Film Photography - Make Big Prints from 35mm Film
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Following on from an earlier video on making large prints from 35mm film I decided to repeat the process but this time use B&W film with prime lenses.
The process was largely the same as before but this time I wanted to control all the variables including the large print so I opted to make as big a panoramic as possible on my Epson 3880.
I think I would use a solvent developer next time such as Xtol or ID11 to cut down the grain slightly. An optical enlargement would be a lot smoother but less sharp.
Equipment Used:
Nikon FG
50mm Ais Nikkor
Fuji Acros
Velbon Rexi L tripod
Kodak HC-110 Developer
Scanning:
Minolta Elite 5400
Vuescan software
Vlogging Equipment:
GoPro Hero 7 Black
See the full size image here:
www.flickr.com...
Incidental music by Epidemic sound:
Immersion
You said something very precious: You shoot film because you like the grain, if you wanted a grainless print, you'd shoot digital, thanks for saying that!
Thanks Mark.
Well, you can obtain grain with digital phots as well, by rising the ISO's to very high levels. But it's not the same thing. That's rumor, not grain. Having digital rumor means your photo is dirty. Film and paper grain, otherwise, is just part of the photo itself. It's not something that's bothering the esthetic of the picture, it's more like a "trait" of the picture itself. That's why we like film grain.
However, Digital doesn't have infinite scalability. You are limited by the pixels. In film, you can enlarge and you won't have any issues.
"Yes, there is grain and noice in there, but that's film." Word!
Yep, sorry but photoshopping film is being fake af
Very refreshing blog, when most are drooling over 100 megapixel camera's well done Steve
Great to hear someone actually not ranting about how sharp and clean an image has to be to be accepted. Thank you A breath of fresh air
I have a Canon 35mm system with a case full of prime lenses. Your video has proven to me that 35mm is a still a viable option for photography, even when compared to 120 format images. The cost of a similar 120 format collection of cameras and lenses would be prohibitive for me. Well done, and thanks, Steve!
There’s are lot of life left in old camera systems, lenses were very well made and have superior mechanicals to modern plastic designs.
Fascinating as always Steve. I’ve got a digital print on my wall shot at ISO 8000. It looks superb at a normal viewing distance. As you say in the video, get close up and the noise is clearly visible. It’s just like the good old film days. Hoping to collab in the near future. I’m so looking forward to shooting film again.
Thanks Gary. I don’t see noise/grain as detrimental to an image as long as it is appropriate to the scene. I also like high ISO digital especially in B&W.
Those prints are incredible. The black and white light standard and wires is an absolute classic.
Thank you 😊
Your videos are a breath of fresh air.
Ooh.. the one with portra is just stunning 👍🏽
I know you produced this video more than 2 years ago, and I've been a fan before that. Somehow, UA-cam brought this video to my attention. I have a grey Pellican case, containing a Canon 35 mm film camera, with 6 prime lenses, ranging from 24-200 mm. I was going to take the case, camera, and lenses to a thrift shop, to donate them to a charity. After seeing your video, I've happily changed my mind. I found some old 35 mm rolls, and will go shooting this weekend. Thanks, Steve, for all your excellent, and restful videos. They are a breath of fresh air!
Looks like the Canon had a lucky escape there, like Woody from Toy Story 😊. I hope your have fun shooting with it for many years to come.
Excellent to see and hear about the quality and size of print you can create with basic gear.
Yup-did this for a living back in the 70s. Nikon F2, Ilford 64 ASA monochrome film developed in a high acutance developer made up using a standard formula from the raw chemicals. Could produce razor sharp images 24x36 inches.
kipling1957 what Ilford film was that? I’ve never heard of a 64 iso film
@@burntoutelectronics maybe it was FP4 that was pulled one stop.
@@matteovrizzi or maybe selochrome but I'm not sure what iso it had
@@burntoutelectronics just so you know back in the day film on average was slower
32-64 was standard in most countries
100-150 was available but not often used
200-400 was pretty much unheard of
Thanks for sharing this video Steve, I still miss the beautiful grain of Tri-X developed in Rodinal. Grain in a photograph is like brushstrokes on a painting, it adds to the expression of the image.
Took the words out of my mouth.
See my post.
- Passageyank-
Steve, I always enjoy your videos. Keep up the good work!
Thanks once again, Steve, for an inspiring video - Your emphasis on film is refreshing, not only for the memories it brings back, but for the tactile experience film gives one as well. You, sir, are an old soul - the best kind! Cheers!
Thanks Robert, film is certainly more tactile than digital.
Steve, thank you for showing us what is possible with limited equipment! I have a 'vintage' Minox 35 camera, modified to use 4 watch batteries, it's extremely sharp, and does well using Ilford low speed B&W film. Your examples demonstrating extreme enlargements, provides some options I had never anticipated before. I have some shooting to do!
Thanks Shaun.
Steve I would really be interested in a dedicated video on your work flow you used within LR on that first shot of the pier.
I may make one someday Anthony. 🙂
Fantastic vlog Steve. Please keep producing these superb, detailed, informative videos.
Will do Paul.
One of my favorite sources form film and print inspiration. Thank you.
You’re welcome Darius.
Steve, you brought back memories of the late Galen Rowell, as he shot with Nikon's and 35mm film, and made some spectacular images.
Very true Richard and he also liked basic models that were small and light.
Really interesting point of view! I was always in the opinion a sharp picture should be either without or only small grain, but as you presented here that works very well with grain! Thank you for presenting this idea!
You’re welcome Mathias. 😊
Nice video. I have the same scanner (in addition to a few others) and I think the Minolta does a fantastic job with 35mm film. I made some inkjet prints from Ektachome and Kodacrome 35mm film (lens was a Leica 50 mm Summacron) that were 18x24 inches and the quality was impressive. At that size you could not see any pixelization. None. I also made a few images in the 36 and 44" wide and if you got close you could see I was pushing the format, but in reality it was far better than I expected. At normal viewing distances it was completely acceptable. I also saw some work from Ellitot Erwitt in a gallery, actually met him at the open. He (darkroom) prints very large, and shoots 35mm Tri-X with a Leica. The images were so incredibly sharp I couldn't believe it. I think there's a common misconception with the 35mm format and large printing, but with careful process and using prime lenses, the results can be quite surprising.
I agree Joe, the poster sizes prints I’ve made from 35mm are all the proof I need that the small negative is capable of great things providing care is taken. I’m very jealous that you got to meet Elliot Erwitt too 🙂
Wow! You’ve motivated me to pull out my old Pentax from the back of the closet.
Have fun Kent 🙂
I'm definitely a fan of the grain! Well done
This video is EXACTLY what I was looking for for a long time! Thank you so much!
Thank you for making videos like this! Clearly a LOT of work and thought goes into them. I also enjoyed the added humor with the lens!
Great Video Steve!!! I like what you are doing, because today amateur photographers believe that they need a full frame or medium format digital camera to get quality and big prints. No difference from my time when I became a Photo Lab Technician. I saw many wonderful poster size images from 35 mm cameras, it was the norm, only pros where able to afford the cost of medium and large format.
Good point Sammy, even though I also shoot the larger formats I like the look of big 35mm prints.
A sharp 3ft print from a 35mm negative cropped to half its size. Nice!
Brilliant video, Steve, and I agree with everything you've mentioned in this video. I have used Ilford HP5+ 400, pushed it to ISO 3200 in the development stage, and printed it using an enlarger with traditional dodging and burning techniques to enhance certain details. On A3 paper, with your nose right up against the print, you can't even tell the difference between paper texture and grain. I've done the same with digital images, and, again, I find grain/noise for most cameras I've used to be largely irrelevant when printing, and I don't even sharpen or apply noise reduction.
Totally agree Michael, I did a series of wet prints a few years ago from different films and was hard pushed to tell the difference. I actually like a little bit of grain as it adds atmosphere and apparent sharpness.
Great video Steve. I like that you emphasise that you print for the viewing distance. Also great to keep encouraging people to print even if they only have access to basic equipment.
Thanks Michael, I find myself drawn to basic equipment and love using it to get high quality images.
It reminds me of an interview I watched some years back of Sam Abell. He was talking about his preference of using a tripod whilst working. When asked why he doesn’t often use a large or medium format camera, since he carries a tripod everywhere he replied by saying he didn’t feel he needed a “big camera” to make “big pictures”. I think at the time he was shooting an Olympus OM model of some description.
I was wondering if you sometimes intentionally make small prints, maybe certain subject matter lends itself better to a more intimate image? I sometimes feel that smaller prints like an 8x10 or 5x7 have their own kind of beauty, drawing the viewer in to study them more closely.
I do like the smaller prints Michael and have recently setup a darkroom again with the intention of standardising on 8x10. There is something very appealing in smaller prints and of course the technical quality of 35mm film is more than capable of delivering superb quality at this size.
When you've pushed Tri-X to 3200 shooting night time footie under crap floodlights, grain isn't even a thing! Enjoyed this mucho.
