Do we still need Black and White FIlm???

[Jmarmck]

I see the banding as well but I wonder if it is not the camera film insert that is causing it. I have a 645 also and have seen the same banding.

[Corran]

Really? That's interesting. I had a 645 as well briefly and shot a lot of film through it, and never saw banding (other than scanning problems!). How would the film insert cause it?

[Jmarmck]

It is an unsolved mystery. But I have proof. I am not saying that these are not from the scanner but I have similar marks on mine. It is the reason I am toying with the idea of not getting the light seals repaired on the Mamiya and finding a Hasselblad. 6x6 neg might be another reason.

[Corran]

Strange!

[Jim Andrada]

Well, if I could afford an 80mp digital back I'd probably be doing digital as well. Although I'd be just as likely to get a monochrome back and do B&W digitally. No Bayer layer, etc. And I'll make a terrible admission - I DO shot digital on an original Canon 5D.

Re the banding - yep, I see it. I think the Coolscan will do a better job, but won't really know for a couple of weeks until I get it home. I think the Epson just isn't up to scanning 6 x 4.5. Maybe marginal for 6 x 7. 4 x 5 and up - OK. Howtek would be better no doubt. BUT I have the color negs and technology has made it a lot less expensive to print them than it used to be.

I got my (first) 5 x 7 camera in 1970. And I shot a lot of color when it was (relatively) REALLY expensive. Buying the film and having it processed was bad enough, but having it printed was financially out of the question. So I had a choice. Give up color or print it myself. So I learned how to do it. I can say for sure that I make a better print from LF color negs with scanner and inkjet than I did with wet process 40 years ago. I think I'm better off than I'd be if I HADN'T shot color.

But back to the main topic - the real world, like it or not, is in color. That's a basic truth. So if you want a B&W print to fit your vision, you have to apply some transform to get from the color domain to the B&W domain. The question is. where do you apply the transform? In camera, accepting some particular B&W film's characteristics, or in post process (and of course no color film is all that accurate in representing the real world color.)

But in the end, I think the question isn't really how accurately either B&W or Color film captures reality, as much as it is about how you get from the real world to your monochrome vision. And lately I have the feeling that for some large percentage of what I do, working from an Ektar neg is easier.

[karl french]

Troll.

[Jim Andrada]

By the way - re the banding again - I'm not all that sure that some of the problem isn't coming from the lab. Is it really scanner banding, or is it agitation, or...? I get it on B&W as well. And sometimes it runs diagonally!!! Bigger film probably has it as well, it just may be harder to see with a smaller degree of enlargement.

[Jim Andrada]

"Troll?" Who?

[Richard Johnson]

I like color neg and it scans great, no filters needed either.

[djdister]

I'm not sure the "banding" is from a scanning problem. It looks more like an agitation or drying/streaking issue.