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David Mingay | all galleries >> Mynd Dagsins '15 >> Photo of the Day 2004 > Jul 17: Digital b&w
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17-JUL-2004

Jul 17: Digital b&w

At last - real digital B&W

I've struggled for years to get real film quality black and white from my digital cameras. Somehow, it's never quite the same. Now with the introduction of these new Ilford B&W memory cards, I've found the answer! The exact same tone and grain characteristics of the film equivalent, but in digital form. They were out of stock of my favourite - FP4, so I picked up an ISO400 HP5 card and a super fine grain ISO50 PAN F card. I'll show you the results as soon as I can.

One year ago: 17th July 2003

Canon EOS 300D Digital Rebel ,Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
1/125s f/11.0 at 100.0mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time17-Jul-2004 12:18:45
MakeCanon
ModelCanon EOS 300D DIGITAL
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length100 mm
Exposure Time1/125 sec
Aperturef/11
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Modeaverage (1)
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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James Lundy11-Feb-2005 06:09
Creative and well executed. Looks like you got a few takers below. Hehe.
CJ Morgan27-Jul-2004 02:50
Okay, true confession time.... I fell for this, hook, line and sinker.
I can't believe it. You got me David... big time. Kudo for extremely
good execution. Well done (you sod, LOL).
CJ Morgan26-Jul-2004 07:12
Wow, that's cool... perhaps a reason to go back to using Ilford stock (my brand
of choice when I was shooting B&W film). HP5 rocked... although a bit grainy, but
that wasn't a problem when using medium format film. And PAN F sucked.... folks
use to think it would be a cool film because of its low ISO and fine grain qualites.
But to my experience, that particular film just had a lousy character curve and
very little latitude for even the smallest of exposure error... a film which
only seemed to perform well under the lowest contrast of lighting conditions
and just totally impractical for natural or outdoor lighting. But FP4 and HP5 were...
(and perhaps still are for those who still use film) both excellent films.
brother_mark21-Jul-2004 16:53
Cool!! I've called B&H and put in my order. They said to expect them when hell freezes over. What do you think that means?
Guest 19-Jul-2004 21:25
They'll be doing IR film next right (well maybe not Ilford but someone must have the same technology!)? I mean... they have to do IR CFs... (he said while walking away daydreaming about the possibilities of true b/w and IR cf cards!)
Pall Gudjonsson19-Jul-2004 14:56
Hey - can you "push process" these like the old films :-)
Mike R19-Jul-2004 06:34
Never really liked Pan F, HP5 was to stark for me. I'll wait for the FP4 or the Delta 400 versions. 'Leak' the news of these on April 1st next year - many, many people will believe.........
Ray :)17-Jul-2004 23:25

Is it true you can only take these out of the camera in a darkened room?
Guest 17-Jul-2004 16:09
Oh god, if this were only true -- I'd LOVE to be able to shoot and get the same tones as HP5 with my D60.
Guest 17-Jul-2004 15:38
WOW. But my question is....can you make it into a color piccie in Photoshop??
Robin Reid17-Jul-2004 13:55
Fascinating. I didn't know about these cards.
Don Northup17-Jul-2004 13:44
cool
Guest 17-Jul-2004 13:39
Great find David. How's about a link? ;-)
Herb 17-Jul-2004 13:13
Did you get a cable release with that;o)))
Guest 17-Jul-2004 13:00
Oh boy this is neat! - (And yes ISO50 PAN F is the best)
Guest 17-Jul-2004 12:40
WHAT? Is that for real? No, Dude..really...this is not a joke?
You didn't photoshop the words in there....omG....whoa...