Color film, post-processed to B+W

[retnull]

Do you think that images shot on color film, scanned and converted to B+W, can rival the quality of images shot on B+W film? Why or why not?

 

[erikhaugsby]

There's a reason films like Kodak BW 400CN is so popular--easily developed, very little "grain," and no problems using Digital ICE when scanning.

edit: That said, I still don't believe that any C41 film can fully replace a silver halide emulsion like Tri-X, as it's extremely difficult to pull off push/pull processing with C41 and there are many times I'm stuck at night with B&W films that would be very infeasible to shoot at their box speed.

 

[mfunnell]

I've had good results with Kodak Gold 100 and 200 colour film which I think take nicely to B&W conversion, mostly I think because the grain structure looks "right". Other colour film (eg. Fuji Reala) hasn't seemed as good for this. I suspect this varies by particular film type and by taste.

...Mike

 

[dmr]

I say it depends! 🙂

I shoot mainly color, but I have had good luck desaturating the various Fuji C41 films.

My two Weegee experiment shoots were done this way. (see blog)

 

[WoolenMammoth]

Do you think that images shot on color film, scanned and converted to B+W, can rival the quality of images shot on B+W film? Why or why not?

rival the quality is a highly subjective idea, and ultimately who cares. If you can shoot color film and desaturate it to achieve a look you like in black and white you should do just that regardless of the opinions you will hear on the subject online or elsewhere. Certainly this has been the rule for a long time now in film production, most "black and white" modern movies you see have been shot on color emulsion.

do what makes you happy, life is too short to worry about others opinions on such subjective topics.