Film for 50s look?

nickrapak · Jun 30, 2010

Darkroom317 said:
The film I have is from 1996, frozen

That would be the old stuff, and by far your best choice. Of course, I would shoot a test roll to make absolutely sure there is no degradation.

Darkroom317 · Jul 1, 2010

I had 120 rolls of it in 120. I have shoot several rolls and it is fine.

Gerald C Koch · Jul 15, 2010

More than any other factor you need a film with reduced red sensitivity. An orthochromatic one would be best but I don't don't know of any being made today. Lacking any try a panorthochromatic one. Look at the spectral sensitivity curves published by the manufacturers.
Perhaps something from the old soviet union countries.

You can also try using a light green filter or yellow green filter.

fschifano · Jul 15, 2010

Absent a film with reduced red sensitivity, an 80A or 80B would work a bit better than a green or yellow / green filter. Normally these are used to balance daylight film for use with standard tungsten lighting, but they work by cutting off quite a bit of the red. So voila, instant reduced red sensitivity.

Rick A · Jul 16, 2010

Gerald C Koch said:
More than any other factor you need a film with reduced red sensitivity. An orthochromatic one would be best but I don't don't know of any being made today. Lacking any try a panorthochromatic one. Look at the spectral sensitivity curves published by the manufacturers.
Perhaps something from the old soviet union countries.

You can also try using a light green filter or yellow green filter.

There are orthochromatic films produced today, Rollei, Adox, Ilford all offer Ortho films, and they are a treat to use. Put away the red and orange filters,they have no effect on ortho, and pick up a green or blue filter. I will warn you, try not to get any sky in the shot, as it will render as white, and look blown out.

fschifano · Jul 16, 2010

The Ilford Ortho film is sold in sheet sizes only, so no help for rollfilm users there.

Rick A · Jul 16, 2010

So true Frank, however Rollei Ortho is available in 120 and 35mm. I may be wrong, but I believe the Adox Ortho is the same as Rollei Ortho.

Anon Ymous · Jul 17, 2010

Alessandro Serrao said:
If you try to print any negatives with #5 grade contrast filter the paper SUPPLY the grain...

Alessandro, the paper can only show the grain that already exists in the negative. Have a look (there was a url link here which no longer exists). So, yes, you can have lots of grain when using hard grades, but you'll also get a lot of contrast. Far more than you would have wished if you have a negative with reasonable contrast.

ZorkiKat · Jul 17, 2010

Chinese made film has a very 50's look to them. Era Panchromatic has a mushy rendition, low resolution, but contrast gradation is quite long. Lucky Panchromatic is tweaked a bit to suit more modern times, but it has halation qualities which are unseen in other contemporary BW emulsions.

Speaking of reduced 'red' responses, there are three emulsions I've used which have this: EFKE KB25, Fomapan 100, and Fuji Neopan Acros. EFKE KB25 and Fuji Acros are described as 'orthopanchromatic' by their respective manufacturers' literature. Fomapan 100 requires more compensation than the average pan with red or orange filters. Neopan renders the ruddy hues a shade darker than expected with other 'pans'.

fschifano · Jul 17, 2010

You know, all this talk about a '50's look has me a bit flummoxed. Are we talking about high quality photographs made during the era, or are we talking box camera brownie snaps? Fact is, by the 50's panchromatic films were at least common if not the norm for amateur and professional photographers.. If we're talking high quality photographs, then there really isn't that much difference between then and now, except for the papers they were printed on. Virtually all of the old school papers are no longer available, and re-creating the look of the old papers is difficult if not impossible. But the lenses available to the high end user were damned good and coated to boot. If we're talking about Dad's Brownie, well that's another story. Those cameras almost always had poorly corrected, un-coated lenses which flared like crazy. If that's what you're looking for, it's not happening with modern lenses even on the least expensive cameras.

Sirius Glass · Jul 18, 2010

IIRC box cameras used Verichrome pan in the 1950's, so orthochromatic film will not get you what you want. Look at the traditional grain films, not the TMAT or Delta's.

Steve

wblynch · Jul 18, 2010

I agree it's the camera plus the film...

My sister shot some Efke R100 127 film in her Brownie Reflex. Got some really nice, "glowy", 50s-looking photos at the Padres game.

AmsterdamMartin · Jul 18, 2010

Also in the fifties serious people were always trying to get the best possible quality. A fifties film well done isn't technically worse than todays film.
You can make an ADOX/EFKE look like a fuji acros, with a little more trouble than todays films.
I have a look at my families cameras and photos and it isn't that much different than todays.
As always, what you achieve on film could be messed up by a lab during printing, depending on the lab.
The difference is in the pictures ! People wearing home-made clothing and living much simpler lives, shortly after the war.
Different style of makeup and hair fashion, that's the fifties.

For me it's the Beatles and Elvis (greatest of great).

People remembered their favorite film stars of the twenties, thirties and forties, and created their own fifties style.
It is a not a well marked period in history, it is more like a continuum, although less diverse than from the nineties on.
My grandmother "upgraded" to 35mm in 1955 already. Back then the quality of films and cameras allowed that. The first "color designed lenses" appeared en mass.
And finally: the "old timers" pose differently for a photo than many impatient people of today. I still notice that photographing the very old. Some learned posing as a child in front of their fathers glass plate camera.

nworth · Jul 18, 2010

Plus-X may be about as close as you will get, although Rollei Retro was designed to give that look. I haven't tried the Rollei product, so I don't know if it really does. You might also try Crawley FX-1 as a developer, which is a bit harsher than D-76. DK-50 may also be interesting.

Film for 50s look?

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