THE FIFTH COLUMN: black & white photography

2023-12-04

Franzis Black and White Projects Professional 6 Photo Film Emulation Versions

This is a demonstration of the film emulation capabilities of Franzis Black & White Projects. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the emulation provided by this software but it is indeed an interesting idea. I have not included all the options available but have selected a few film types from the brands I am familiar with. You will see that in many cases the differences are subtle but others are noticeably different.

I have selected a base setting in Franzis Black and White Projects of Natural Maximum Details and Optimization Natural with various film emulations. Since infra red film does not seem to be included in the choices I have also included a variation with Landscape Infrared setting, as well as an optimized colour version (I don’t recall the software I used for that) just for comparison.

Original From Camera (Panasonic Lumix TS5)

Optimized Colour Version

Franzis Black and White Projects Versions

Digital Negative

Agfa APX25

Agfa APX 100

Agfa APX Pan 400

Fuji Neopan Acros 100

Fuji Neopan 400

Fuji Neopan Neopan 1600

Ilford Delta 100

Ilford Delta 400

Ilford Delta 3200

Kodak T-Max 100

Kodak T-Max 400

Kodak T-Max 3200

Landscape Infared

2023-02-12

Photo Versions Created with Franzis Black & White Projects

Back in the day, not my day but the day, cameras were not an app on your phone but bulky and heavy apparatus with explosive flash powder that could only take monochrome photos. We have advanced a long way to today’s sophisticated DSLRs and prosumer cameras such as my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ100 .

So why black & white photography today when the technology has moved so far beyond it. One can be overwhelmed by the colour in a colour photograph and miss the complexities of light and contrast and even the composition. A black & white photograph can put the emphasis on the other aspects of the photo rather than the colour. But for me it often has more to do with the subject. For historical, or even industrial photos, there is a certain authenticity that a black & white image provides, It is like the photo was taken back in the day.

The photos in this project were taken with my Konica Autoreflex T-3 35 mm camera using 100 ASA colour slide film. They were scanned with my CanoScan 4400F scanner at 600 DP with low compression. The colour images were enhanced with Simply Good Pictures 5 and converted to black & white using Franzis Black & White Projects 6 Professional.

The Natural High Quality setting on Franzis Black & White projects provides high quality black & white versions of the colour images. There are also a large number of other presets available to provide other versions, some with subtle differences and some with much greater differences, including a number of artistic settings. All of the presets have an unlimited number of individual adjustments that can be made to them. This project displays a number of the different photo versions that are available with Franzis Black & White Projects.

King’s Landing Historical Settlement, New Brunswick, August 8, 1982

Original Scanned Slide (1636)