B&W prints from Colour Negatives possible?

emollientcolt · 28th March 2004

Hi, Just wanna check with those who develop their B&W prints personally...
Have you guys tried doing B&W prints with colour negatives?
Did the print come out in B&W?
What was the result?
Care to share?

Ah Pao · 28th March 2004

Hmm...yes, the print came up in B&W. (quite obvious isn't it?

)
However, because of the nature of the neg, the contrast isn't as good as from a B&W neg. The procedure is exactly the same as developing B&W prints with B&W negs.

Sorry, can't comment more, because only got limited experience.

emollientcolt · 31st March 2004

Hi Ah Pao, thanks for viewing and replying.
Thanks for sharing the info.

Ansel · 31st March 2004

From experience, you can't get a "perfect" b/w print from colour negs, but you can get a pretty good one if you increase the contrast grade to grade 3 or 4.

moon · 31st March 2004

From color neg. you loose out on the tones. Printing it straight will result in having a rich tone of grey. Meaning your black wouldn't be as black but rather greyish. Skin tones are not very pleasing.
For neg. having long exposure timing best to avoid printing. Very grainy and tones are even worst. The beauty of B/W is in the rich tones.
Experiment yourself with your Enlarger magenta and yellow filter. Subjective in individual likings.

morganoh · 2nd April 2004

Originally Posted by moon

From color neg. you loose out on the tones. Printing it straight will result in having a rich tone of grey. Meaning your black wouldn't be as black but rather greyish. Skin tones are not very pleasing.
For neg. having long exposure timing best to avoid printing. Very grainy and tones are even worst. The beauty of B/W is in the rich tones.
Experiment yourself with your Enlarger magenta and yellow filter. Subjective in individual likings.

May I ask how about printing from B/W negatives using Colour papers?

Please advice

Ansel · 2nd April 2004

morgan,

When you print b/w with b/w paper, there is a certain "look" which you can never replicate by printing on colour paper. colour "b/w" will never be a replacement for "real" b/w.

I assume you want to print your b/w images on colour paper at the commercial lab right? Well the best way to do this is to scan the b/w negs and do your usual colour/contrast/brightness adjustments with PS, and then send the image to be printed as a digital image. Choose a good lab that calibrates their machines to produce pure grey, if pure b/w is what you want. Beautiful Memories at Stamford House does a pretty good job of colour calibrating their machines.

morganoh · 2nd April 2004

Originally Posted by Ansel

morgan,

When you print b/w with b/w paper, there is a certain "look" which you can never replicate by printing on colour paper. colour "b/w" will never be a replacement for "real" b/w.

I assume you want to print your b/w images on colour paper at the commercial lab right? Well the best way to do this is to scan the b/w negs and do your usual colour/contrast/brightness adjustments with PS, and then send the image to be printed as a digital image. Choose a good lab that calibrates their machines to produce pure grey, if pure b/w is what you want. Beautiful Memories at Stamford House does a pretty good job of colour calibrating their machines.

thank you. i thought i can save some money by printing on color papers

28th March 2004	#1
emollientcolt Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Punggol Drive Posts: 120	B&W prints from Colour Negatives possible? Hi, Just wanna check with those who develop their B&W prints personally... Have you guys tried doing B&W prints with colour negatives? Did the print come out in B&W? What was the result? Care to share?

31st March 2004	#3
emollientcolt Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Punggol Drive Posts: 120	B&W prints from colour negs Hi Ah Pao, thanks for viewing and replying. Thanks for sharing the info.

31st March 2004	#5
moon Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 122	B/w From color neg. you loose out on the tones. Printing it straight will result in having a rich tone of grey. Meaning your black wouldn't be as black but rather greyish. Skin tones are not very pleasing. For neg. having long exposure timing best to avoid printing. Very grainy and tones are even worst. The beauty of B/W is in the rich tones. Experiment yourself with your Enlarger magenta and yellow filter. Subjective in individual likings.

28th March 2004	#2
Ah Pao Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,578	Hmm...yes, the print came up in B&W. (quite obvious isn't it? ) However, because of the nature of the neg, the contrast isn't as good as from a B&W neg. The procedure is exactly the same as developing B&W prints with B&W negs. Sorry, can't comment more, because only got limited experience.

31st March 2004	#4
Ansel Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Land Downunder Posts: 2,069	From experience, you can't get a "perfect" b/w print from colour negs, but you can get a pretty good one if you increase the contrast grade to grade 3 or 4.

2nd April 2004	#7
Ansel Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Land Downunder Posts: 2,069	morgan, When you print b/w with b/w paper, there is a certain "look" which you can never replicate by printing on colour paper. colour "b/w" will never be a replacement for "real" b/w. I assume you want to print your b/w images on colour paper at the commercial lab right? Well the best way to do this is to scan the b/w negs and do your usual colour/contrast/brightness adjustments with PS, and then send the image to be printed as a digital image. Choose a good lab that calibrates their machines to produce pure grey, if pure b/w is what you want. Beautiful Memories at Stamford House does a pretty good job of colour calibrating their machines.