If you are shooting B&W ONLY and can only choose one, which one?

[__--]

Yummy Yummy Film....
Simply for its Imperfection & the way it renders Light

It's a good reason, but I would choose the M-Monochrom because it can also create an imperfect and contingent "35mm-aesthetic."



M-Monochrom | Elmarit-21 ASPH | ISO 1250 | f/4.0 | 1/125 sec

Chiang Mai



MITCH ALLAND/Potomac, MD
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[farlymac]

I chose film because I like all the old cameras. I miss some of the classic emulsions, such as Plus-X, but still get satisfaction out of winding the camera no matter what's in it.

But I did read an article not long ago saying it was better to shoot in color, then convert to B&W when using a digital camera, or working from film scans. I can't say my experience matches that position, but then my digital cam isn't a top of the line model. I actually liked it's monochrome output much better than it's color.

PF

 

[maddoc]

BW film. Developing/scanning that stuff is like making dinner at home or something similar. 🙂

 

[craygc]

B&W film...

Digital B&W works sometimes but in the main cannot handle the highlights properly at all - and that includes the Monochrom-M

 

[Morry Katz]

Ansel summed it up perfectly

 

[charjohncarter]

B&W film: it works best for me.

 

[SausalitoDog]

Other works for me...I shoot RAW with the BW setting on fuji x cameras (I think other can do this also).

That allows me to literally SEE BW in the EVF and switch to OVF if I really think I should see the color.

I then convert with simplistic "V" switch in Lightroom to see all the files as basic BW...edit from there.

This has really given me a whole new love of BW and is the most incredible thing when you first start using the VF that way...after a few weeks, it seems very normal but it still forces you to think about contrast, shapes, patterns etc undistracted by color...

 

[mfogiel]

It's always the same story - B&W is about tonality, and so far nothing touches film, though some digital comes close - like Leica S2 or MFDB.

 

[hugivza]

I chose Monochrom because I have one, courtesy of spousal generosity last year; and whereas I have a wet darkroom at home in Australia, my current continuing overseas assignment makes present consideration of that impractical. Nevertheless, it's an interesting question, which in line with many similar questions, there is no correct answer!

 

[Sid836]

I like film. It gives a special feeling having to make your own way from taking the photo up to printing it on paper.
It also keeps my ugly face off my computer.

 

[jschrader]

Not having a film camera, my choice was easy.

nothing is cheaper these days than good quality film cameras

I use film and scan because I do not like the digital live view options and the MM is too expensive for my level of use.

 

[outbr3akxal]

BW film 🙂
Why? I dunno. 'cos it magical. 🙂

 

[Rob-F]

B&W with film.

Have an analog darkroom. Now that I'm old, I still like making B&W prints. It's my photographic roots!

Besides I have a nice sized garbage can in my darkroom! Ha!

Pretty much sums it up for me, as well. Besides, what else would I do with my Leicas and Nikons?

 

[Mablo]

I have just rescued some irreplaceable 30 to 50 years old negatives at one of my relative's house. They are still in good condition and ready to crank out images for the next 50 years. I wondered myself what would have been left of them had they been stored in some kind of digital format. Nothing, I'm sure.

From this point of view; film, film, film.

 

[Erik van Straten]

B+W-film. I dislike digital and I dislike color photography.

Erik.

 

[splash_fr]

For the love of film: film!

 

[mdarnton]

I like the tonal range and distribution of film. I guess you can do some of that (the distribution, not the range) with digital, but my digital camera is twice as large and heavy as my Leicas or Nikon FGs, so I didn't carry it with me even for the brief time I was only shooting digital.

 

[pobe]

I love being involved in the whole process from shooting film to printing in the darkroom. The smells, the feel of loading film onto a spool or picking up a wet print to get it out into the light and inspect it, the excitement when I pull a developed roll from the reel, hold it up in front of a lamp and think "oooh, that's a good one" or "oh, no, this whole roll sucks".

I rarely feel involved when working with files on my computer.

 

[awbphotog]

I answered B&W film. It is the only way I have to make what is, to my eye anyways, a true B&W exposure. I do convert some shots from my Ricoh GR into B&W, and even shoot in that mode in camera sometimes. That being said, I still consider film to be my main medium for black and white images.

 

[dogberryjr]

I went with the Monochrom because I don't have a darkroom, so if I develop film at home, I end up scanning it to digital anyway.

But then reality rears its ugly head and I'm reminded of the cost of the Monochrom.