color film w/ B&W processing?

[gblader]

A buddy of mine said there's no need to buy B&W film - as it is expensive here in Korea, especially if you want one that will do C-41, but what do you guys think? Do you lose a lot of quality?

 

[kossi008]

Haven't done that, but I recently processed a C-41 b/w film (Ilford XP2) in Xtol and got some nice results. So I'm guessing it can be done with color negative film as well...

 

[paradoxbox]

There's a thread in the M/F or TLR forum about this if I remember right.

Some films handle it VERY well.

It might make sense depending on where you live - in my case rolls of iso400 color film are a shade over half the price of a roll of tri-x and around 1/3rd the price of ilford or foma b/w films.

but traditional black and white films have the edge in dynamic range

 

[Peter_wrote:]

there is a dedicated flickr group too http://www.flickr.com/groups/c41inbw/

there u will see a lot of examples.

of course your c41 film will have the orange mask then. so only useable for a hybrid workflow.

 

[gblader]

Looked at them and looks like there is definite loss in Dynamic Range - kind of defeats one of the main purposes of shooting film! also the skies look really grey, dark, and grainy... But I guess no one else practices this?

 

[sukumizu]

Have you looked into buying film in bulk from overseas? If you can manage to get discounts for ordering in large amounts along with processing in-house I'm sure you'll be able to save a bit of money.

 

[Lawrence Sheperd]

I think this is a good example of the results careful development and scanning can produce from C-41 film (in this case expired Fuji Superia X-tra 400 http://www.flickr.com/photos/eych/8508383829/in/pool-439229@N22/ . Especially nice since I have a freezer full of the stuff.

 

[gblader]

Thanks for the suggestions guys and those pics are def what I'm looking for. Unfortunately being inexperienced I bought 8 yr old Ilford film! Should I push it in development as I am going to do it myself? This film thig is pretty interesting stuff

 

[DNG]

If it was not stored frozen or refrigerated.... that may be a good Idea...
I think, from what I read in other topic on this... that a one stop PULL not push may help... IE: 400 > 200, 100 > 50, as film gets older w/o proper storage.... it losses film speed. So you may to need overexpose to get good results..

If you have a few rolls, why not make one a test roll and shoot frames from ISO 25 to ISO 800 with a few blanks in between to help keep them straight.
And develop as normal. (you don't want 2 things that have changed... (ISO and Development)... then you don't know which change was responsible for the good frame)
Pick the frame/ISO that looks the best.

How it was stored in the 8 years will have a major effect on how much fog and how much change in the ISO is effected.

 

[gblader]

If it was not stored frozen or refrigerated.... that may be a good Idea...
I think, from what I read in other topic on this... that a one stop PULL not push may help... IE: 400 > 200, 100 > 50, as film gets older w/o proper storage.... it losses film speed. So you may to need overexpose to get good results..

If you have a few rolls, why not make one a test roll and shoot frames from ISO 25 to ISO 800 with a few blanks in between to help keep them straight.
And develop as normal. (you don't want 2 things that have changed... (ISO and Development)... then you don't know which change was responsible for the good frame)
Pick the frame/ISO that looks the best.

How it was stored in the 8 years will have a major effect on how much fog and how much change in the ISO is effected.

Genius! I will def do that with my next roll!

 

[sailor]

Here are a couple of conversions from Provia 100. I think they're pretty good but your standards might be higher than mine.


Duntulm Castle Hotel - Isle of Skye by Elmer Duck, on Flickr


Plockton by Elmer Duck, on Flickr