However, I completely understand why people still use film because there is a difference.
 
I totally buy into and practice it. I shoot a lot of C41 film and convert to B&W because it is more versatile than B&W too. But scanned color is hard, I do it occasionally but it's not my first choice.
 
It is fairly simple - the quality. While arguably the large format print film will have better tonality/highlight detail than digital, and large format slide will have more resolution, the colour workflow is so much simpler to handle digitally, that the arguably small increment in quality is often not worth the hassle. In B&W instead, the predominant element of quality is the tonality, and digital is simply not anywhere near yet. Personally, I only shoot B&W, so it is either film or film...
 
hipsterdufus said:
I think a lot of it has to do with how inexpensive/easy it is to process B&W at home. The time/money investment is significantly less than with C41. Plus, odds are good that the negatives will turn out far better than what you'd get from a C41 minilab. Also, then you can use your cool old film cameras cheaply.

Since C41 and E6 are more expensive to process (even if done at home) and more difficult to scan well, I think that it just makes a lot more sense for most folks to use a digital camera for color.

Just my thoughts. Right now, I do color and B&W on film.
Click to expand...

+1 B&W is easy and economical to develop. I typically send color film off to be developed which introduces additional costs.

The other reason, for me, is that scanning color film is not as easy as B&W. Color introduces additional challenges in my hybrid workflow. This has more to do with my software and (lack of) experience than color film itself.
 
I sometimes buy into this, but mainly due to financial reasons. If/when I can afford to buy the negative/slide films I love, I shoot color. Otherwise the flow reverts back to B/W on film and color on digital. Hopefully it'll end up being just digital for snaps, regardless of color/B&W, and film all the way for more interesting and thoughtful shots.
 
Scanning color negatives is hard. Copying from an SD card is easy.

I say (well, I don't say, I just do and don't talk about it), "Film for B&W, digital for color and B&W."
 
I shoot B&W in both Film and Digital. Color is almost exclusively color due to subject matter (racing) where I'll rip off thousands of shots at an event.

I dont process C41 or E6 at home so I am judicious with shooting these films due to the cost of processing.
 
I would (buy into this) if I regularly needed more than ASA 400 in color, since scanning becomes difficult. Since I don't need > ASA 400, I stick to film for both.
 
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