shooting b&w reversal (tri-x, 7266)

[janisnords]

Dear D.Mullen,

I'm planning to shoot a feature project on b&w reversal trix 7266.
For now, I've had a great deal fo trouble finding a lab in Europe which could provide processing and telecine.
They do provide cross-processing which presumably increases grain and contrast? How big is the increase?
I'm choosing reversal because it's cheap and I love the vivid contrast. What are my options to increase the contrast if I shoot negative? Filters, post?
I've also heard it's hard to light the reversal stock? The local camera guys are quite afraid to shoot on reversal because of the problem above. How is it really?

Looking forward,
Janis

 

[DBXMe2]

if you are shooting black and white negative, and you want to up the contrast, all you have to do is put a magenta filter. At the same time, like with any filter, compensate your f-stop, due to the loss of light.

Black and white reversal, I have never worked with, color, I know that saturation is increased. Though with reversal, the thing is you have less latitude between stops. Maybe 3 stops? max. What I'm talking about is that, if you take a wrong light reading, or expose for the wrong light, you have a big chance that you do not get an exposure. Because the film has less latitude then negative. On negative stock you have about 7 latitudes of stops. So if you set your f-stop in the middle of that range, you can walk in and out of different light intensities without it going underexposed and over exposed.... thats the big difference. With Reversal, you have a greater chance, because you can only go a few stops higher or lower, and you can miss your shot entierly.

Thats just me, maybe the David will say otherwise...

GL!
Mike

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't know why a magenta filter automatically increases contrast with b&w. What it does is cancel green wavelengths, which would make greens darker (less exposed) and skintones lighter (since they have pink in them.) That could increase the contrast if you are shooting faces against greenery I suppose.

Reddish filters tend to increase contrast outdoors because shadows have a higher blue content than the sunlit areas, so the shadows get darker when filtered red. Plus blue skies get darker of course.

All those warming filters, from yellow to red, will make caucasian fleshtones lighter in b&w (but will also make lips lighter, so be careful.)

I wouldn't cross-process b&w reversal in a neg bath -- you'd probably be better off at that point shooting b&w neg or color neg and removing the color in post.

B&W reversal looks great, deep blacks, rich contrast, but you have to expose it dead-on, that's all.

You can try push-processing Plus-X Neg for more contrast, rather than use Double-X Neg.

 

[element80]

If you want an idea of what it looks like, go to my filmmaker myspace http://www.myspace.com/planetmercury. I have a film on there that I shot on Plus-X Reversal called "The Hit". It's obviously not the same as Tri-X, but it's similar. This should give you an idea of what they're talking about when they say you have to get the exposure right on. The first two scenes (both interiors) I underexposed and pushed one stop, because Plus-X is only rated ASA 80 indoor, and I didn't want to be shooting wide open (I wanted to shoot on Tri-X, but we were out of it at the time, and I had to shoot that week). All the stuff in the mid-tones turned out fine, but there is no detail in the shadows. That should give you a good idea of why the lighting and exposure has to be pretty dead on. Since you're shooting Tri-X, though, it shouldn't be as big a problem, since it's a faster stock (I think 180 indoor, 200 outdoor). Hope this helps. I know it's been a while since you made the original post, so you may have already shot by now, but maybe this will help someone else.