I laughed at the "extremely big" slo-mo part haha
😀
Very nice presentation (came upon by accident). My brother was going to donate Canon F1, with beautiful lenses, to Goodwill. I couldn't let him part with them. I hope to shoot with them and try some new images. I miss my old Tri-X grainy pictures. I miss the feel and size of the old film camera and lenses in general.
Thanks Jimmy and I hope you get out with that lovely Canon outfit soon 👍
Top video, so much different from everyone else.
Too many photographers obsessed with pixel peeping. Photography is about creating an image that tells a story, mood and imagination. I just focus on three simple things, light, composition and subject matter. Everything else is secondary, including bokeh, noise, etc.
t Lim great points...and one more...a bad or average image is generally not improved just by making a big print 😀
Nerds, not photographers. I’ve never known a serious photographer to knock anything being shitty quality, many love it as long as it has a feel or feels like it’s that was on purpose
Steve
Excellent video and a ton of food for thought
Peter
Not surprised you're a pro ! Great pics and maybe film is heading for a revival.
Interesting watch Steve. You have quite some collection of old cameras and lenses for sure and this adds something different to the landscape shooters we normally see on you tube - keep it up.
Thanks Alan, I do like old cameras.
Great video Steve. I had been waiting to see this one and it reminded me that I need to get out with the XPan and some black and white film. I also loved the Portra shot from Liverpool. It has a wonderful depth to it.
Thanks Robin, I need to dig out more of the old negatives from our urban trips.
well done, i've been obsessed with my medium and large format and ignoring my f-100. i have many lenses i used while a digital shooter, gonna regroup. thank you
Glad you found it useful Bill.
Love that image. It would not be the same if it were digital. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Tony.
Excellent Steve as ever.
Another great video Steve - you make me miss film!
Great video Steve. Lovely reminiscing of days gone by when camera and lens imperfections were thought of as creating character and loved for them. Your prints look beautiful.👌
Thank Andy.
@Bobby Brady Well it was my opinion which I am entitled too and you should also know that Art is Subjective. Back then we chose film for its apparent flaws because we had come to love them and use them for effect, Grain - Contrast - Colour. We did not just put up with them because that wouldn't have been a very enjoyable process at all.
@Bobby Brady Oh that's ok then is it? You don't agree with someone, so they are wrong. That is an arrogant and rude attitude. I left a positive and kind comment on Steve's video. If you don't agree that is fine, it is your opinion. But there is no need for the 'You are wrong' rudeness.
I think it is fair to say that opinions differ here and it it obviously an emotive subject. I agree that by most technical measures film is inferior to digital but Andy’s original comment was around imperfections adding something to an image and that is true. The pictorialists of the late Victorian/Edwardian era selected often selected lenses that contained aberrations because they introduced an artistic look to their images. The recent popularity of the likes of Petzval lenses is partly due to people wanting a break from the sterility of oversharp and highly corrected optics.
At the end of the day I have one measure for an image, do it like it. It rarely if ever comes down to the sharpness and noise levels. I personally like the look of film but completely understand people who don’t. I am not a film fanatic and love my Micro 4/3 cameras (having also shot with a lot of full frame digital models).
@@SteveONions Insightful and eloquently said. I very much agree with your comment regarding the sterility of over-sharp lenses. And sometimes images. Monsters of our own creation (demand) maybe? Thank you Steve
Once again great teaching and a great learning curve. Appreciate it. Thank you
I'm of the same mind Steve. Big prints with lots of grain. My preference would be for HP5 in 35mm, enlarged to 20 inch. printed hard at grade 4 or 5. Might give a bigger print a go if I swivel the enlarger head. Great vlog as well. Cheers, Diz
Totally agree Diz, I have made large wet prints from fast film and the grain really adds something.
Your images came out absolutely wonderful. like in all your videos. I always enjoy watching them. Greetings from Munich.
Thank you 😊
Superb quality prints! Excellent demonstration. And a really high quality production video too. Thank you for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I love that print! So beautiful!
One comparison I would like to see is the negative projected onto Ilford or Kodak paper stock (8 x 10 and 10 x 14 in) using an enlarger and develop the prints as they did back in the day. You could try dodging and burning with light. A comparison of 35 mm, medium and large formats would be very revealing to the detail/resolution that could match or exceed digital images (give or take some grain). Lots of good (honest) content here: more please.
Thanks Glenn.
This is _e x t r e m e l y_ adequate
😀
My workflow is very similar in this case. I use Acros with X-Tol stock developer for excelent results. But my Gear is the Pentax 645 and the scanner is the Epson V 700... Compliments for the amazing prints.
