Convert to BW Pro

R

ray_g

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I have it for the 30-day free trial from The Imaging Factory, and so far am very impressed. Easy to use and allows for a lot of control by the user.

If you are not familiar with it, it allows for adjustments to simulate the use of b/w filters as well as pre-sets for 5 popular b/w films: TriX, TMax, APX, Delta, and FP4.

The greatest feature is it also allows you to control (in a manner of speaking) the negative exposure (ie how you would have exposed the negative) and you can determine how "thin" you want it. The you can control what amounts to the enlarger exposure, and lastly the use of a contrast filter just as you would in the darkroom.

An early example is in my gallery: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=37007&limit=recent

This was shot with iso 400 color film, converted to black and white (apx) with orange filter, grade 3 "printing." I also sepia toned it.

I will be playing with this program a lot more. Anyone use it?
 
I downloaded the trial version of it and used it for the full thirty days. I ended up paying for the pro version, which was 99 dollars I believe. I think it works great really for what its for. I thought a while back about just buying a Minolta 7d, and converting what pics I thought would look worthwhile in mono. Around the same time, I had started playing more and more with my grandfathers Retina Reflex S. I found working with it to be an enjoyable experience. I ended up getting all the lenses for the camera, and then learned from CQ about the Retina IIIS, so I picked one of those up. Now add an M2 and a couple if lenses for it, and slowly realizing I like B&W more, I barely shoot any colour. Other than pics of my niece feeding a peacock, which I wanted in colour, I'm approx. 98% B&W. I still use it whenever I look at examples from new digitals that come out, but it wasn't enough to really encourage me to go out and stop using my FP4 and PanF.
 
Yeah I bought it and use it regularly with my digi files (Canon 20D + 35L). It's never the same as film, but it gives me a choice of good flavours which are quite similar. My best plugin.
 
wintoid said:
Yeah I bought it and use it regularly with my digi files (Canon 20D + 35L). It's never the same as film, but it gives me a choice of good flavours which are quite similar. My best plugin.
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I agree, it is quite not the same.

I do most of my shooting with black and white film, which I bulk load and process. However, I scan a lot of them (as color negative) which then still need "converting" to mono on PS, the same way as color film does. It just allows easier tweaking of the final image. The same effect can probably be achieved on Photoshop, but I would think you would have to be quite adept at it.
 
Ray, you've piqued my curiosity. I've always been comfortable with Channel Mixer and Levels and Curves in converting to B&W, but a 30-day trial will allow me to see if there's an easier and/or better way. Thanks for the info! I've just downloaded the trial version.

Gene
 
I've been using Alien Skin for a little while now and I find that it is very, very good - at $199, however, it is expensive.
 
I like it a lot for converting RD-1 files. The b/w looks cleaner and more sterile than scanning b/w film, at least on the screen. I haven't printed anything out yet. Anybody actually made b/w prints with it?
 
T_om said:
Check out the free stuff at The Light's Right.

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/photoshop-tools.htm

Tom
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Tom's on it with this one. I've explored many monochrome conversion methods, and TLR has got it down. Not to mention the actions are free... it has also been been mentioned that the toning actions only work with CS and above, this is not true, I use them with PS7. Platinum is my fave... here's a color-to-bw shot I just did tonight, using only TLR actions. (Sorry, not an RF photo, this was done with my Nikon D50.)
 

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There are several threads in the darkroom about this subject.
Reminder:
ConverttoBW Pro made my life easy.
I use it even with scanned BW negatives.
It is THE tool for de oldies (like me) used to the Ilford multigrade system.
Try this with native PS:
Give your picture an afterburn with another gradation!

Wim
 
Ray thanks for the HU here i'll check it out next month when i've got time to evaluate it. :)
 
Krasnaya_Zvezda said:
... it has also been been mentioned that the toning actions only work with CS and above, this is not true, I use them with PS7.
Click to expand...

I guess my PS is too old. I am still using 5.5 ;)
 
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