ARCHIVE
the cows are coming, the cows are coming - Robin Kleb
When I first walked up to the fence, the nearest cows (steers, cattle, whatever) got scared and moved away. But then they all saw the camera and wanted their pictures taken. I told them to just act natural, but they didn't listen! :-)
| Camera: | G1 |
| Lens: | 28mm |
| Film: | Ilford Delta 400 |
| Exposure: | |
| Flash: | |
| Support: | |
| Filter: | |
| Adjustment: | |
| Posted: | 29-May-2002 |
Rating: 7.50 (2 ratings)
Comments
graininess
I haven't tried to look at the negatives, but all the prints were grainy. I don't know what the deal is. Something in the processing, I'm guessing. I tried the Delta 400 because of all the beautiful images I saw on this site using that film but I definitely didn't get those same results!
Robin Kleb 29-May-2002 at 22:30-
Robin, it sounds like you sent this roll out for both developing and printing, right? This is rarely a good idea for traditional B&W these days. Do you have any idea which chemical developer they used? Or their process in development? (agitation, temps, etc.). Most likely some part-timer developed it in D-76 and over-agitated or did inconsistent agitation. And most likely did a poor job fixing it too. And for the printing? Let's not get started there. You should consider setting yourself up to develop you own negs. It's not expensive and all you need is a couple of canisters, a couple spools, some developer and fixer and a bathroom sink. Then you can use good chemicals (i.e. Xtol, Rodinol or Microdol-X) and be consistent and proper with your agitation and temperatures. These latter two really affect grain. I do this myself but with my time more limited now with my little boy around I am gravitating more towards the C-41 B&W films like Ilford XP2 and Kodak T400 CN or Portra 400 B+W. Good films they are, scan beautifully and you can use dust-removing scanning features like ICE. Consider that too. Anyway, just some thoughts.....
Richard Sintchak 29-May-2002 at 23:50Great tones
Are those cows coming again? Oh, man. I told them NOT to come but, did they listen? I think Richards idea is good. Over the years I have done B&W and, the labs haven't done the film right yet. The process isn't difficult and, it's fun. If you have the time, try it out. Despite the grainyness and/or poor processing, the tones look very nice; especially the sky. Good use of foreground elements.
MARK MILLEN 30-May-2002 at 03:20processing
I've discovered a place near me that does black and white work exclusively, both developing and printing. Their processing work is good, and can even be customized to achieve a certain effect. Robin, there must be custom black and white labs in Oakland (probably a half dozen or so). I like the grain here, but obviously, you don't want grain to come out of sloppy processing, but rather out of specific intent. This is a nice image, though. Nice light, good structure (fore, middle and backgrounds). --Anker
Anker Heegaard 30-May-2002 at 03:27Fine feel
This image has a very nice feel, but I am with the others on the B&W issue. I'll probably be doing some traditional darkroom classes in the fall, which I had planned anyway...but my experiences with commercial B&W developing and printing are pushing me there even more strongly. Even the mom and pop labs that care will totally mess up (I had some landscape stuff recently which was butchered worse than this), which is a shame, because I love the feel of films like Neopan and HP5 and PanF and Plus-X. Portra and XP2 are where I'm leaning these days for chromogenic films, though I can't resist a roll of HP5 every so often.
Robert Mirani 30-May-2002 at 03:33Mooo---Mooooo. . .
Robin, what have you started? ;-) I read the comments, then dashed out to hunt for Ben and Jerry Moo-cream. :-) After listening to the experts, I'm may never send a roll of BW film to a lab again.
Is there a 100 ASA Chromatic BW Film similar to Pan F 50 ASA.
options
Thanks everyone, for suggesting the alternatives for my b/w processing. I'll probably stick to the c-41 stuff in the future, mostly. I think I only have a few rolls of "real" b/w film in my stockpile now. I'll probably go the route of trying to find a better lab. I could try developing my own but I'm not sure if I could then print them. I've only tried a couple scans of negatives so far and it didn't seem to work so well (flatbed Epson 2450 Photo), although I can do slides okay. It seems the negatives sit up a bit too high in the holder. Decisions, decisions....
Robin Kleb 30-May-2002 at 17:49