do a raw black and white scan with silverfast 6.6

The process is, in and of itself, inherently magical - and for many photographic connoisseurs, the exclusion of color harkens back to a “familiar” past - made all the more real through the art form’s tangible captures.

Before a semi-widespread transition to color in the 1940s and ‘50s, photography relied on a silver-halide grain that would sensitize to certain hues and wavelengths of visible light upon entering a camera’s lens, rather than the red, green, and blue overlays utilized by modern digital cameras. The discovery of substances that could be manipulated (and visibly altered) through exposure to light, the innovation of an image projection system known as camera obscura, and the relentless tenacity of several brilliant centurial minds brought about a visual renaissance that would only grow in breadth and popularity.

As you’d expect, black and white photographs have an exceedingly rich heritage, tracing back to the very first iteration of “negative” reproduction during the 18th century. But first, let’s talk about why black and white photography is so special.Įven today, photographers across a number of different disciplines call upon the iconic monochromatic “look” to purvey the impactful preservation of time. And in typical fashion, we’ve made sure to include a small number of heritage offerings, as well. But rest assured - if you’re a purist who harbors the utmost respect for a world portrayed in black and white, we’ve compiled a list of monochrome cameras for black and white photography that will still give you that nostalgic feel.

These days, digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLRs) have become an industry standard, replacing early film in nearly every facet of the professional sphere. In 1935, Eastman Kodak unveiled the first integral tri-pack color film, Kodachrome, jump-starting an expansive, industry-wide movement toward color processing in film cameras.īut today, we’re here to focus on the visual style that started it all: a photograph which would utilize a spectrum of black to white.

In fact, it wasn’t until 1932 that a commercialized three-strip Technicolor was offered to the masses, capturing an extremely limited color range using two separate color components. It’s hard to explain, really - after all, the advent of light transitioning from one exposure-sensitive mirror to another, quantified by a subtractive color formation system, and eventually, onto a negative via a complex process that utilizes red, blue, and green dyes to reproduce the shades seen by the human eye - has not been around forever. For many, the sight of a monochromatic photograph can strike an area of deep-seated nostalgia - transporting us to an era when everything seemed much simpler, archaic, and relevant.

Do a raw black and white scan with silverfast 6.6