B&W Slides

[ramiro_aceves]

Hello B&W fans

 

I am considering making my own B/W slides and have read some

technical Kodak and Ilford data sheets describing the reversal

development. Considering that it is a hard work and I would have to

mix my own chemicals, Is it possible copying a B/W negative by

contact over another negative to make a positive?

do you have any experiences about it?

Any help will be apreciated.

Ramiro.

[vedearduff]

Ramiro,

 

While I have not yet had any film processed by them, I have read several good reports about a company that will process many B&W negative films and provide slides.

 

Their web site, www.dr5.com/main.html, has all the details.

 

I plan to shoot a roll of Ilford FP4 and have them process it as slides. I'll post the results when I've had a chance to do so.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Vernon

[ellis_vener_photography]

Kodak makes a direct reversal processing chemistry kit for T-Max 100. There

is also Dr.5 (www.dr5.com) and Agfa Scala and Scala processing. It isn't that

difficult, my students at The Portfolio Center use Scala on a regular basis.

[jordan_w.]

There have been a number of threads on this topic in this and other photo.net forums in the past, so a search should come up with some good results. You can contact-print or re-photograph (using a macro lens or slide duplicator) your negative to make a positive, generally using a film like Eastman 5302 or Tech Pan, developed in a high-contrast developer. I have done it using a slide duplicator and 5302 and it works well, though you have to watch for dust. <p>

 

I have collected a list of methods for producing B&W slides, with links. Have a look <a href="web.mit.edu/jwosnick/www/BWslides.html">here</a>. You might find something of interest there.<p>

 

Good luck

[matthew_stanton2]

Agfa Scala is beautiful stuff. Have you tried it? It may save you a

lot of messing around.

[andy_piper2]

Ramiro:

 

1) I've run both Kodak and Ilford films in Kodak's B&W reversal chemistry (for that matter Scala can also be run in Kodak's chemistry). The normal B&W films come out a tad gray. In addition, something in the process REALLY softens the emulsion so you must be VERY careful handling the wet film.

 

2) Working at a hospital, one of the radiologists liked us to contact-print negs from of his X-rays onto Kodalith 8x10 sheet film (run through Dektol like a print). I tried the technique for regular pictures, and it was not bad but a little high in contrast. The same technique on Kodak's B&W duplicating sheet film (I forget the exact designation) was again a little low-contrast and flat. I preferred the Kodalith for photojournalism-type pictures. As Jordan mentions, dust specks are a problem.

 

3) I've seen good things about the DX3 lab/process - bu check their web site - some films pick up strong color casts in their process.

 

4) I still dream of an E6-compatible "B&W slide" film - but in the sunset years of film-based photography I guess no one's going to do the R&D necessary to produce such a thing. Getting the color-balance to remain neutral from batch to batch (in manufacturing AND processing) seems to be the big issue.

[chuck miller]

I have used 35mm Agfa Scala in a Yashica T5 with fantastic results. Has anyone used 120 Agfa Scala processing? Do they mount the slides?

[peter_popp1]

Can I tack a related question to this post and ask how people

are printing black and white slides, if anyone out there is. I'm

wondering if drum scanning and digital printing (via LightJet) can

produce a true black and white print, since it seems that most

places running a LightJet will only use color paper.

[pete_andrews]

Contact printing onto slow positive film is a bit fiddly, especially in 35mm.<br>What I've done in the past is to load a camera body with copying film, and project a same-size image into the camera using an enlarger (with the lens removed from the camera body, of course).<br>If you have an SLR camera body with a removable prism or a waistlevel finder, then you can just lay the camera on its back under the enlarger and focus the projected image by using the finder screen, as normal.<p>The results I got were pin sharp, and once the exposure time is established, the entire process is very easy. The fact that there's no glass in the way, as with contact printing, makes the dupes very clean.<br>I've also duped slides from 35mm to 120 film this way.

[Robert DeCandido PhD]

Hello,

 

I have used the DR5 process; my favorite film was Ilford Delta 100 shot at 100ASA. Compared to normal processing, with the DR5 process you gain a noticeable increase in tones (grayscale). The downside is the cost per roll in DR5...Also, I found any film over 200ASA (eg., TMax-400) to be much too grainy in the DR5 process.

 

I prefer Scala (shot at 200ASA) processed by the the Agfa lab in Florida to the DR5 process. Why? The contrast is better in the Florida lab. The increase in tone in DR5 comes at the expense of snap (contrast).

 

Finally, 120 Scala film processed in the Agfa lab in Florida is returned in an archival plastic sleeve.

 

Robert DeCandido, PhD

NYC<div></div>