In addition, they are much more sensitive to temperature shifts. If you decide to
experiment with professional film, store it in a refrigerator to retard aging and keep
the color fidelity constant.
Negative or reversal “professional” film also is designed and manufactured for pro-
fessionals who demand accurate color balance. A film’s age and its ISO rating and
color balance change during storage. Professional film is shipped with its qualities
near their peak, and is refrigerated by camera stores to ensure that it is in the best
condition.
Professionals usually buy large quantities of film, preferably all from the same man-
ufacturing batch, and they shoot test rolls to determine its precise ISO and color bal-
ance. Professionals keep film refrigerated until it is used, and develop it as soon as
possible. Conversely, amateur film may be shipped before it is ready, as the manu-
facturers anticipate that it will not be used immediately. It often improves after a
few months of room-temperature storage.
The useful life of unopened film can be extended by refrigeration or freezing.
However, once film is opened (you take it out of its plastic container), it is better kept
at room temperature and should be exposed and developed promptly.Films for Specialized Color Balance and Exposure Times
Each type of color film is intended for a specific type of light. Ordinary daylight film
is color balanced for daylight and electronic flash. Type B tungsten film is balanced
for 3,200° Kelvin (or K) studio quartz-halogen lights, although ordinary incandescent
light bulbs are acceptable. There are a few films for special situations: Type A film is
made for 3,400° K lights. Type L (for long) negative films are designed for long expo-
sures (60 to 120 seconds) under tungsten light.Selecting and Using Film
If you already own a 35mm film camera or a medium-format camera and aren’t
ready to invest in digital, you might want to stick with film. You can always pur-
chase a decent flatbed scanner with a negative insert for less than $300 and scan
your negatives. Fortunately, your choices for film are extensive, even after five years
of creeping digital.
This section discusses black and white and color. Thanks to Photoshop and scanners,
converting color to black and white has become child’s play. However, black and
white still has a place in the photographer’s portfolio because of its latitude, con-
trast, saturation, and artistic element (see Figure 3.1). Most of the information on
these two pages applies to both black and white and color.32 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TODIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY