B/W recommendation?

captain-spanky · Aug 17, 2004

helllloooooooo all
can any of you recommend a good all round b/w film?
I've not touched the stuff since art college and now i've got two bodies, i'd like to keep one stocked with b/w film and one with colour...
Also i've heard a red filter would have a positive effect on the captures? can anyone offer more info?

Thanks in advance

MDowdey · Aug 17, 2004

hey cap!

a red filter is used to increase contrast. try an orange one first. a little more subdued.

try ilfords line of b+w. the delta is GREAT.

MD

voodoocat · Aug 17, 2004

I like HP5 for an all around B&W. The red is nice, but don't use it on every shot. Orange and Yellow are both good too.

ksmattfish · Aug 17, 2004

C41 process BW films are the most "all around" in my opinion. You can shoot them from ISO 100 to 800 (all on the same roll) with no development change. That makes them very convenient if you don't know what lighting you are going to run into. I don't use them much because I don't want to mess with C41 in my darkroom, but I have been happy with most of my results with C41 BW.

My favorite (the ones I use 99.9% of the time) traditional BW films are:
Ilford HP5+ 400
Kodak Tmax 100
Arista Pro 125 and 400 (rumored to be repackaged FP4 and HP5)

I have recently been experimenting with Tri-X 400 shot at ISO 1250 and developed in Diafine 2 bath developer.

santino · Aug 17, 2004

Ilford and Kodak's T-Max series

Jeff Canes · Aug 17, 2004

Not very comment but nice films are the Efke KB series; I have used both the 25 and 100

captain-spanky · Aug 18, 2004

i have noticed the HP5 and Delta in the nearest shop and so i'll see what sort of a deal they can do me

So as far as filter useage on b+w goes... it's just to up contrast? Portraiture in good light would benefit from an orange filter or similar? I've put in a bid or two for a yellow and an orange filter so hopefully i might be able to experiment soon...

ksmattfish · Aug 18, 2004

captain-spanky said:
So as far as filter useage on b+w goes... it's just to up contrast? Portraiture in good light would benefit from an orange filter or similar? I've put in a bid or two for a yellow and an orange filter so hopefully i might be able to experiment soon...

Red and orange filters tend to up contrast, but the primary use of filters with BW is controlling/changing tones.

Yellow: lightens yellow objects, darkens blue and purple objects
Orange: lightens orange, and to a lesser extent yellow and red objects, darkens blues and greens
Red: lightens red objects, darkens blue and green objects (more than an orange filter does)
Green: lightens green objects, darkens orange or red objects
Yellow/green: usually used to darken blue skies without darkening green foliage as much.

With portraits an orange filter will lighten red hair, lips, and ruddy skin. I don't like to lose the lips, so I wouldn't use one with a portrait.

Green is often used with portrait photography. It emphasizes the lips, and slightly darkens ruddy or pinkish skin tones.