Black & White Slide Film

I am traveling to London this winter and I thought I might try

experimenting with some black and white photography. Has anyone used

AGFA Scala 200 black & white slide film and if so what are your

reactions? Would it be better to stick with black & white negative

film? Any suggestions, recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Another option is Kodak TMAX 100 that can be made into slides with a special developer kit. However, slides don't really have the same latitude as negative film (which can be further manipulated during the printing process), unless of course you scan them, in which case it doesn't really matter anyway.

I've found the best way to do B&W slides is to use DR5 in New York. You have a lot of different films to choose from, and the look of each film can be changed by the exposure and which developer you use. I like to shoot B&W slides when I can't get into a darkroom. This works best with large format since I can control contrast (through exposure) and color in camera. If you can nail a slide, it is much harder for the hacks at the lab to mess up your image since they know what its supposed to look like. I find that giving a lab a neg will always result in a print that is not the way I would have done it. If you can get into a darkroom, are a decent printer, and have the time, I'd shoot neg film, you end up having more control and options that way. Check out the DR5 website here: http://www.dr5.com/main.html

 

Isaac

Scala is beautiful stuff, it has a great tonal quality with deep rich

blacks and great skin tones. It is also exceptionally sharp.

It can be pulled to ei 100 for high contrast light and also i believe

it will handle push processing in appropriate light

( ie. low contrast range )up to ei 800. The film and processing is

expensive but well worth it. Give it a try.

Scala--- which you can also process "<cite>at home</cite>" using suitable chemistry¹ or the Tetenal B&W Diakit--- is quite good but not the only option as many films are suited to reversal processing.

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1) The proprietary processing of Scala I suspect is little changed from the old Dia-Direkt film and the "<cite>Agfa Umkehrdienst</cite>" days whose formulas Agfa has long published and provide the basis for Tetenal's earlier kit-- that had to be widthdrawn from the market, it has been said, due to environmental and health-risk liability issues.

As was suggested above, for a real education in b&w slides visit the DR5 website (dr5.com). You will be amazed at what they can do with regular b&w negative films to reverse them into slides. Your choice is not limited to Scala.

May I recommend experimenting before using Scala for the first time on an overseas trip (assuming you live outside the UK), in particular you'll need to really understand how rating and filtration affects contrast. In spring and autumn the typical British light of thin or broken cloud means it's like shooting under a giant soft box and ISO 200 is usually fine for Scala, for the last month however we've had leaden skies and at noon ISO 200 will give you f2.8 at 1/125, less in some of the narrower streets. You'd likely need to rate Scala at ISO 400 both for speed and possibly to force some contrast into the flat lighting.

 

If you use Scala in London you're sure to end up getting it processed in "Joe's Basement", it's normally a same day turnaround but they were at three days last week (at least for Scala 4x5), best to check if anything's changed on their website (www.joesbasement.co.uk)

 

Tell me a little more about your photography and I could be more specific with suggestions

I have seen slides done in both. T-max and Agfa Scala. Scalas range of tone was astounding!!! With deep rich blacks and good details in the highlights!!! A T-max slide never got me all hot and bothered like that before. I do agree with the aforementioned advice of testing first before commiting to try it out on an important trip to europe. Unless of course you go back there every month or so.