Is there an online gallery to compare different film stocks?
Asked 12/26/2012
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I’d like to compare the look of different film stocks online. Flickr tag searches help a bit, but is there a better gallery or database that lets you browse by film type more easily? Ideally I want to compare the films themselves with as little influence as possible from camera format, development, scanning, or digital post-processing. If that’s not realistic, is the best approach just to try a few films myself?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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There are some "film" group on flickr where you can see pictures taken with it.
I'm administrator of a french one, and force users to tag their pictures with the film used and camera; and then I've created a front-end website to explore the pictures of the group: http://www.e-cerveau.com/argentique/
It's in french, but go to the "Films" page, choose a film in "Noir et Blanc" (black and white) or "Couleur" (color) and then click on the link "Voir les X photos prises avec ce film" (view the X pictures taken with this film").
However, as you said you just want to figure out the difference between films only without much influence of the camera, developpement... I think it's impossible. Because:
- a film will not give the same result in 24x36 or in medium format (6x6; 7x6),...
- the camera / lens will change the result (chromatic aberration,...)
- the way the photograph used the film will change the result (some photograph always shoot at a lower iso speed than the one specified on the film; by example shoot at 50iso instead of 100iso for a 100 iso film)
- the way how the film is developped (chimichal product, time,...) into a negative will change the contrast, ...
- the way how the negative is developped into a photo, the paper used,... will change the final result
All this is the part of the photographic process, and the developpement is a really import part in which one there a big part of "interpretation" (as you can do in Adobe Lightroom).
And the most important part is : you want to see that on the web which implied a scanning process of the final paper photo, or the negative. After scanning, we generaly post process the numerical photo, to readjust contract etc... (because a scanner will interpret what it have seen).
So you must try the films yourself.
Originally by user14235. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user14235
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
There are Flickr film groups and similar community galleries that let you browse images by film stock, and some custom front-ends make that easier. They can be useful for getting a rough feel for color, contrast, and grain.
That said, isolating the “film look” alone is basically impossible from online samples. The final result is heavily affected by format (35mm vs medium format), camera/lens, exposure, development, scanning, and editing. So online galleries are best for general impressions, not strict side-by-side evaluation.
If you want a controlled comparison, the best answer is to test films yourself under the same conditions. Shoot the same subject with the same camera and lens, meter consistently, and use the same lab or scanning workflow.
If you only want a quick preview of how classic films differ, film-simulation plugins for Photoshop or Lightroom can help illustrate typical differences in contrast, color, saturation, and grain—but they’re still simulations, not a substitute for real film tests.
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