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Films
There are two types of film - negative film and transparency film. The color palettes vary intentionally between the different manufacturers. The principal manufacturers of color film are Agfa, Fuji, and Kodak. Negative film has a wider exposure latitude than transparency film. What this means is that if the picture is shot slightly too dark or slightly too light, it will still result in a good print. Negative film is easier to use and less expensive to use when making prints in a traditional chemical darkroom. Equally high quality darkroom prints can be made from a transparency. The cost of the printing paper for transparencies is considerably higher than for printing from negatives. For large prints, film is usually a better option than a digital camera. For 8"x10" prints a digital camera file is adequate, especially from higher end digital cameras like the Nikon 990. 8"x10" digital prints are generally indistinguishable from 8"x10" darkroom prints. If using an Inkjet process, such as, Epson, Iris or Roland, it is probably easier to work with a transparency. Not all scanners have quality lookup tables for scanning negatives, especially scanners under $1000. Whereas many film scanners in the $600-$1000 range can do a good enough job scanning a transparency to make an 17"x22" print. Transparency film has a narrow exposure latitude making it difficult to use in cameras that have lower quality exposure meters. It is almost impossible to use transparency film in point-and-shoot cameras priced below $150. Transparency film's principal advantage is that it allows you to preview approximately what the printed image will look like. It makes it possible to lay out on a light table or project several images and make a quick decision as to what to print. I have worked with both negatives and transparencies. I now work almost exclusively with transparencies since my end objective is a printed page, an Epson Inkjet print or an Iris Inkjet print. I like the speed of editing available from transparencies and the cost of working from negatives and transparencies is identical with Epson printing, which is my primary printing method.
Film is also available in black and white. Although not many people have used black and white since the 1970s, the two principal black and white film manufacturers, Kodak and Ilford, continue to make very exciting improvements on an almost yearly basis. The film is continually becoming finer grain and works well under a broader range of lighting conditions than previous film. There are 3 principal types of black and white film. They are panchromatic/conventional, panchromatic/chromagenic and Infrared. Most black and white is panchromatic. Chromagenic film is black and white film that is processed using C-41 chemistry which is what is used for color negatives. This means that you can shoot this film and simply drop it off at any one hour color lab rather than trying to find a special black and white lab. Kodak's Chromagenic film is t400 CN. Ilford's Chromagenic film is XP2 Super. XP2 Super prints better on black and white paper t400 CN. Infrared film when used with a 25A red filter turns the sky black and makes leaves on trees and blades of grass into a glowing white. This is difficult film to use, but the results are very exciting. This film is made only by Kodak and is sold as Kodak High Speed Infrared film.
Working with black and white transparencies remains an issue. The newest player in this arena is AimColor (http://www.aimcolor.com). They offer a service called ".dr5". By shooting black and white negative film while carefully following AimColor's instructions, most black and white negative films can be converted to transparencies in the processing of the film. The exposure latitude using this process is very limited.
Although most people do not pay much attention to film speed and are perfectly happy with ISO 400 film (ISO is a technical designation for any given film speed), lower and higher speed films should be considered. Film speeds range from 25 to 3200. I generally use ISO 100 film. This requires more light so it sometimes makes it necessary to use a tripod. I like how the lower speed film shows more texture and makes background elements more visible. Higher speed film can be very useful when shooting indoors where the light is frequently much dimmer than sunlight. The lower the speed of the film, the finer the grain and the brighter the colors. The higher the speed of the film the coarser the grain and the softer the colors.
Film also comes in different sizes. The larger the film the easier it is to make a fine grained print. For prints larger than 17" x 22" or where no amount of lowering the speed of film used makes the print appear acceptable, it is generally best to work with 120 or larger film. 35mm film is 1"x1.5". 120 film is 2.25"x2.25". To change film size requires buying a new camera to accommodate the given film size choice.
Enlargers
An enlarger will not make you a professional photographer. Very few professional photographers use enlargers in their day to day work. But that doesn’t mean having a darkroom isn’t fun. It is very exciting to have a home darkroom.
A good basic enlarger for 35mm black and white photography is the Omega C700 enlarger. It has a rigid steel girder and optical glass condensers. It also accepts 120 negatives. It cost ~$200
Printing Filters
Black and white printing filters make it possible to increase or decrease the number of gray tones in a print. This is referred to as changing the contrast of the print. They are manufactured by Kodak and Ilford. A set suitable for 35mm printing is ~$20. It is important to make sure to get the right size for the enlarger being used. For most 35mm enlargers the size is 3.5".
The filter is placed in the filter drawer. The filter drawer is above the negative carrier and above the condenser lens On an Omega C700, it is where the Omega name appears. Pull the tab and a small drawer pulls out. Place the filter in this drawer. With some enlargers it will be necessary to carefully cut the filter to reduce it to a size suitable for the filter drawer. Cut it very carefully since filters are sold only as full sets.
By carefully looking at a black and print, it can be seen that most black and white prints have a jet black area, a paper base white area and one or more gray areas of varying darkness.
1 Make a print without any filter.
2 Make a second print using a printing filter. Each new filter will require a new test strip.
Choose the filter as follows.
If the print is too gray try a #4 filter. If the print needs more gray try a #1 filter.
3 Carefully compare the first and second prints. This should be done slowly and in the brightest light available.
4 If the second print made with the #4 filter is still too gray try a #4 1/2 filter. If it has become less gray than desired try a #3 1/2 filter.
If the second print made with the #1 filter is still not gray enough, try a #1/2 filter. If it has become too gray try a #1 1/2 filter.
5 Compare all three and adjust accordingly in 1/2 step increments.
The Ilford filter set offers the following filters
#00
#0
#1/2
#1 1/2
#2
#2 1/2
#3
#3 1/2
#4
#4 1/2
#5
Occasionally the filters will not give the desired contrast range making it impossible to print the negative. Problem negatives are those that are extremely light or extremely dark. Film has a greater range of tones than paper making it impossible to print everything that is visible in the negative.
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