Color Negative Question

Commonman · Jun 9, 2008

I've been shooting, developing and printing black and white film/negatives for about 2 or 3 years. I was just wondering what would happen if I put a color negative (that I have from when I used to have my film developed for me)
in my enlarger and tried to print it as I do my b & w negatives.

I guess I could just go ahead and try it but I'm just wondering what to expect or if it's even worth trying.

Alpha · Jun 9, 2008

It will come out looking very flat. Kodak used to make a paper called Panalure made for just this. I believe one of the european companies still does...either Ilford or Foma.

JIP · Jun 9, 2008

First off how much can it be to just try this. I mean if you are printing already stick in a neg and see what happens what do you have to loose 2 or 3 test strips and mabye a ful sheet of paper. Really, I think the funnest thing about B+W printing is the experimentation to get the type of image you want. By the way wouldn't this fit better in "the darkroom" section. O.k. now down to the question I have to agree with Alpha here anytime I have ever tried this (in my B+W printing days I tried it quite few times) I have gotten nothing but severely flat images devoid of any life no matter what kind of filter I tried to apply to it.

ann · Jun 9, 2008

yes it can be done, many of my students do it all the time.

there are some issues, but they can be over come, or dealt with as one sees fit.

they will probably be an increase in grain, the exposures will be much longer than with the traditional black and white negative, and you will also need to increase the contrast grade .

i have seen wonderful prints and awful prints, it will depend on your skill level, the negative, etc.

why not just give it a try and see what works for you.

compur · Jun 9, 2008

The problem is Panalure is sensitive to all colors (pretty much) while most
standard B&W papers have little sensitivity to red and higher sensitivity to
blue & green.

So, how well you can print a color neg on standard B&W paper will depend
a lot on the colors in you neg. Enlarger filtration may help if you have a color
head.

BTW, there is some Panalure for sale on eBay right now.