The Classic Look

There must be quite a few ways to achieve the old-fashioned classic look you see in black and white portraits from the 50's. Personally, the most fun and authentic way is to use classic equipment.

This was taken with an uncoated Leica Summar 50mm lens from 1934. A leica medium yellow filter was used. The camera was a 1950's vintage Leica IIIF. Shot wide-open, the Summar is known to give a soft, dreamy rendering.



The film and process are equally important. I used Kodak Plus-X rated at EI 64, plus one stop for the filter. This was souped in HC-110, pulled by 25% less on the developing time. The negative was a little too thin for my taste. I will try 10-15% next time.