Photoblog: Ilford - Best in Black & White

Black and white film and chemicals producer Ilford is running an open photoblog on their corporate website.

Find it at: link

The blog is collecting a number of very interesting stories.

For example the one about Ribnar Mazumdar who calls himself a "hybrid photographer". Meaning, that he is shooting both film and digital following a digital workflow.

Have a look and explore.

Learn something about Ilford FP4 film

Ilford film manufacturing

Range finder film camera

15 years after shooting my last film pictures - film was the way I got into film photography - I rediscovered film when my father brought me a series of very old cameras he found somewhere.

I gave the Ilford Sportsman, a camera from 1958, a try. In my cupboard I could find a 10 year old 35mm Kodak film cartridge which I did not know how good it still would be.

Even tough the camera had some mechanical issues the results were quite impressive.

 Here a couple of images which were the first results from this 10 years old not correctly stored film and the camera which was not used for probably more than 30 years.

 The results are quite impressive. Since everything is manual there are a couple of challenges and one has to understand about depth of field, exposure, and focusing.

Visit the galleries on my website to see some of my best results using different film.


 The proof that this camera can take really good pictures can be viewed at at:
- 2014 JUNE - KODAK 200 ASA

- 2015 AUGUST - ILFORD XP2 400 ASA

Landscape photography using a Hasselblad 500 c/m - the results

"Shooting film, time to result can be a bit longer than with modern digital technique. I am still waiting for developed and scanned films to arrive." - Referring to my earlier post - November 5th - waiting has an end.

Yesterday the developed and scanned pictures from my landscape photography experiments applying different types of film have arrived.

One first comment: Once more I notice the value of using a tripod even in good light conditions.
All the images were shot hand holding the Hasselblad 500 c/m camera using the waist level finder.

Kodak Ektar 100

Even when keeping an eye on shooting only at shutter speeds faster than 1/60 given the level of detail in the here explored scenics it is hard to reproduce photographs with a high level of detail sharpness.

The fall coloured trees (see the picture of a walnut tree on the left) in the landscape with their tiny details in the texture of colourful leafs are a challenge which only can be overcome using a stable support. In addition weather conditions such as wind might add quick movements to the leafs which results again in motion blur.

Fujichrome Velvia 100

Comparing to my recent  lavender field pictures - see post from August 16th (and sample picture on the right) - where I was shooting every picture using my tripod and fast shutter speeds, the current results are a bit disappointing. Shooting the lavender fields introduced the same, maybe even a bit higher, challenge to capture details in texture of these beautiful plants.

Fujichrome Velvia 50

Applying Fujichrome Velvia film as expected gives rather blueish results a bit less warm in color than the Kodak Ektar 100. The spectrum of the Fujichrome clearly exhibits more contribution at the blue side of the color spectrum, while the Kodak Ektar is more prominent at the yellow/red end of the spectrum.

Kodak Ektar 100

As specified both films exhibit an equally fine granulation. However, the grain can only be observed in bright areas of the sky, as well as in extreme dark green areas of trees in the forest with adequate magnification.

To fully capture the impression of a autumn landscape on a sunny day I would prefer the Kodak Ektar 100 film given the better performance for yellow, brown, and red colors.

Fujichrome Velvia 50

The Fujichrome Velvia was a good choice for the purple lavender fields (compare to picture shown above) as well as for landscape shots where contrast matters, such as in the cloudy evening shot from the Lake Lucerne and Mount Pilatus (see picture on the left).
This picture was extremely difficult to take since there was the very localised, but blurred due to the sky coverage, bright direct light from the sun combined with the very dark south-east facing mountainside in almost true black, and the dramatic sky coverage almost turning the scene into a night shot. It was not very clear to me on choosing the right exposure.
What I wanted to get out of this picture was the dramatic sky combined with the reflection on the surface of the lake, and the band of fog at the bottom of the mountain.

Ilford HP5 400 b/w

Using the Ilford HP5 400 black and white film was a good choice for pictures in the forest where only little light was available in the late afternoon when the sun is low. Given the high contrast between direct sunlight falling on plants and extreme darkness in the shadow this was a real challenge for the Ilford film which is not known to be a high contrast film.

Ilford HP5 400 b/w

As the picture on the right shot through the trees directly into the setting sun shows, the film exhibits good detail a very fine grain but not much graduation between extreme bright and extreme dark.

The image on the left capturing a scene with less extreme lightning conditions shows the film is capable of representing a well balanced scenery in terms of light and color in black and white.

Comparing the two black and white images shows that the Ilford HP5 400 is good under low light conditions. However, the result is much better for a scenery with diffuse light than for one under high contrast conditions.

