At 21:32 6/24/00 , Joan Barnett asked:
>I've shot various types of color slide film, but is there a B&W slide film
>that you recommend?
The *only* B/W slide film "out of the box" is Agfa's Scala 200X. It is ISO
200, but can be pulled or pushed easily. If I remember correctly it can be
pulled by one stop or pushed by two stops. Latitude, contrast and
granularity shift as would be expected if you pull or push. Three labs in
the U.S. can develop it, one of which is in So. Cal. The one I use is in
Florida (closer to me and sells mailers through B&H in NY which is how I
buy the film). Kodak does sell a reversal kit for TMax 100, but you have
to pull to EI 50 and then develop the film yourself using their kit.
I have used Scala 200X and like the results. Image structure is as fine as
the ISO 100 color reversals with a wider latitude at ISO 200 than any color
reversal I've used. It also has good mid-tones (doesn't go muddy) and skin
tones. I recently did some studio portraiture. The backdrop was black and
the subject had on a pure white coat. There is some detail in both the
white coat and the black backdrop which was a surprise. The finely knit
gray dress showed high detail in the knit also. The use of the Scala for
this was not intentional. Most of the shots were color, but the idea for
some B/W occurred "on the fly" and it happened to be the B/W loaded at the
time.
As a B/W for projection I'm very impressed with it. The one problem is
getting prints from the slides. I believe the lab in So. Cal. that
develops it also offers prints from the transparencies as part of their
printing services. I have not used them, so I cannot comment on their
services.
Hope this helps,
-- John
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