Thank you. I still use my 13 year old v700 on a regular basis and despite the drawbacks I find it an excellent all round workhorse. As the film size increases it really comes into its own and large format is extremely impressive.
I agree with Cleo - that was a very nice large print.
Thanks Craig 👍
Excellent video, Steve. Always interesting to view.
Excellent video, and you're right about that Kiron lens. Just got one and it's a gem.
Feels as good as a real Nikkor Mark 👍
Awesome Video - I'm more confident now that I can get some good prints from 35MM. Thank You!!
Excellent video, excellent work - thanks!
Nice job, thank you for taking the time! Started shooting 35mm and 120 film recently, and am dying to see those shots enlarged.
Thanks Jonathan.
Beautiful, just beautiful.
Great video, just got back into film and loving the look on prints so far not gone huge yet just 18x12 but going to push and get some printed.
Glad your enjoying your return Doug.
Another interesting video I also like to see grain on prints from film cameras it makes the image seem more real to me. I do also like the crisp prints you can get from digital at least these days we can have both. Thank you for sharing :D Teddy
PS, I took my old pentax k 1000 ( my first serious camera back in early 80s) on hoiday to Scotland recently and still have a few frames to finish off before I get to see the results.
Fingers crossed for the Pentax shots, I also used 35mm film on a recent trip to Scotland.
Thank you Steve. It is funny how my approach to film has changed since digital photography became available. I would never have come back home with an unfinished film before digital cameras were available !
However now due to the cost etc... I am much more likely to consider what is worth shooting on film :D
I hope you images came or come out well too :D I really loved that video you did of your Scotland trip I have watched it severel times :D
I think that since the whole film v digital debate died down nobody expects them to compete directly. People now embrace the look of film rather than trying to make it look clean and sharp all the time.
A good demonstration. Thanks for sharing.
very good news abouft the film analog , coool.
Steve, thanks for another informative video.
Super informative and useful! Great shots, buddy!
Awesome work. 👍
Thanks Tom.
E X T R E M E L Y calming vid, as usual. o/ Really gotta figure out how to use that old Minolta camera I got lying around. Using film really seems to be a rather interesting endeavour to play around with~
like print videos
thanks steve
another great episode
Amazing！！I can't believe 35mm film can print so much sharp photo!
Wow, all very impressive and beautiful.
Thanks Merlin.
Surprized you didn't use a hood and mirror lock-up on a weighted tripod for these shots. But they came out great regardless. You are absolutely right...35mm slide film can make some amazing enlargements...up to 30 x 45 in. I've done it for Northern Lights photography and nobody complains about the grain. I prefer the idea that there is a random pattern of grain behind it all instead of a checker board pattern.
Thanks John. Like most older Nikon’s the FG will do mirror up if you use the self timer so this is how I always shoot. The grain from film never seems objectionable in the way digital noise can be.
@@SteveONions I do the same when taking night shots with my FM2n ie. using the timer for mirror lockup. My favorite lens for night photography is the Nikkor 28mm F2.0 ai. A hood helps keep any dew off the lens as well as blocking stray light. I hang my camera bag over the tripod legs to make it more stable and less prone to vibration. A great lens to use with the Nikon for portraits and macros is the Tamron 90mm F2.5 model 52B. So nice to take it easy with film and vintage cameras and avoid the digital rat race for features and megapixel supremacy. Total panic now that there is a flight from DSLRs to mirrorless.
I have the same 90mm Tamron John, excellent lens. I have also found that pulling down on the centre column adds considerable stability.
@@SteveONions Totally agree. I learned about tripod shake and mirror slap when I took my first picture with a 200mm lens at a 15th of a second on a light tripod. One camera that never has this problem is the Mamiya Press Super 23. Best deal ever for a medium format 6x9 camera these days.
Cool vid and superb prints my friend!
Great images. Love the B&W.
Very Nice image Steve i agree it does look better than the digital version 👍
Very inspirational! Thank you very much for sharing your results. The images look great, well done!!
Thanks Emmanuel.
Thank You for this video. It's the person behind the viewfinder that makes the image, not the camera..
Thanks Larry.
Thank you, Steve, this was very helpful! 👍🌈
I just got 2 Minolta 35mm film camera's last week..a 7000i and a 600si. I have all Minolta A mount lens now because I use them on my SLT-57 Sony camera. The lens will fit each camera with no issues.
It’s definitely worth having lenses that are compatible with your digital gear.
Thank you for another great video, really enjoyed it!
Thumbs up and followed. Really liked this video and looking forward to the next ones!
Thank you 🙂
Excellent video.
I like the grit of 35mm gives a whole different feel when I’m doing portraits. And mixing with Medium format...
