Digital BW, The Print

On Monday, January 27, 2003, at 07:25 PM, Bill Iverson
<wiverson@...> wrote:

> How about color negative vs. B&W negative?  ...

For a year I tried shooting the finest-grained color negative film I could
find -- Konica Impresa 50.  However, after that extended experiment, I
returned to B&W film.  The increased grain after "filtration" in the
computer out-weighed the advantages of the color information.

Color negative film can be very fine-grained, but the grain increases with
filtration.  The color film depends on all 3 colors -- all the layers -- to
achieve its fine grain.  Each color emulsion has to be exposed with only a
part of the spectrum.  As such, each layer is like a faster film in terms of
its grain.  The combined fine-grain effect is like a multi-sample of a
relatively noisy signal.  When combined, the noise is averaged and much
reduced.  The computer "filtration," however, eliminates the multi-sampling
effect and causes the image to look like it was taken with a higher-speed
film.

(One can also do a grain-reducing multi-sample with B&W film by taking 3
fast shots on a tripod and combining the skies in the computer.)

Paul
http://www.PaulRoark.com