Why B&W on vintage camera ?

[valdas]

Every time I am stopped in the street with my Bessa folder or Rolleiflex for a small talk almost every time people ask if this old camera can take color photos 🙃 So, I guess, it’s a logical question…
I do like to shoot color with my MF vintage cameras, experiment, get weird colors etc.
Bessa II with 35mm film:

 

[Bill Clark]

I only use black and white film any more. Color processing was difficult for me. The film processing was easy but the printing not so easy for me. Now I make color only with digital equipment, usually my iPhone.

When Photoshop became an important part of my work flow I found it pretty easy to use. And I delegated the printing to a lab located here in Minneapolis. I sent the files to them using my iMac, using the www. One day later the prints were ready and in the mail or UPS. Truth be known selling prints was not part of my business plan for several reasons.

I own several vintage cameras I use for fun. And I only use black and white film with them. I process and print some photos depending if I like the results. There isn’t many I like! I still have a darkroom with an Omega enlarger with a color head. With the color head I can dial in the contrast I want with vari contrast black and white paper. I probably have at least a dozen rolls of black and white film to develop. The holidays are over now I have more time for the darkroom!

 

[Bill Blackwell]

As others have pointed out, processing is much easier. But I personally prefer B&W over color because when you're shooting without a meter it has far more exposure latitude. You can screw up an exposure by three or four stops either way with B&W film and still end up with a usable picture.

 

[mconnealy]

"I have never taken a colour photograph, nor have I ever felt the urge to do so. This may be due in part to my preference to drawings rather than paintings, my appreciation of line rather than colour. I am, however, convinced that black and whit photography affords wider and more interesting scope than colour, which by its very nature aims to reproduce exactly what is seen by the photgrapher."
- Wilfred Thesiger in Visions of a Nomad

 

[RS2]

As Henri Cartier-Bresson said to William Eggleston, "color is bullshit."

 

[38Deardorff]

....some of us only photograph in black and white. the world itself has more than enough colour.

 

[Out to Lunch]

As Henri Cartier-Bresson said to William Eggleston, "color is bullshit."

William Eggleston: You know, I had a meeting with him [Henri Cartier-Bresson], one in particular, it was at this party in Lyon. Big event, you know. I was seated with him and a couple of women. You’ll never guess what he said to me.

Drew Barrymore: What?

William Eggleston: “William, color is bullshit.” End of conversation. Not another word. And I didn’t say anything back. What can one say? I mean, I felt like saying I’ve wasted a lot of time. As this happened, I’ll tell you, I noticed across the room this really beautiful young lady, who turned out to be crazy. So I just got up, left the table, introduced myself, and I spent the rest of the evening talking to her, and she never told me color was bullshit.

(Imaging Resource - 06/14/2013)

 

[Coldkennels]

To be fair, if I was in HCB's shoes...



...I'd say exactly the same.

 

[lotech]

i'd say go for one of the uncoated lenses if you want that very old colour look. might look a bit crappy but also very 'old'. those lenses are somewhat hard to get for soviet rangefinders though. Look for a Fed-10 lens with aperature going up to f.18 instead of f.16

or maybe just shoot black and white and Trichrome everything 😀

What about those Takuma, I am a Pentaxian and just receive one but have not tested yet, sorry little offtopic.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

As Henri Cartier-Bresson said to William Eggleston, "color is bullshit."

Being famous doesn't preclude being a jerk. In fact, it might make it easier.

 

[fub]

What about those Takuma, I am a Pentaxian and just receive one but have not tested yet, sorry little offtopic.

Takumars are great! Which one did you get?
I have a 50/1.4 Super Takumar and to me it has a certain 'vintage vibe'. I is not uncoated though (in fact it is heavily coated, even using Thorium-glass) so it is more of a modern look than any uncoated lens. Still has that softness of a 60s/70s lens

 

[CMur12]

....some of us only photograph in black and white. the world itself has more than enough colour.

In my experience, if you compare a mediocre B&W image with a mediocre color one, the color always wins.

I've also been surprised to note that color street photographs can make more sense of a chaotic background than B&W does.

IMHO, B&W has to be really good to be good. Then I'm impressed.

- Murray

 

[1936ContaxII]

Why do most photographers "automatically switch to B&W mode" when shooting with vintage cameras, especially RF ? Colour film has been around for over 100yrs.

At least at the moment, I myself find it easier to use B&W films. On rangefinder cameras but also on SLR.
Honestly, it's a problem of my limited skills 😳. If I were able to take pictures like Ernst Haas, I'd take a lot more coloured slides.

 

[Mcary]

What exactly is consider "vintage" as far as cameras go? I shoot both B&W and color film with my Leica M2, Nikon FM and Yashica Matt 124G. Also is using a 35mm Lux from the 1990s and a 28mm summicron from the early 2000s on my M2 still considered shooting with a vintage camera? In fact the only camera that I haven't shoot color with is my 4x5 Crown Graphic, sure its a vintage camera but are the lens I'm using a Schneider 90mm f/8 Super Angulon and Rodenstock Sironar N180mm f5.6 vintage lens?

 

[Cascadilla]

What exactly is consider "vintage" as far as cameras go? I shoot both B&W and color film with my Leica M2, Nikon FM and Yashica Matt 124G. Also is using a 35mm Lux from the 1990s and a 28mm summicron from the early 2000s on my M2 still considered shooting with a vintage camera? In fact the only camera that I haven't shoot color with is my 4x5 Crown Graphic, sure its a vintage camera but are the lens I'm using a Schneider 90mm f/8 Super Angulon and Rodenstock Sironar N180mm f5.6 vintage lens?

Given that those are both multicoated lenses designed in the 1970's, I wouldn't consider them to be vintage. But there isn't a really precise definition of that word with respect to photography so you could go either way.

 

[Dogman]

"Black and white are the colors of photography"
--Robert Frank (or maybe Walker Evans, I forget. And if they didn't say it, they should have.)





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[Harry the K]

I am interested in vintage cameras, especially RF, and I found that there's a common practice for those reviewers to shoot B&W, why ? I eagerly wanted to see how those old lenses perform in full color, but rarely can I find such reviews. Why do most photographers "automatically switch to B&W mode" when shooting with vintage cameras, especially RF ? Colour film has been around for over 100yrs.

Maybe the easiest way to find out would be to ask the reviewers.

 

[Retro-Grouch]

"Black and white are the colors of photography"
--Robert Frank (or maybe Walker Evans, I forget. And if they didn't say it, they should have.)





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My feeling about these sorts of pronouncements is that they are the dogmatic beliefs of small-minded individuals (no matter how famous) who believe that their approach to photography is the only true and valid one. If HCB and Frank were unknown nobodies like us, posting these statements on RFF, they'd be shot down immediately instead of being quoted for such Pearls of Wisdom.

 

[Mcary]

From my experience with shooting color film with a Richoflex DIA from the late 1950's vs a Yashica Mat 124G is that as long as you watch out for lens flare the results are comparable, especially when shooting at F5.6 to F8.

 

[38Deardorff]

My feeling about these sorts of pronouncements is that they are the dogmatic beliefs of small-minded individuals (no matter how famous) who believe that their approach to photography is the only true and valid one. If HCB and Frank were unknown nobodies like us, posting these statements on RFF, they'd be shot down immediately instead of being quoted for such Pearls of Wisdom.

or perhaps they're replies to tedious questions..."can that camera take colour pictures?".....or "why don't you take colour pictures"