WW2 Black and white film stock for accurate photography.

[Kitteh]

Hey! You guys wouldn't happen to know what the qualities were of camera film during the second world war? Any modern equivalent for modern cameras (eg. In 120 film)?. Hell, any good suggestion for allied cameras from the time as well? I've got a Brownie Hawkeye camera (Yes, I know it's not totally accurate), and I've been meaning to take some nice pictures of me in my uniform. If I were able to get my hands on some unused film from the time, from my general understanding it would have been expired by now so I can't use it. Thanks in advance for any info you guys have.

[Steve B.]

Actual period film is likely to be unusable.  Modern black & white and color film is available in a variety of ASA / ISO numbers.  Lots of photo software out there too if you want to do digital photos and artificially age them.  You might look for reenactor pages for this info since this is the type of thing they like to do, too.  At the Front has a good vendors and reenacting group page that might point you in the right direction.  They are at:  www.atthefront.com.

[dmar836]

I have a few Holga rangefinder-style cameras that were popular in the "artistic" photography scene. They are cheap plastic cameras(<$20 at the time) that were popular for replicating old photos. They were highly modifiable and many did.

The issue is, cameras used during the war, by the press, were actually super high quality(and even larger than the 120 format). Even today, many well focused pics can be enlarged with stunning detail.

You can go down the rabbit hole of modern B&W films but pushing the film will give the grainier effect.

I agree that film that age would likely be no good.

Dave