The Archetype Process

[Andprayforrain]

Anyone familiar with the Archetype Process film emulation profiles? Currently they offer three profile packs: Fujifilm Pro Pack, Kodak Pro Pack and Monochrome Pack.

I'm particularly interested in the Monochrome pack.

With those prices--USD 195 per pack--I'd like to see some samples before I commit. Can anyone supply before-and-afters using these packs?

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I have not used them, but I have tried film emulation software from several other companies and found them all a waste of time and greatly overpriced. None give results anything like the real films. You're better off using BW conversion plugins like Topaz BW or Nik Silver Efex.

 

[Andprayforrain]

Thanks, Chris. I use Silver Efex, which has a few interesting presets I can use to give photos a bit of snap and flavour.

Instead of providing a trial version, the Archival Project lets you send them two or three raw files for their processing. I'll send them something and see what comes back.

I hope to get reasonably convincing, nice looking grain.

 

[Scottboarding]

I bought all three a few years back when they were on sale. I like them, especially the monochrome one. There was a bit of a learning curve with them but I've recently gotten better with them and am pretty happy with it. With the prices of Portra and Tri-x now, they would probably pay themselves off relativity quickly depending on how much film you normally shoot. They go one sale a few times a year for around $140 and at the price I would definitely recommend them at that price.

FYI They don't include anything relating to grain. You get just the profiles; grain and everything else is up to you. I've got some free time over the next few days so if you want to upload some raw files somewhere, I'm more than happy to edit them for you so you can see how they look.