Going from B&W reversal to Color Negative

Galen Carter-Jeffrey · October 13, 2006

I am in a film class and so far we have only shot B&W reversal. I want to shoot a project on color negative in November, is there anything I need to know? I have heard the latitude is greater on negative film.

Charles MacDonald · October 13, 2006

I am in a film class and so far we have only shot B&W reversal. I want to shoot a project on color negative in November, is there anything I need to know? I have heard the latitude is greater on negative film.

The latitude is higher in that the negative must be scanned or printed, which allows a chance to fudge the results. Normaly the lab will select a good transfer/print exposure (called Timing for historical reasons) for you entire shoot. Any variation will be off as much as it would be if shot in B&W reversal, unless they go back and fix it for you.

Of course, since you are forever stuck with what you get with B&W reversal, I supose the ability to fiddle at the lab is greater latitude.!

One differnce is that in any reversal film, most of the wiggle room is on the underexposed side. Once you get "clear film" from overexposure, you can't do anything to corect it. Shooting any sort of negative the latitude is to overexposure, and some folks will deliberatly shoot a bit over exposed to be "safe". The negative film is also lower contrast than the reversal, and that leaves a bit more exposure variation room.

Galen Carter-Jeffrey · October 13, 2006

Thanks, that is the kind of information that I needed to know. I probably wont be able to shoot any negative film before this project, Is there anything I should be thinking about while I am preparing the lighting? I cant remember the exact film stock, but its Kodak Vision 2 that has just recently been discontinued.

Dan Salzmann · October 13, 2006

Just light it the for the way you want it to look and expose (meter) correctly and you will be fine.

If you have been lighting reversal film with good results, then neg will not be a problem.

You should however keep in mind the differences between color and b&w. Most importantly the fact that things seperate more from each other in color enabling you to light more softly if that suits the mood and artistic intentions of the film.