Old B&W Photos

I found these while going through some stuff, and thought I would scan them in. They were taken on a Minolta X 570 camera using Kodak Panatomic 32 Speed film - at least I think it was Panatomic. I do remember the 32 speed though.

They were taken from Liberty State Park in Jersey City and show the former Twin Towers of the World Trade Center along with the old CRRNJ Ferry Terminal.

Nice Photos. Got any more?

I for one am just delighted that you posted these. There's nothing quite like traditional silver B+W and these are very good indeed.

Thanks for the comments Gents. I do have more, but I have to sort a bunch of old photos to find them. There were also taken on Kodak B&W and are of the Mystic Seaport.

My Great-Grandfather...

I love those old cars. Still can't believe how long those hoods were...

How's this for an old car - with my father-in-law...

Panatomic....Is that the same as pan-x? I like a lot of contrast in B&W photos. I like the first pic, and the ones with the ferns. Nice.

Panatomic X was a 32 Speed ISO film that was the B&W equivalent of 25 Speed Kodachrome. Two films I miss greatly.

Hope you don't mind but I don't think you are doing these images justice and find the posted pics a wee bit flat. If you tweak the white and black points (make the whites really white; and the blacks true black) it brings them to life. See my tweaked ones .. 1st image - Before & After and then for the 2nd image After & Before . (Check the areas of the roof steel work and around my vertical 'split' in both)

Its a simple technique - and auto balance, auto correct etc. usually works well in any graphics editor. But the theory and everything you need to know about scanning is found here scantips.com

Remember a small amount of sharpening - unsharp mask is usually the most flexible and simplest - and is usually required with any scan.

Good luck

Plus-X is inherently rather contrasty. much more than Panatomic. My favorite b&w film of all time was Verichrome Pan. It had latitude you wouldn't believe...almost impossible to get an unprintable negative with it. But alas, they never made it in 35mm, only 120 and sheet film.