Orthochromatic Film

greenspun.com : LUSENET : B&W Photo - Film & Processing : One Thread

I'm going to try orthochromatic film for lanscapes and portraiture. Has anyone else tried this? Have you been pleased with your results? Any suggestions or recommendations?

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), May 30, 2000

Answers

I have used Ilford 4x5 ortho film quite a bit for landscapes and have been happy with the results. FWIW I use an EI of 40 and develop in PMK.

-- John Lehman (ffjal@uaf.edu), May 30, 2000.

Isn't ortho film very sensitive to blue and gives very dark reds?

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), May 30, 2000.

Ortho is sensitive to blue and green light, but not to red.

Most panchromatic films are less sensitive to green light than the eye, and my hope is to get foliage that is rendered about as the eye sees it, instead of dead, dark, grays.

Also, I'm interested in tray development of 8x10's with a safelight.

For portraits, ortho supposedly adds "character" to mens' skin. The pink and red coloration goes dark.

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), May 30, 2000.


Hello Charlie,

I've used Kodak Ortho Lith 35mm last weekend, E.I. around 12, developed in Rodinal 1:100, about 10 min at 200C. Used without filter the sky is almost blown out, so 1:150/1:200 or PMK could be useful. Apart from that landscapes look similar to panchromatic, e.g. trees do not look any lighter than normal, at least to me. Resolution of the film is good like all slow copying film.

Sorry, can not comment of portrait yet and not the next two week, as I did forget to put some Ortho Film in cartridge for holiday, and I'm leaving in 90 min straight from my office to the train station.

Kind regards,

Wolfram

p.s. Thomas, Rodinal seems to work, while C 41 developer gave neither with TP nor with Kodak Ortho Lith good results.

-- Wolfram Kollig (kollig@ipfdd.de), May 31, 2000.


Have you tried Efke KB25/R25 or KB50/R50? They are orthopanchromatic films and have a very fine grain. They are very well suited for landscapes and portraits and darkens red and lightens blue and green, but gives a more correct greyscale than the plain ortho films. They can be developed in D-76, Neofin Blue, Rodinal and Acutol/Aculux 2 with very fine results.

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), May 31, 2000.


A green filter?

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), May 31, 2000.

Group portraits outdoors with Agfa APX 25 and 100 films and a light green filter... WOW!

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), May 31, 2000.

A Wratten #44A blue-green filter is supposed to work. Has anyone tried this?

-- Bill S. (bshaden@rocketmail.com), May 31, 2000.

In response to Patric,

I have not tried the Efke products, but I haven't seen them is sheet films, which is what I'm planning to use.

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), May 31, 2000.


Efke Pl 100 comes in sheets. BUT they are not orthopanchromatic. :-/ But if you someday will use 120-film, so is Efke an alternative.

Ortho film can be fun to use is one wants to get a result that looks like the old photos from the 1800's and early 1900. :-)

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), May 31, 2000.



In response to Bill, I have tried a 44b filter, and it does work. OTOH, it costs two or three stops and is available only as a fairly expensive and fragile wratten gel, so when mine died from environmental stress, I switched to the new Ilford ortho+ film.

-- John Lehman (ffjal@uaf.edu), June 01, 2000.

Why not use a green or a blue filter? Or maybe both combined? Yeah, that's the ticket! I recommend B+W filters!

-- Patric (jenspatric@mail.bip.net), June 02, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