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Hot take: should new film shooters start with black and white, not color?
I was at a camera shop in Portland last week and overheard this guy telling a beginner they should shoot B&W for their first 10 rolls because it teaches you about light and composition. But then the beginner said they wanted to learn color because that's what they see. I get both sides. B&W is cheaper to develop and you don't have to worry about white balance. But color gets you excited to keep shooting. I started on a $30 Kodak Gold pack and messed up a bunch. What do you all think - which one makes more sense for someone just starting out?
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the_skyler6d agoMost Upvoted
Start with whatever gets you EXCITED to pick up the camera. That's the REAL lesson nobody talks about in these gear debates. I've seen people drop $500 on film and development for their first month of B&W, then quit because they felt like they were doing homework instead of having fun. Same thing happens with people who buy fancy coffee gear but hate the taste of black coffee they force themselves to drink before adding cream and sugar. The whole "you gotta learn the basics first" thing ignores that people learn BETTER when they actually WANT to keep doing it. Let beginners shoot color and mess up the white balance. They'll figure out light and composition through trial and error anyway, which is WAY more memorable than any lecture from a store clerk.
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derek_dixon786d ago
My buddy at the used shop in Austin told me they process almost twice as many B&W rolls with light leaks and totally blank frames compared to color. Here's the thing nobody is saying about B&W for beginners. You can actually screw up pretty badly with exposure and not realize it until you get your scans back because there's no color shift to warn you something went wrong. Color negative film has way more latitude and the colors will tell you immediately if you underexposed or messed up development. I see new people burning through rolls of HP5 and blaming the camera when really they just need the visual feedback that color gives you. Color makes your mistakes obvious and teachable, B&W just hides them until you get really good.
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