Kodak B&W film for color processing?

[laz]

I was standing on a supermarket checkout line tonight and staring idly at a rack of Kodak disposable cameras and film. I thought I was seeing things when I spied a couple of Kodak boxes of 35mm "B&W" film! But all it said on the box was "Black & White 400" I was baffled as I scanned all sides of the box for a film name (could this be Tri-X I wondered?) Then I saw a notice that said "This film can be processed anywhere (do not develop in B&W chemicals) Okay, what the heck is this stuff?

-Bob

 

[Dave Parker]

It is a C41 process film called Monochromatic, Both Illford and Kodak have had it on the market for over 10 years now, it is okay for some things, I have used it alot in wedding work when they are in a hurry, you can take it to any mini lab that does 1 hour processing.

Dave

 

[Mike Kennedy]

Like Dave said the C41 processed B&W can be very convenient. We used Ilford XP2 in my first photography course as it allowed the instructor the ability of teaching her students the basics of B&W without the hassel of processing 19 rolls of film per class.
We would shoot an assignment then pop the film off at a quick lab and retrieve the negs in a few hours.

Mike

 

[laz]

It is a C41 process film called Monochromatic

Thanks Dave. Does it come in 8x10

 

[srs5694]

I've never heard the film referred to as "monochromatic" before (at least, not as a distinguishing word from conventional B&W film), but the term "chromogenic B&W" is often applied to it. As Satinsnow says, it's a C-41 process film, so it uses dyes to form the final image rather than silver; it differs from ordinary C-41 color films in that the dyes produce shades of grey rather than colors.

Kodak's (and I believe Konica-Minolta's) chromogenic B&W film produces negatives with an orange color mask similar to that on color films. This makes it more likely that an average minilab (operated by ill-trained teenagers) will produce something resembling a conventional B&W print. Ilford's chromogenic B&W film (XP2 Super) produces a negative with a faint purple base, similar to some B&W films. This makes conventional B&W printing a bit easier, but makes it more likely that the average drug store minilab will produce prints with strong color casts. (Even the Kodak chromogenic B&W negatives can be printed on conventional B&W paper, but they're likely to require longer exposures and/or extreme paper grades or filtrations.)

As a class, these films have a reputation for fine grain and wide exposure latitude compared to conventional B&W films. Some people really like them (or at least specific varieties), but others don't. Because they use dyes for the final image, archival characteristics are a bit uncertain compared to conventional B&W films. They may scan better than conventional B&W films, and they enable use of digital ICE dust- and scratch-removal technologies, which don't work with conventional B&W films. If you're curious, by all means give a roll or two a try. You might find you like them for some things. They might also be handy if you want B&W prints fast without doing it yourself.

 

[jd callow]

I believe that Xp2 (or 1) did come in 8x10 at one time. I don't know if does anymore

 

[Dave Parker]

I've never heard the film referred to as "monochromatic" before (at least, not as a distinguishing word from conventional B&W film), but the term "chromogenic B&W" is often applied to it. As Satinsnow says, it's a C-41 process film, so it uses dyes to form the final image rather than silver; it differs from ordinary C-41 color films in that the dyes produce shades of grey rather than colors.

Kodak's (and I believe Konica-Minolta's) chromogenic B&W film produces negatives with an orange color mask similar to that on color films. This makes it more likely that an average minilab (operated by ill-trained teenagers) will produce something resembling a conventional B&W print. Ilford's chromogenic B&W film (XP2 Super) produces a negative with a faint purple base, similar to some B&W films. This makes conventional B&W printing a bit easier, but makes it more likely that the average drug store minilab will produce prints with strong color casts. (Even the Kodak chromogenic B&W negatives can be printed on conventional B&W paper, but they're likely to require longer exposures and/or extreme paper grades or filtrations.)

As a class, these films have a reputation for fine grain and wide exposure latitude compared to conventional B&W films. Some people really like them (or at least specific varieties), but others don't. Because they use dyes for the final image, archival characteristics are a bit uncertain compared to conventional B&W films. They may scan better than conventional B&W films, and they enable use of digital ICE dust- and scratch-removal technologies, which don't work with conventional B&W films. If you're curious, by all means give a roll or two a try. You might find you like them for some things. They might also be handy if you want B&W prints fast without doing it yourself.

That is what our Kodak master catalog that we ordered from called it, there own description was in fact monochromatic, I was in charge of ordering all of film stock at the store and ordered a heck of alot of it over the years.

Also as far as most mini labs, the current machines all have channels devoted to this particular type of film, we just loaded in the print machine and the program set itself for this particular film channel, alls we had to do was adjust the desity of the print, never had any problems with color cast on color paper, when we had our old noritsu 1229 we were able to develop channel that worked for it with no problems either.

Dave

Dave

 

[MattKing]

I was standing on a supermarket checkout line tonight and staring idly at a rack of Kodak disposable cameras and film. I thought I was seeing things when I spied a couple of Kodak boxes of 35mm "B&W" film! But all it said on the box was "Black & White 400" I was baffled as I scanned all sides of the box for a film name (could this be Tri-X I wondered?) Then I saw a notice that said "This film can be processed anywhere (do not develop in B&W chemicals) Okay, what the heck is this stuff?

-Bob

This photograph in my Gallery was shot on Kodak CN400

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The scan is from a standard, machine print, and definitely reflects my limited scanning skills.

Matt

 

[Konical]

Good Evening,

The chromogenic B & W film does come in handy sometimes, especially when time constraints or some of life's many other activities may preclude immediate processing of conventional film and the making of contact sheets. I've used a little of the stuff, but only in 35mm. In the darkroom, the negatives can produce prints on conventional B & W paper with little difficulty, and in sizes up to 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 the results are usually at least acceptable. Anyone using these C-41 B & W films should remember, however, that they produce a non-silver negative whose permanence is questionable.

Konical

 

[srs5694]

That is what our Kodak master catalog that we ordered from called it, there own description was in fact monochromatic,

I suspect that's to distinguish it from color C-41 films rather than from conventional B&W films. "Monochromatic" means "one color," which of course describes both types of B&W films (conventional and C-41).

 

[nworth]

There have been a series of films from Kodak that use C-41 color processing to produce negatives for black and white prints. Some of these were designed to be printed on normal black and white paper, some to be printed on special black and white paper for RA-4 color processig (no loner available, and reported to be unstable), and some for printing on color paper. The current offering is not recommended for normal black and white paper. Check the Kodak web site for information about your mystery film. If you can't find it easily, use their help desk, and they will email you the information.

Other manufacturers offer similar materials. Ilford XP-2 produces wonderful prints on normal black and white paper. Fuji also makes a choromogenic black and white film, but I have not tried it.

 

[Mick Fagan]

As I understand these films, they are normal C41 colour film but only using the yellow layer.

This explains their ability to be overexposed and end up with a finer grain structure. This over exposing and finer grain sturcture is a normal happening in conventional C41 colour film.

Mick.

 

[127]

My wife has used the Kodak Porta 400 BW for band photography. It is excellent for this, as it handles the low light, and high contrast with little grain - dare I say better than "real" bw film?

It's pretty nice for regular stuff too. Even with a dedicated channel on the machine, the walmart monkeys can still mess it up though - I got one set of prints back that had a strong green cast for the first 10 prints... Then they noticed and pressed the right button, and the next 20 where perfect black and white! If they're not right you can always take them back (I'm sure they'd have reprinted, but it was just a test film anyway...)

Ian