Goldenrod
Black-and-white film can be used in any film camera. It is easy to process and print black-and-white film at home.
Choosing Film
The main consideration in choosing black-and-white film is the ISO number. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive the film is to light. The higher the ISO number, the more sensitive the film is to light, but the lower quality the image is.
To start, use ISO 50 in bright sunlight and ISO 1600 in dim indoor settings without flash.
Low ISO films in dark conditions require slow shutter speeds. This blurs images unless a tripod is used. A tripod will not prevent a moving subject from blurring with a slow shutter speed. Low ISO film on a tripod can work well for stationary subjects in dim light, such as ornaments on a wall inside a church.
Exposure
The correct exposure time depends on the film ISO, the lens aperture and the available light. Use a light meter to determine this exposure time. Most cameras have built-in meters.
Experienced photographers often expose photos for a different amount of time than suggested by the light meter, depending upon conditions. For example, very bright lighting conditions with dark shadows call for overexposure and underdevelopment. The exposure time suggested by a meter under such conditions is not long enough to expose the shadows in the picture. Underdevelopment avoids turning the brightly lit areas into white, without detail.
Development
Ordinary one-hour photo labs rarely develop black-and-white film.
One option for development is to send your film off to a professional photo lab; however, it is easy and fun to develop your own black-and-white film. This can be done without a darkroom.
You need a light-tight development tank, film reels, developer, fixer, hypo-eliminator bath, and, if you do not have a darkroom, a light-tight bag to load the film onto the reels and into the development tank. These materials can cost less than $50.
Information on black-and-white film development is available in the links at the end of this article.
Printing
Traditional black-and-white film printing is done with an enlarger, which projects the negative image onto light-sensitive photo paper, which is then developed in a process something like film development. Traditional printing requires a darkroom. Inexpensive, used enlargers are widely available as professional photo studios move to digital photography.
Today, photographers commonly scan black and white negatives and print the resulting images on ink-jet printers. Often, black-and-white printing enthusiasts use special carbon-only black-and-white ink sets to avoid the problem of metamerism, or color shading.
Tags: black-and-white film, black-and-white film, exposure time, development tank, film development, film light