The ‘Silver Photo Collective’ is a group of experienced shooters whose primary interest is celebrating all aspects of B&W film photography including processing and printing. Apart from shooting, we have a monthly get together for a 3 hour chat session while indulging in finger foods.
On our chat agenda for last month was film processing and chemistry. Right off the bat a photographer was lamenting about Kodak’s D76: its cost, even if he could find it. I interrupted Warren with the good news – ILFORD’s ID-11 is absolutely identical to D76 except it’s readily available at camera retailers and online at a much lower price!
ILFORD offers a complete spectrum of B&W chemistry which are equivalent to Kodak, and in some cases some cases considered superior and even a few developer options never offered by Kodak.
A few examples:
- ID-11 = D76
- Ilfotec DD-X = T-Max
- Ilfotec HC = HC-110
- Bromophen = Dektol
Chemistry equivalents of 23 and B&W films a total of 9… very impressive and better yet, immediately available for your analogue adventures.
Ted Grant… “Real photographers shot B&W film”.
Enjoy!!!
Ethics: My opinions are based on my personal and professional experiences with ILFORD products. It started with the Lisgar Collegiate camera club, continued as a news photographer for The Ottawa Journal, then as a freelancer HP5 was my choice for both location and studio shoots be it with Leica, Nikon or Hasselblad. I’ve relied on ILFORD films, chemistry and papers for 6 decades. I’ve also had extensive experience with Kodak and Agfa… their products are excellent… for myself it’s ILFORD.
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About the Author – Crombie McNeill
PHOTONews Flash is honoured to see our contributing editor Crombie McNeill featured in CTV News Ottawa. Tune in to hear Crombie’s story and his mission to help those experiencing homelessness.
Crombie McNeill is a unique artist. He’s a world travelled photographer with numerous awards and has been recognized as one of the best editorial photographers in North America. His credits include Time, Newsweek, ELLE, Life, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Chatelaine, Paris Match, McLean’s, En Route to name but a few.
His Odyssey lead him from the Arctic to high fashion magazine shoots to Olympic Games, World Cup events, the depths of the Great Barrier Reef to the altitude with the Snow Birds, interwoven with civil war in Africa, Royalty, presidents to paupers world wide. Not to mention frozen toes at the North Pole.
His photography has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, the United States and Europe and has three books to his credit.
Not one to leave behind the uniqueness of traditional film he’s evolved a blending of photography with both hand applied and computer processing to produce truly unique images.
“The art of photography for me” says Crombie “is to convey a timeless essence with a hint of mystery”.
The National Archives predicts he will be credited as one of Canada’s most significant photographers and is on the list for The Order of Canada. The National Art Gallery of Canada has some of his fine art B&W prints included in their permanent collection.
Crombie is now happily retired, in that he no longer accepts editorial or commercial assignments He now lives in Aylmer, with his wife Sue. “This retirement”, he’s delighted to says, “allows me the freedom to search for those magical B&W images, and to determine the ideal technique by which it should be captured and presented.
Crombie often returns to the peaceful amber glow of his wet darkroom as a respite from his extensive digital lab and art board.
Please enjoy!
