colour film in black and white

david1701

david1701

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Hi all,

I have a film slr with an old film in it (colour) and the oportunity to do my own Black and white developing (which I WILL be playing with :p) can I develop this film like a black and white one ?

Also I will order black and white film for my own playing - is there anything I should be looking for as I have never bought film before, was thinking about 7day shop as I had a look and they do a fair bit and its cheap too.

Regards,
David
 
I would not recommend processing a colour film in black & white chemistry - take it to a commercial lab. I've never tried it myself but I have seen sample negatives and the contrast was awful. Colour is a C-41 process and requires a higher temperature (38 Centigrade) than black & white.

If you have never bought film before, basically you have a choice of film speeds. I'll give you Ilford examples, you could start with Pan F (50 ASA) which is a slow film with very fine grain. Medium speed film, eg. FP4+ (125 ASA) or Delta 100 (100 ASA), and HP5+ or Delta 400 (both 400 ASA). Finally there is a very high speed film called Delta 3200 (3200 ASA) which is very grainy.

The thing to remember is the faster, in other words, more sensitive the film the grainier it will be. Grain could be described as 'noise' in a digital equivalent.

I would suggest you start of with FP4+ for outdoor use in good lighting situations and HP5+ for lower light conditions. With experience you will find out which film suits your needs best.
 
cheers Carl, I was just wondering as i have no idea whats on the film but I'll see how much it is at a lab

I could try an asa 100 film as I will be using almost exclusively f2.8 or faster glass just looking for a good place to start or maybe the 400 iso ones as I'd like to have a go shooting my open mike and I could stop down to shoot in daylight, 400 is a bit slow but I can stop down

would 1600 be too much for daylight and is the grain silly, never had a go and I am really itching to

so a roll of each? I don't know :confused:

also is ilford a good brand to go for?

I've been looking at the 35mm rolls on this page so far
http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/default.php?cat=1&type=1180&man=0&filterwords=&go=SEARCH&comp=
 
Well I would highly recommend Ilford - I've been using them for over 20 years without any problems. In saying that, both Kodak and Fuji are good brands too but I've never made any comparisons with either against Ilford's equivalent. Just be careful though with Fuji, I'm fairly sure the 400CN film is for processing in colour chemistry (C-41) just like the Ilford XP-2.

I've never used Fuji 1600 myself, but you could either use Ilford 400 ASA film and uprate it to a higher speed, say 800 or use Delta 3200 and downrate it to a lower speed if it is too high. You would have to compensate for this change of film speed when you process the film.

However, you cannot change the speed part-way through a roll. Once you start, you'd have to finish the film at that speed.

Alternatively you could use neutral-density filters which will allow you to use a high-speed film with slower shutter speeds or wider apertures.
 
Carl V said:
I would suggest you start of with FP4+ for outdoor use in good lighting situations and HP5+ for lower light conditions. With experience you will find out which film suits your needs best.
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That's exactly what I was going to suggest. You can't go very wrong with those two films.


Steve.
 
Carl V said:
I must admit I've had better results with this film rating it at 1600, so I think I'd agree with you.
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It's actually in Ilford's data sheet. Not sure why they called it Delta 3200 though!

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/200613019405339.pdf

Ignore the bit where it says it was designed to be exposed at EI 3200 and go down a bit and it says:

"Delta 3200 Professional has an ISO speed rating of ISO 1000/31 (1000 ASA / 31 DIN)".

In the earlier bit where it says to be used at EI 3200 it also says "...and given extended development" which implies that EI 3200 is for push processing, not normal processing.



Steve.
 
I think as I'm starting out I'll grab a roll or two of fp4 and hp5 to work out what I want.

Cheers guys, I won't have my darkroom induction until after the exams but when I do I'll show you some scans. I reserve the right to come back for more help though as next year I am meant to be teaching the darkroom :O
 
Steve Smith said:
It's actually in Ilford's data sheet. Not sure why they called it Delta 3200 though!

http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/200613019405339.pdf

Ignore the bit where it says it was designed to be exposed at EI 3200 and go down a bit and it says:

"Delta 3200 Professional has an ISO speed rating of ISO 1000/31 (1000 ASA / 31 DIN)".

In the earlier bit where it says to be used at EI 3200 it also says "...and given extended development" which implies that EI 3200 is for push processing, not normal processing.

Yes, I see what you mean. I have only used this film on maybe 4 or 5 occasions. I remember rating 2 of them at 1600, one of them at 6400 and the others at 3200. I'd hate to think what the grain would be like at 25000!

Steve.
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Not quite sure how my last comment ended up in your posting. :thinking:

I've just read the Ilford link you gave me and I see what you mean. Rating it at 1600 was better for me than 3200, but I've not used this film in a while. Next time I'll try it at 1000 as suggested. I do remember rating it at 6400 twice, I think. All I can say is I wouldn't like to see the size of the grain at 25000 ASA!
 
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