Steve M.
Veteran
Before digital (B.D.), two cameras were often used by pros out on assignment, but a lot of those photographers refused to shoot both at the same time. The reason, which is still valid today, is that when shooting B&W one needs to look for shots that are conducive to that in terms of tonal values, and the same when shooting colour film.
With B&W film, things are obviously not as we see them in colour, so we have to understand how red, green and blue will appear on a B&W print.
One trick that us painters use is to take a picture of a painting in progress w/ B&W film so that we can see the values. Our eyes are constantly tricked by colour tonal values and lighting, so a B&W shot of a colour anything will give you the REAL tonal values.
I sometimes wonder how this works w/ digital? But as I only use my phone for digital, I don't know. Those shots are mostly pics to show and not print.
If you're shooting colour film in one camera and B&W film in the other, the metering may be different as well depending on what you want to emphasize, and we need to understand that when we photograph that gorgeous yellow flower w/ a yellow filter on the lens we're going to get a white flower! Want to lighten your foliage? Put a green filter on the lens, etc. If it's B&W, maybe we want to see a lot of grain so we will expose and use an appropriate developer to achieve that. W/ colour, we probably don't want to see a lot of grain, so we won't be developing that roll of Kodak Gold w/ Rodinal. It's a lot to keep up with w/ two cameras that have two completely different types of films in them.
With B&W film, things are obviously not as we see them in colour, so we have to understand how red, green and blue will appear on a B&W print.
One trick that us painters use is to take a picture of a painting in progress w/ B&W film so that we can see the values. Our eyes are constantly tricked by colour tonal values and lighting, so a B&W shot of a colour anything will give you the REAL tonal values.
I sometimes wonder how this works w/ digital? But as I only use my phone for digital, I don't know. Those shots are mostly pics to show and not print.
If you're shooting colour film in one camera and B&W film in the other, the metering may be different as well depending on what you want to emphasize, and we need to understand that when we photograph that gorgeous yellow flower w/ a yellow filter on the lens we're going to get a white flower! Want to lighten your foliage? Put a green filter on the lens, etc. If it's B&W, maybe we want to see a lot of grain so we will expose and use an appropriate developer to achieve that. W/ colour, we probably don't want to see a lot of grain, so we won't be developing that roll of Kodak Gold w/ Rodinal. It's a lot to keep up with w/ two cameras that have two completely different types of films in them.