I have a 35mm Nikon / lenses / darkroom. I develop and print my own film. It is enormously time consuming and not a little expensive.

I only take B&W shots - mostly social and street stuff. I would dearly like to switch to digital but is it comaparable to the old film, chemicals and paper way of doing things. Is there a B & W function on digital cameras? Is Photoshop etc the only way of getting the different feel of the many types and ISO's of film. While it might be good for on screen viewing how is the quality of paper prints? Is there a camera that I can use my Nikon lenses with ( without having to pay 6 thousand pounds! )

(And so on) My feeling is that the largest outlay would be for the technology to do with colour resolution etc that I don't really want to use. Should I take the plunge or should I wait until digital camera's are as common as electric kettles! I'd like to hear of any expereinces, success or failure, from B&W minded shutterbugs.

Thanks for your time and help.

Michael

-- Michael Donovan (zoo57@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999

Answers

since you've got a bunch of nikon lenses and other accessories maybe the nikon D1 will work for you when that comes out. It won't be cheap.

One key area where film shines and digital blows is when you blow up prints beyond 8 X 10.

-- benoit (foo@bar.com), September 10, 1999.

My own experience is based mostly on digitising prints, after doing the contrast and density adjustments in the darkroom. Next week, I plan to buy a cheap film scanner that should give me better quality than the most expensive digital cameras. It might even give me decent quality 10x7 prints, but that would be a bonus, not a requirement.

For the moment, decent quality digital cameras are way beyond my budget, so digitising film is the most effective route for me.

Yes, some cameras (like the Nikon 950) have a B&W mode. I don't know whether this gives better results than zeroing saturation in the computer.

Using Photoshop/GIMP/whatever well for B&W needs, IMHO, about the same level of skill and knowledge as darkroom work.

Of course, your needs will probably be different to mine. I encourage everyone to buy digital cameras now, to bring down the costs and increase the quality more quickly :-)

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), September 10, 1999.

The D1 is not the answer. The Kodak DCS 620 is. It works with all Nikon lenses and takes a great Picture. It has an ISO range of 200 to 1600 and has a burst rate of 3.5 frames a sec. I work for Allin Digital and we have a client that is successfully shooting B/W up to 8x10 and even 11x14. This camera runs 10,500 U.S. dollars. Email me for more information.

-- sean Quinn (Sean.Quinn@allin.com), September 10, 1999.

Such an interesting question with so many possible answers. 1) In the digital domain the distinction between B&W and color is a lot less important than in the darkroom. In DD you can shoot everything in color and make the final choice at the computer. Also, let your local photo lab process your color negatives with an index sheet for far less than you could at home. 2) The distinction between B&W and color has little bearing on the equipment you choose. Computers, scanners, and printers handle both equally well. 3) One fundamental choice you'll have to make is whether to use a digital camera or a film scanner and printer. Since you probably have a substantial investment in Nikon equipment, a scanner such as the Nikon LS-2000($1600+/-) or the LS30($800) would let you continue using your familiar equipment. 4) You don't state what enlargement seize you prefer. You should have no problem getting high quality 8X10's on an inkjet printer. 50 Let me suggest what I consider to be the cheapest first class system for the digital darkroom. Monitor: High quality 20" Viewsonic ($600)(there are many others) Scanner: Above mentioned Nikons and the Minolta Dimage Scan Dual ($360) (see the reviews on this site) Printer: Epson 900 for 8X10 ($265 @ BuyCom.) Epson 1200 for 11x14 ($410) Before you start down this path you should visit many sites dealing with this issue. Two of best are this one and http://come.to/ digitaldarkroom. Then follow their links to many weeks of total confusion.

-- Bill Eadie (wae@slip.net), September 11, 1999.