Hi,

My wife is interested in learning about and doing black and white photography. I wanted to get her started on it as a Christmas present and am essentially clueless about the subject. She has never taken photographs except for the ones on our $35 dollar Kodak camera.

Can someone give me a general idea of what she needs to start equipment wise, training/books, and what it might cost?

Any response are greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

James

-- James Bennett (jim1192@home.com), December 17, 2000

Answers

Hi:

You would basically need A good camera film A developing tank Thermometer A darkroom Enlarger + enlarging lens Easel Timer Developing trays Darkroom light Chemicals for developing Paper

Personally I think the learning curve would be too steep and only be discouraging, when starting completely from zero. There are just too many variables to be mastered, and it would be very difficult to get good and consistant results. You should only add something new when the previous technique has been mastered. This is the advice I give to you:

- First get a good camera - in function what you want/like to photograph. - Get a book or a course that explains the several possibilities of a camera and how to use it to get good pictures - it's the photographer who makes the picture not the camera... - For black and white get a special type of film (chromogenic B/W film - basically a B/W film that uses colorfilm technology to form the image) as there are Ilford XP2 or Kodak TMAX400cn. These films are easily available and give wonderful results. - Find a good photolab and get the films developed and printed.

The next step is developing the negatives: this actually quite easy.

- Get silverbased B/W film (not chromogenic films since selfdeveloping chromogenic films is very difficult). Good starters are Ilford Delta100 or Agfa APX100. - Get a developing tank ($30) and chemicals (Kodak Xtol, D76 etc, stop, fix, wetting agent) - Get a book/course or look on the internet how to proceed and develop the negatives. - Have the negatives printed by a good lab.

The last step: printing.

By know you know exactly what you are looking after and you can start building your darkroom. You'll know exactly what you want, an advice I can't give you at this moment. You can get good second hand material, starting from $250 to infinity. But for all three steps there is one golden rule: practice, practice and practice. good luck

-- Marc Leest (mmm@n2photography.com), December 18, 2000.

James, if at all possible, I would recommend your wife look into taking a Photo 101 course a nearby college, or at least some community adult education course.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), December 18, 2000.

There is no such thing as too steep a learning curve. There is only lack of will.

My first camera was an Ansco point&shoot for $50. That died and the next camera was (still is) a Pentax WR-90 point&shoot. Then I bought a Pentax 6x7 and Spotmeter V.

I bought Ansel Adam's "The Camera" and read it from cover to cover. I had my film developed at a local (cheap) lab.

I began developing my own film when I found the lab really couldn't develop Kodak Techpan or infrared film. Then I read "The Negative" and started developing the film myself.

And I finally set up my own darkroom.

Anyways, start out by buying a decent camera. You can buy an excellent used all-manual camera for not much money, like a Nikon FTN and a 50mm lens, together for under $200. Drop the film off at your local store for developing. Buy cheap film. Your wife can start developing film when she wants better quality, and can start printing later on.

What really matters is that she should start photographing and pay attention to what she does. That's really all there is to it.

-- Brian C. Miller (brian.c.miller@gte.net), December 18, 2000.

DO YOU KNOW HOW SERIOUS SHE WANTS TO GET? iF SHE WANTS TO HAVE FUN, AND SHE DOESN'T PLAN ON GOING TO SCHOOL, AND YOU HAVE MINIMUM FUNDS, BUY HER A USED BOTTOM OF THE LINE SLR, ONE THAT CAN BE SET ON MANUAL, BUT HAS "BRAINS" TOO. TRYING TO GET AWAY WITH AN OLD MANUAL CAMERA WILL PROBABLY JUST DISCOURAGE HER UNLESS SHE HAS SOMEONE TO SHOW HER THE BASICS F- STOPS AND APERTURE SETTINGS ETC. A BOOK HAS NEVER HELPED ME MUCH, I AM A HANDS ON KIND OF LEARNER. YOU CAN PROBABLY PICK UP A CANON ELAN WITH A WIDE ANGLE 28-80 LENS FOR A COUPLE OF HUNDRED BUCKS, OR A NIKON N50 WITH THE SAME LENS. EXCHANGEABLE LENSES ARE REALLY NESSASARY THOUGH. AND LATER MORE LENSES ARE VITAL. GENERIC BRAND LENSES ARE FINE. I PREFER SIGMA. BUY HER SOME C-41 B&W FILM...IT WILL BE FINE FOR A BEGINNER AND SHE CAN HAVE IT DEVELOPED AT WALMART, OR WHATEVER YOUR LOCAL ONE HOUR PLACES ARE BECAUSE IT USES THE SAME CHEMICALS AS COLOR FILM. ILFORD AND KODAK BOTH HAVE NICE VERSIONS, AS WELL AS KONICA. THEN ENCOURAGE HER TO SHOOT ALOT OF FILM i MEAN ALOT, AND TRY DIFFERENT ANGLES, AT DIFFERENT HEIGHTS, ENCOURAGER HER TO TAKE PICTURES OF THINGS SHE MAY HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF PHOTOGRAPHING...TAKE HER OUT AND LET HER PLAY. AGAIN IF SHE ISN'T GOING TO SCHOOL, TRIAL AND ERROR WILL BE HER BEST FRIEND. AND WHEN SHE'S READY TO GET MORE COMPLICATED SHE WILL HAVE THE OPTION OF PUTTING THE CAMERA ON MANUAL.

AS FAR AS BOOKS GO, MANY WILL JUST COMPLICATE THINGS FOR HER. IT WOULD BROBABLY BE BETTER FOR HER TO GO TO THE LIBRARY AND LOOK AT OTHER PEOPLES WORK. LOTS OF IT. TELL HER TO PAY ATTENTION TO HOW TIGHT THE PICTURES ARE, AND LET HER KNOW THAT WITH MOST AMATURE SLRS THE VIEW FINDER SHOWS JUST SLIGHTLY LESS THAN WHAT SHE IS GOING TO GET ON FILM. IF YOU HAVE MORE MONEY TO SPEND, AN OR MORE TIME, HAVE HER TAKE A CLASS AS THE WISE PEOPLE ABOVE HAVE SAID. BUT I REALY WOULDN'T INVEST IN A DARKROOM OF ANY KIND UNTIL SHE FEELS LIKE SHE'S GEETING EXCITING THINGS ON FILM THAT SHE NOW WANTS TO MANIPULATE ON HER OWN. I WOULD JUST GET HER A BETTER CAMERA. lIKE THE NEW CANNON ELAN 7E. NOW THAT WOULD BE A FUN CAMERA FOR A BEGINNER!!! I AM A COLLEGE STUDENT MYSELF, BUT I PLAYED AROUND WITH SLRS, LENSES AND FILMS FOR 12 YEARS BEFORE I TOOK IT SERIOUSLY ENOUGH TO GO TO SCHOOL. I AM NOW MAJORING IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND LOOOOVE IT.

IF SHE EVER GETS STUCK, SHE CAN E-MAIL ME ANYTIME, ALTHOUGH MOST OF THE TIME I TAKE A FEW DAYS TO ANSWER CAUSE I DON'T SPEND MUCH TIME IN FRONT OF THIS THING...USUALLY

I REALLY HOPE SHE DOES PERSUE IT, WITH YOUR SUPPORT SHE WILL HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME AND FEEL GREAT ABOUT IT TOO...

-- jane (jmng@juno.com), February 08, 2001.