Acros is inherently grainy too - in a special way of course. Playing with film type is the best fun when shooting film.
I do find Acros the smoothest of the conventional B&W films but in 35mm it’s going to show a bit of grain 👍
@@SteveONions It's a beautiful film. When shooting digital, I never use Jpg, but I had a Fuji X100f for a while, and the Acros simulator on that produced the most beautiful jpg images, incredibly reminiscent of the actual film. Great little camera and a very capable point and shoot.
I love your English (it is very easy to understand)
I love your photos and that you highlight, that you don’t need fancy equipment (I have also a FG20 😉 and the 50 mm and 28 mm)
Please make more nice videos. Thank you.
Thank you 🙂
and very nice to see the last about Olympus and Panasonic G have not a good image to full frame sensor . and the 45 mega pixel.
Hi to you to Cleo.
Fantastic point 135 format does not take nearly the investment of medium or especially large format. Plus, amazing how large a black and white can be taken to, makes me wonder how big a 4x5 can be taken. :O
PS Looked up the print DPI for my printers, both are 1200DPI using photography paper. I'm shocked a HP be higher than an Epson considering the latter geared for photography and of very high quality.
4x5 can go to 40” wide with superb quality in my experience.
Thanks so much Steve. Would you be willing to show us how you managed upping the resolution in photoshop. I’d be really interested in seeing how that works.
I’ll definitely cover that in a future video Bill.
Steve, your images are wonderful.
Thank you 🙂
Brilliant stuff, Steve! Beautiful imagery, and anything that can make me lust after medium format (even just a little) less is nice too :-D
Glad you liked it 🙂
a bit scrambled my watching order for your videos ,yet love watching your work!
I've had an interesting experience enlarging a 35mm neg on 8x10 FB paper in darkroom then scanning that print and have found i can print at A1 with good results!
I’ve found the same. There was a very good article about this probably 10 years ago and it concluded that scanning a well made print resulted in a better digital print.
Cool. Again, grain is good.
Sadly, Fuji discontinued Acros 100. I used it once and was very pleased with the results. Your shot shown here comes across very well in the video, I'm sure it looks perfectly fine on the wall!
Thanks Christian, the prints always look better in person than when I show them on the video.
Christian Augustin Look again. :)
@@jebemligashta Are you referring to this one - www.thephoblographer.com/2019/06/10/fujifilm-neopan-acros-100-ii-is-reportedly-coming-this-fall/ ? This would be great!
Fantastic video. Earned yourself a new subscriber!
Thank you 👍
Nice video, Steve. Your images were quite good, lovely character and atmosphere to them.
I went back to film. It is cheaper for everything and it looks WAY better...
@Bobby Brady I made a statement not an argument. And just cause you can't hack it doesn't mean I cant. Now shoo troll. No one care what you think
@Bobby Brady Go take your meds troll. Literally nobody cares about you or your opinion cishet
Compared to your earlier video (with the micro 4/3 image) this brings out the mood of the scene even better. Of course this is very subjective as I find film more attractive than the "clean", a bit sterile look of digital...
Me too 👍
First one to leave a like today;)) happy Sunday greetings from Poland Steve !
Lovely shot and print!!
There are also the very low ISO films for those that want to cut don't on the grain.
I have gone true quite a few ISO 25 rolls and find that to work quite well as long as you have a tripod.
Nice, which ones have you used and how large did you go before seeing any grain? Have you ever done a video on it? I’ve been thinking about trying out one. I’ve used Kodak Vision 50D and it definitely looks nice at 8x10. Haven’t pushed it further though
@@CertainExposures I have not done any tests like that and I used developers thats quite known for high grain so it would not be a very good test.
The reason I used quite a lot of low ISO film is because I got a bunsh for free.
And its AGFA CINEREX which is a X-ray film and I got the best resoults from it at ISO25.
But I used this film in my Yashica Electro review so there you can have see how it looks when useing Rodinal 1+100: blog.bkspicture.com/review_Yashica_Electro_35_GSN.html
bkspicture ok thanks. I’ll check it out
I may try a few in future but I am quite happy to have some grain in the image as it is my preferred look on 35mm.
Impressive results. Have you done any video on your scanning process? I have tons of negatives laying around, and they ask to be digitalized.
And I watched your video on prints with M4/3. It is interesting to me, that the results with the small sensor are sharper than with 35 mm film (which is full frame size).
I steer clear of scanning videos as the technology is always changing (and so is my approach).
In terms of sharpness Micro 4/3 is superior to 35mm, film just doesn’t compare until you get to the larger sizes.