8 Technical Reasons to Shoot Black and White Film
6 min read by Dmitri.Published on . Updated on .
Black and white photographs can help focus viewers’ attention, emphasize shapes over colours, remove the complexities of colour management — particularly in high-contrast scenes and in skin tones, and create associative effects with a time period or genre of photography.
Virtually all black and white images shot digitally are colour photographs converted to monochrome — even if done in-camera. Colour film can also be printed or converted digitally to black and white. However, many film photographers choose to shoot pure monochrome emulsions without the option of reverting to colour. This article will explain a few good technical reasons to do just that.
Technical reasons to shoot black and white film: Finer grain. Price and availability. Chemical stability. Larger choice of developers. Greater film speed flexibility. Easier to scan and print negatives. More formats and mediums. Infrared, X-Rays, and more.
Finer grain.
Black and white film is widely available in slow ISO speeds that produce finer grain with more details that C-41. The slowest colour emulsions available today are CineStill 50D and Fujichrome Velvia 50. For monochrome, Ilford Pan F+ 50 and Rollei RPX 25 are just two examples of ultra-slow emulsions, with Adox CMS 20 leading the pack as “The sharpest, most fine-grained and highest resolving image recording system in the world.”
Price and availability.
It’s easier to create a single-layer emulsion that does not rely on masking, colour dyes, and chemical couplers. With the right tools and knowledge, you could even make yours at home — something that can’t be said for colour. This simplified manufacturing process allows more businesses to create a greater variety of products with less. Ilford is an example of a well-known brand that sells a large portfolio of monochrome-only products with great success worldwide — and there are many more.
Some manufacturers who used to (or still do) make film for technical applications have shifted to making emulsions for the growing analogue photography community. JCH SteetPan 400 is an example of a Japanese brand that sells surveillance film from Belgium.
Chemical stability.
There are plenty of choices when it comes to freshly made black and white film. There’s also an abundance of well-preserved films that you can still shoot with relative confidence.
Colour film tends to colour shift and fade as it ages due to the different ways its layers change with time. Monochrome film typically degrades across the entire frame, making artifacts less noticeable.
A large pool of expired monochrome film stock can still be usable today, provided that it’s been stored well. This relative stability of the black and white emulsions is also fueling startups like Street Candy, who purchase film of the yesteryear in bulk and repackage it for everyone to use.