Hello - very amateur photographer here. Just thought I'd ask about black and white film.

I've traveled all over and have often thought that some of my photos would have been much better in black and white. Color film just seems to get in the way of the moment sometimes.

How does an amateur like me go about looking for black and white film? I have an old manual Nikon camera - showing my age here.

Does anyone have experience with using b/w film on their trips 'round the planet?

Hi, Lou,
I also have a couple of Nikons which date from the Johnson Administration I think (Andrew).

I used to lug a camera with B&W film around a lot, but reluctantly gave in to the reality that you can make pretty decent B&W prints from color negative material, and of course with computer photo programs you can make amazing images with most any media.

But yes, of course, you can still buy B&W film all over the place - any photo shop will have it, and most good sized drug stores. Processing may need a little phoning around, but also easily found in most places. Happy snaps!

R U serious? Of course! As a matter of fact manual Nikons in good shape still sell used for lots of $. just cant get em developed for5.99 by mail; but any camera place devs them. All you need to decide is if you like glossy or matt. Also, a good place will crop them so the pic looks even more artistic.

No problem with a manual Nikon. I use a 25-year-old manual Olympus OM-1 and get good results. The fact that you have to set up the shot more carefully with a manual camera makes you think about composition more. The auto-focus cameras these days tempt you to just fire away at will.
Go to a camera shop at the mall (and most drug stores) and you'll have a selection of a few different kinds of Kodak B&W. The newer ones can be deveolped by the one-hour equipment if you want the trade-off of paying more for instant gratification. For really nice landscape shots, buy a "number 11" green filter (Tiffen filters are a good balance of quality and value.) The filter will highlight clouds against the sky, much as a polarizing filter does with color film, and do a better job with flesh tones in portraits. B&W is an excellent way to capture very expressive closeups of faces. If you have a 100mm telephoto for that Nikon (a 50mm will do fine also), you'll be amazed at how nicely portraits will come out. Take the pictures outside on an overcast day or at least in the shade (being careful to take your light reading off the face).

Hey, it's me, the amateur photographer...

Thanks everyone, I will give the suggestions a try. Always like learning new things - keeps the old grey cells going, if you know what I mean.

An old saying still rings true: it's what you learn after you know it all that really counts. I started learning about photography as a kid with B/W--exposure, developing, printing. From ancient roll film, I graduated to 35mm. Always admired the candid works of Henri Cartier-Bresson and, of course, the landscapes of Ansel Adams. Gordon Parks is in a class by himself. For my money, they still rank near the top. You can work in photography all your life and still find new things to learn just by staying with the basics. And there is nothing more basic than B/W. As an old purist, I wish this obsession with higher film speeds would die its natural death. When I hear tales about taking outdoor photos with high speed film I always suspect I am listening to someone who never had the opportunity (and the fun) to learn the basics.

We still shoot B&W but gave up lugging around 2 different cameras plus addtional lenses a few years back. The camera bag became a piece of luggage in itself and became an obstacle to traveling light. We now each have point and shoots. We keep color in one and B&W in the other and pretty much take the same shots, so we have them both ways. Some things just look better in B&W.

Meg -
We still lug the SLR around when we travel, but also have a tiny point-and-shoot (an Olympus Stylus Epic). When we are out exploring or hiking I always have the little camera in my shirt pocket and have gotten some great shots, both color and B&W. Most of our rolls of film on vacations are taken with this camera. But there is still a lot to be said for the SLR, particularly when a filter is needed. When we were in Glacier National Park last year, the little point-and-shoot got the single best picture - a mountain at sunrise - but the SLR consistently got the better scenic shots in full daylight because it had a polarizing filter that produced the nice dark blue sky.
Also, I find that I prefer the SLR when I have a chance to go off by myself for a while to shoot some "artsy" pictures, with nobody waiting for me while I set up the shot and take the picture a dozen different ways. A good example was photographing the canals of Amsterdam at night, which required a very long exposure (several seconds) that's only possible with SLR. My wife would have been bored to tears during the 45 minutes I spent taking a whole roll of film from the same bridge.
So my advice is: take that old SLR with you, but don't lug is around all day. Leave the snapshot situations to a good point & shoot.

Thanks for the tip. I bet your Amsterdam shots are incredible! Some of the best B&W we've shot has been in Amsterdam and Paris in the fall.

hi- i'm another traveler who carries a manual camera (canon) and an aim & shoot. b & w film can be found pretty much everywhere. kodak also came out with a b & w film that they process in a color chem bath. have not tried it out yet, but it sounds intriguing. i also highly recommend a film called xp2 made by ilford (kodak also makes this but don't know what they call it) that is a b & w film that you can "push". i've had prints made in sepia tone and they came out just beautifully. this film works best in the southwest and canyonlands. i have a pic taken in utah in my website if you want to take a look:
http://www.mindspring.com/~quimbymoy/utah.html

I had never used black and white film until Christmas. I don't even qualify an amateur, I know so little about photography, but I love to take photos at family get-togethers. I used Kodak B/W film bought at Walmart to take "candid" photographs of my family just sitting around. Used my point and shoot 35mm, and had Eckerds develope them because they make a slightly large print. I framed some of the better shots and have received positive feedback, except from my 70-plus year old parents. They wanted to know why I would use black and white when I could use color!
To all the posters, thanks for your tips. I hope to improve my skills using your advice.

To the top.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has suggestions or tips for shooting in black and white!

Thanks, all!

something not mentioned yet about B&W film, is that both negatives & prints are 'archival' & will likely persist longer than 100-150 yrs with proper storage (cool, dry, away from light).

note that civil war photos taken in the 1860s still look 'decent', given the limitations of film & cameras back then.

Kodachrome slides are supposed to be long lasting - 50 yrs & more. Unfortunately all color prints & negatives may start fading away in 20 or 30 years.

Especially if taking photos of family gatherings, and if you want your great-grandkids to see the photos, use B&W!