State of the Art

[bluekieran]

I've never understood the point of black & white film. I get that black & white photos look cool and arty, of course, but I can't understand why people would want to capture less information, rather than take the photos in full glorious colour and check later in potatoshop which look better in monochrome

Comments

[vatine]

One reason for using B&W film is that (in general), the B&W film has a much smaller grain size than the colour film. It also used to be that B&W came as a faster film (higher ISO/ASA rating) and definitely with smaller grain for the same speed, as the gel filters required to get the colour separation suck light and all-in-all cause more obvious grain on the film ("grain" being the rough measure of resolution in film, the smaller the grain size, the better it survives enlarging; as a general rule, a "fast" film (high ISO/ASA) has larger grain than a "slow" film

[jonnytuna]

By filterless, you would still need an IR filter, CCDs are most sensitive down that end of the spectrum and give some funny tones without one.

[korenwolf]

Largely with you, I archive the original RAW images from the camera and then process copies of those files to achieve the final image I'm working towards. However I'm getting more and more ruthless with which images I archive, while disk is cheap finding stuff again remains a major issue so there is scope to discard duplicate or poor quality information.

[suicideally]

I decided a while ago that there is SO MUCH INFORMATION everywhere that I wouldn't try to hold on to everything in every version. I used to buy records I liked in several formats, tried to keep copies of online images, tried to own every book I liked... but I've decided that, when you think about it, that way madness (or at least a really obsessively busy collecting habit and an overstuffed life) lies.

[bluekieran]

The same information in multiple formats is pointless, beyond that the issue is mostly physical space and cost. Ever-evolving electronic storage and formats should at least take care of the former; I can easily envisage carrying around every book I like or think I might like in my ebook reader or even my phone.

It does of course mean that being heavily backed-up is more and more important! But many of your posessions need no longer be a burden of any kind.

[flavius_m]

Not too sure. It's a bit like, what's the point of music for solo instruments if you can have full-blown orchestras? You have different means of expression in each. Each may have their own strengths and weaknesses and merits.

[bluekieran]

Aside from the higher resolution of dedicate B&W film as argued above, I'd say it's more like choosing to record an entire orchestra or just your favourite few instruments, in a format where you can easily eliminate change the levels of each instrument individually later.

Possibly I am stretching that analogy a little.

[bluekieran]

Surely colour resolution in modern cameras is sufficient that it makes no difference except at hideous zooms? Or no?