Black and White Photography

Film Storage and X Rays
For safe storage, keep all film in a relatively dry environment (low humidity)
and away from heat, whenever possible at a temperature of 75°F or lower. This
applies to unexposed or exposed film, and even processed negatives. You can
store unexposed film in a refrigerator or freezer to prolong its freshness, but be
sure to keep it in its original package, and let it reach room temperature before
taking it out of the package and putting it in your camera. It’s good practice to
keep film in its original packaging at all times until you are ready to use it, and
to process film as soon as possible after you expose it.
Film is sensitive to radiation, such as the X rays used by airport inspection
systems. Film exposed to radiation can be fogged, exhibiting random streaks of
density or an overall darkness when developed. To avoid such fogging you
should never keep film in checked baggage, which is subject to high-intensity
X rays. Also, you should have film hand-inspected whenever possible, rather
than put it through the screening machines used at airport gates. High-speed
films (ISO 800 or higher) are most susceptible to X-ray exposure, but all films
are vulnerable, especially if they go through these machines more than once.
The damaging effects of radiation exposure are cumulative.opening. A few cameras have a bigger opening in their back to produce a larger
image on 35mm film.
Medium format. Medium-format film is larger than 35mm film, so it produces
larger negatives that, with rare exceptions, produce prints that are sharper, less
grainy, and render more gray tones. This film format is generally used by advanced
and professional photographers for such subjects as fashion, portraiture,
still life, and landscape.
Rather than packed inside a protective cassette, medium-format film comes
as a roll wrapped tightly onto a spool, with an opaque paper backing to prevent
unwanted exposure to light. Medium-format film is sometimes called roll
film for this reason. The most common medium-format size is 120; the far less
common size 220 film allows double the exposures per roll. Both 120 and 220
films measures 23⁄8" wide.
Some medium-format cameras produce one size image only, while others are
capable of producing more than one size with the use of masking attachments
or different film backs. Many medium-format cameras have interchangeable
film backs that attach to the back of the camera, much as interchangeable
lenses attach to the front, and take different-size pictures; these include film
backs as well as digital backs that do not require film at all. Other cameras
accept masking attachments that fit into the back of the camera.

Large format. Large-format film is much larger than 35mm or medium-format.

It comes in single sheets rather than rolls—and is thus called sheet film—and

produces only one picture per sheet. Sheet films come in a variety of sizes,

including the most common size, 4" x 5", and the less common, 8" x 10".

Large-format cameras are used by advanced and professional photographers

who want extremely sharp and grainless results with the widest range of tonality.

Photographers working with architectural and still-life subjects, as well as many

landscape and formal portrait photographers, often favor large-format film.

There are several specialized black-and-white films available, originally made

for a particular purpose, such as for medical or graphic-arts images. You can

use some of these films for creative effect. Here are a few of the most interesting

special black-and-white films, but keep in mind that some of them may be

hard to find.

High-contrast. Sometimes called litho films, these films can be used in the

camera to make high-contrast original negatives, or they can be used in the

darkroom to make copy negatives and positives for a variety of darkroom

manipulations.