question for tcom, pacerr, or anyone.

[davidhampshire]

ok,   i've been watching old episodes of mission impossible from the 1960's and the quality of the photography and colors ( which seem more muted or subtle or blended,  or something...   i don't know)  ,   is just so great.     even the skin tones are great.    i realize this is probably good film it was shot on originally,    but my question is :   the plug-ins or whatever they are ,  such as the black and white silver effex,   do they have plug-ins for programs to make the images out of digital cameras look more like that era of film ?      something that is not too complicated ?       

dave

[Pacerr]

. . .  do they have plug-ins for programs to make the images out of digital cameras look more like that era of film ?   

Yep, they sure do, although it's REALLY hard to beat the old film quality in the hands of pros.

I've long advocated the idea that old B&W movies from the '40's and '50's are excellent tutorials (and goals) for composition, tonality and exposure.

Smithsonian's "Air & Space" magazine just published an article on how the Hollywood movie industry participated in WW2 training and media-supported propaganda. Even the magazine pixs are excellent examples of what the "pros" could do with film (down-sampled web images are poor proof of the original quality however) . See it here:

http://www.airspacemag.co...Movie.html?c=y&page=1

Notice the use of lighting and reflectors to equalize the DR of the film - no clipping or muddy blacks or mid-tones there. And no whining about bad auto-focus from those folks either!

[Ron Kruger]

Reversal Film Mode, PDCU4. Adjust exposure to your liking.

[davidhampshire]

hey,   what ever happened to this idea?    if i understand it correctly ,  some kind of digital back for a film camera,  which would allow the film camera to be used ?  as in  full frame viewfinder?   and lenses?   or am i wrong  :      http://photo.net/equipment/leica/dmr/

dave

[Pacerr]

Well, they exist -- or existed, I haven't seen 'em advertised lately -- but they appear to be extremely inefficient  for anything less than medium and large format bodies. And excessively costly given the lack of market for 'em. Search for "digital back camera".

http://www.bhphotovideo.c...igital-Backs/N/4288586702

[davidhampshire]

ok,   so much for that idea i guess.   kinda costly.    thanks pacerr,   keep me on the straight and narrow ,  ok ?    dave   

[tcom]

ok,   i've been watching old episodes of mission impossible from the 1960's and the quality of the photography and colors ( which seem more muted or subtle or blended,  or something...   i don't know)  ,   is just so great.     even the skin tones are great.    i realize this is probably good film it was shot on originally,    but my question is :   the plug-ins or whatever they are ,  such as the black and white silver effex,   do they have plug-ins for programs to make the images out of digital cameras look more like that era of film ?      something that is not too complicated ?       

dave

I have never tried it out, but Nik Color Efex Pro does most probably allow to achieve what you are looking for. You might give it a try under http://www.niksoftware.co...p?view=intro%2Fmain.shtml

[Pacerr]

Dave, just run a search for "Nik software review":

There's a number of demonstrations and reviews such as this one.

http://www.northlight-ima.../plugins/silver_efex.html

Silver Efex and Color Efex have pre-sets to emulate the look of about two dozen types of B&W and color film and the ability to tweak those settings as well.

Film emulation is nothing more than a set of adjustments for contrast, density ratios, film grain, etc. intended to produce a given 'look'.

Have you tried experimenting with the B&W filter effect in your DSLR?

[blackcloudbrew]

There is also Exposure 3 from Alien Skin software which can simulate 100's of film types. These are really quite good but film is still better.

[davidhampshire]

thanks,   bcb, tcom, ron,  and pacerr.   

[materialsguy]

Another similar plug-in from Tiffen is DFx, which does what you are asking about and more:

http://www.tiffensoftware...m/products/dfx-standalone

It comes in many flavors including MAC, PC, stand-alone and plug- in.  Over 100 types of film simulations are included.  They have a version that handles video as well.

Also, DXO has their FilmPack, which digitally simulates the look over 60 film types. Again, it is available in stand-alone or plug-in.

http://dxo.com/intl/photo...pack/what_is_dxo_filmpack

Shaun M