B&W Flims

[Necroist]

Been using colour flims for quite some time now, does anybody know of any shops that sells black and white flims like the tmax? So far, I haven't seen any shops carrying them.

Kinda interested to dabble into black and white flim photography hehe..

Also, how much difference is the printing and processing cost of a roll of B&W flim (they are 36 exposures right?)

 

[Lennier]

You can get B&W film from CP, Foto Guide or MS Colour, any of the big name shops will stock these at reasonable prices.

Some prices of B&W film.
TMAX 100 - $5.00
Tri-X 400 Pan Professional - $5.50

Yes they are 36 exposures, haven't seen 24 ones, but I never asked.

Development of b&w outside is expensive, if you want them to print on b&w paper. Not sure if Fee Fee (Chinatown) is still around? Standard photo and RGB should also offer such services.

Printing on colour paper with a color mask, to ensure you don't get sepia tone can be done at the same price as normal colour film at Photofriend, but the contrast goes awry (the result of printing b&w on colour paper)

The cheapest would be to develop yourself, but it means you'll need access to a darkroom, enlargers, and some basic b&w skills. Or you could pay someone to do it

 

[Lennier]

As an alternative, you can try Kodak TCN 400 or Ilford XP2 Super. Both are ISO 400 chromogenic films, meaning they are b&w films that can be developed by your outside colour lab in C41 process.

TCN 400 is $5.50 a roll.

For best results however, their manufacturers still recommend b&w printing. I've tried a few on colour paper at photofriend, well, their digital machines make the pictures darn sharp, but the b&w is all weird.

There is a Portra chromogenic film as well, and Kodak recommends printing this on colour paper, but I can't seem to find it in any shop.

 

[Necroist]

I was always on the impression that B&W development is much cheaper. Guess I was wrong... Do you have any idea how much it costs for B&W printing ON B&W paper and not colour?

 

[Simon]

Originally posted by Necroist
I was always on the impression that B&W development is much cheaper. Guess I was wrong... Do you have any idea how much it costs for B&W printing ON B&W paper and not colour?

It is cheaper, bulk roll for TMax 100 per roll will cost around $2.40

If you develop the B&W TMax 100 film yourself, cost is around 60cents+- for the chemical.

 

[rochkoh]

Just developed a coupla B+W shots from KJ photolab in Tiong Bahru. 50cents per photo + $6.00 handling charge. Takes a week to process.

Originally posted by Necroist
I was always on the impression that B&W development is much cheaper. Guess I was wrong... Do you have any idea how much it costs for B&W printing ON B&W paper and not colour?

 

[StreetShooter]

I'm curious - any of you tried B&W printing from digital?

The ones I sent to Standard Photo came out very nice, after I had adjusted levels and curves to bump up the contrast. This is printed on colour paper, I think, but came out very nice, and definitely B&W without any sepia tone. In fact, there was one I sepia-toned on purpose, and it was printed as pure B&W, which makes me wonder what paper they used.

If can get T-max so cheap, can just develop, scan, adjust and print. Whadja think?

 

[Necroist]

Originally posted by Lennier

Printing on colour paper with a color mask, to ensure you don't get sepia tone can be done at the same price as normal colour film at Photofriend, but the contrast goes awry (the result of printing b&w on colour paper)

Sepia like http://www.photosig.com/viewphoto.php?id=76704 ?

 

[StreetShooter]

BTW does bulk roll mean what I think it means? I always thought it meant you bought ten rolls of 36 exposures in a box or something.

Then I read about a bulk loader, now I'm not so sure. Does the film come in one long continuous roll, and you load as many exposures as you need into a film roll to use?

Hope someone can enlighten this film newbie.

 

[harvestnow]

my personal fav for B/W is still an ilford, they hve the widest range of choices for you. anyway, one of the popular ones is HP5 plus. it's an iso 400 film. depends on ur subject lor. i've tried pan F plus, but didn't quite like the results, maybe it's an iso 50 film... too much of the contrast.

well, i would say, try an ilford. it shld give you satisfied results.

 

[Adam Goi]

Originally posted by StreetShooter
BTW does bulk roll mean what I think it means? I always thought it meant you bought ten rolls of 36 exposures in a box or something.

Then I read about a bulk loader, now I'm not so sure. Does the film come in one long continuous roll, and you load as many exposures as you need into a film roll to use?

Hope someone can enlighten this film newbie.

You are about there; bulk film is indeed one continous roll of 100 feet of film. The bulk loader is one of the tools that we need to load them into empty cannisters.

Just to give you a numerical example:

1 bulk roll of Velvia 50 slide film cost about S$125. If I can load them into 22 cannisters of 33-35 exposures each, the cost per cannister of film is 125/22 = roughly $5.80 wherelse a boxed roll of Velvia 50, i.e. the ones that we usually buy off the shelf should cost about $9.50! (as mentioned by some here)

Just look @ the savings! :what:

 

[Lennier]

Can't seem to find stocks of bulk rolls recently, even for b&w.

Streetshooter, don't think there's any way you can digitally manipulate a b&w picture so that it prints the same way on colour paper as it would on b&w paper. My understanding is that b&w paper is sensitive to different colours than colour paper, thus it reacts differently depending on the original colour. Besides, there is a whole new world of options if you really go into b&w.

One other small problem is that digital ICE doesn't work on b&w film. Especially with film you develop yourself, and load yourself, sure kena scratched somewhere.

Developing and printing yourself does require an initial cost. You'll need to buy the chemicals, they come in larger quantities that must be mixed yourself. Likewise, you'll need printing papers, that also come in larger quantities. If it's just 1-2 rolls of experimentation, it's way cheaper to send it to an outside lab to get it done. Of course you won't be able to control the results at all.

 

[rochkoh]

Here're coupla B&W films that are recommended by the May 2002 edition of Photographic

Kodak Technical Pan - ISO:25, RMS:3
Fuji Neopan 100 Acros - ISO:100, RMS:7
Ilford XP2 Super 400 - ISO:400, RMS:varies with exposure & processing
Ilford Delta 400 - ISO:400, RMS:varies with exposure & processing
Kodak Tri-X - ISO:400, RMS:varies with exposure & processing
Kodak Professional Porta 400BW - ISO:400, RMS:9
Kodak T-Max T400 CN - EI:400, RMS:10

Have tried the TMAX400 & Tri-X during ma friend's wedding recently and am pleased with the results.

Details are at:
http://www.photographic.com/showarchives.cgi?118

enjoy!
rOCh