See more images from this series of analog film photography at my website.
- Rigi Kaltbad
- Autumn landscape

Landscape photography using a Hasselblad 500 c/m

It needs patients. - There is no immediate feedback control. - The photographer relies sole on a light meter, the selection of a film with specific characteristics, and on his understanding of exposure. - This is analog film photography.

Two weeks ago, it happened to be perfect fall weather in Switzerland, I took my old 1976 Hasselblad 500 c/m camera and some rolls of film, and went for some outdoor activity.

During fall and winter the low sun leads to interesting ambient light conditions. Lot of contrast, and due to the clear atmosphere also clear and brilliant colours with plenty of contrast.
The vibrant colours of autumn leaves - yellow, red, brown, and green - were just amazing.

I decided to shoot the following different film rolls.

Kodak Professional Ektar 100
The technical data sheet claims: "... is the world's finest grain color negative film ... high saturation and ultra-vivid color..." and "... is recommended for applications such as nature, travel and outdoor photography, as well as for fashion and product photography."

Fujichrome Velvia 50 Professional, and 100 Professional
The Fujifilm product bulletin says: "... is a professional daylight color reversal film..." and "... the world's highest level of image color saturation and vibrancy, this film combines superb granularity with resolving power.", "It is especially suited to subjects that demand precision in reproduction and emphasis in colors."

Hence, for the color films I was dealing with the world's finest grain, the world's highest level of color saturation, and resolving power. Both types of film are recommended - among other applications - for outdoor photography.

Spectral density curves Fujichrome Velvia 50

Comparing the spectral sensitivity curves from the film's technical specifications for both types of film shows that both films exhibit similar spectral response in blue and green wavelength area. The red area covers approximately the same wavelength range for both films with the spectral density being narrower for Fujichrome Velvia compared to Kodak Ektar.

Kodak Ektar shows a broad peak between 600 and 660 nm while the Fujichrome Velvia spectrum has a narrow peak at 650 nm.
This explains the experienced difference in color of the two film. The Fujichrome Velvia gives rather blueish results, given the lack of red and the predominance of blue and green (see spectral density charts on the left).

Spectral density curves Kodak Ektar 100

While Fujichrome Velvia is known for its saturation and strong contrast, I  am curious to see the results of Kodak Ektar.















Ilford HP5 Plus - ISO 400 black and white professional film
The package insert speaks of a "...high speed, medium contrast film...", "...suitable for action and press photography..."  - Not necessarily the first choice for black and white landscape photography. If reading through other blog posts. This film is never recommended explicitly. Recommendations go rather for Kodak Tri-X, BW400CN, or Ilford XP2 Super film.
Nevertheless, Ilford HP5 is considered to be a good option since it is a very flexible film yielding "...outstanding sharpness and fine grain under all lighting conditions". It's a medium contrast film and hence probably a good choice to reflect the nuances of colorful autumn leaves and forests in black and white.

Shooting film, time to result can be a bit longer than with modern digital technique. I am still waiting for developed and scanned films to arrive.

Using classic cameras - Ilford Sportsman (1959)

A couple of years ago my father found his very first camera. An Ilford Sportsman 35mm range finder camera from approximately 1962.

When I got the camera into my hands in June 2014 I immediately started shooting using an old Kodak 35mm film which was 10 years expired. I got pretty decent results, even tough the functioning of release and aperture was not very reliable.

These first color images can be found on www.andreasrmueller.com.

Due to the missing reliability I decided the camera to get serviced. And here are the results from a short trip to the Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Since it is a classic vintage camera I decided to shoot black and white only using two different types of film. 

Since Ilford Sportsman is a range finder camera and does not provide any autofocus, focusing at the right distance is sometimes very difficult. Especially for shots with subjects in the foreground and selective focus or narrow depth of field. The built in passive light meter does a good job. So far all the images were well exposed.

The two films applied hier are chromogenic films. These are black and white films designed to be developed in a standard color negative C41 chemistry process.

(1) Kodak Professional BW400CN, Black and white negative film (35mm roll, 36 exposures)

A very fine grain, high sharpness and broad tonal range film. The film is processed in C41 process.

Ilford Sportsman, Kodak Professional BW400CN fim: Portrait

(2) Ilford XP2 Super 400, Black and white negative film (35mm roll, 36 exposures):

A sharp, fine grain, high speed film at ISO 400. The film has an extremely wide exposure latitude making it suitable for use in varied lighting conditions.

XP2 Super is processed in C41 type processing chemicals alongside color negatives.

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Shipping pier Gersau

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Approach of the ferry Tellsprung

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Paddle steamer "Schiller"

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Naval business

Ilford Sportsman, Ilford XP2 Super: Steak house at the lake