{"id":43559,"date":"2026-02-09T06:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T11:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=43559"},"modified":"2026-02-14T23:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T04:10:14","slug":"gone-retro-dxo-film-pack-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/gone-retro-dxo-film-pack-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Gone Retro\u2014DxO Film Pack 7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DxO Film Pack7 is a program that enables the import and conversion of digital files to simulate the appearance of images made with traditional film emulsions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I began dabbling with this tool the other day, which led me to look back over one of my 40 year-old photo albums, examining the aesthetics of my traditional images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mid-1980s, I routinely worked with Kodak and Ilford B&W films and made 3.5 x 5 inch ‘proof-prints’ from my negatives by cutting 5×7 inch paper stock in half. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, I’ve scanned one of my original 3.5 x 5 inch prints, and for comparision also converted a digital file exposed last week (February 1, 2026), using DxO Film Pack7 software to simulate Kodak Tri-X and Ilford HP5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of this exercise is purely about appearance and nostalgia. Although I’ve selected a retro subject (an old Budd RDC), the intent is to compare the aesthetic qualities of the the simulated black & white with my actual vintage black & white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if the Nikon Z6 digital camera had been available to me in 1985, would I have chosen this camera over my stalwart Leica 3A loaded with hand-rolled Kodak Tri-X?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Handmade 3.5 x 5 inch proof print from a 35mm black & white negative. Conrail’s Sunday TV-9 rolls west through Warren, Mass., on February 3, 1985. The Sunday TV9 ran on a later schedule than its weekday counterparts. This was something of a ‘clean-up train’, which often carried ‘bare tables’ (empty TTX intermodel flats) as well as stray carload traffic along with cars of intermodal trailers. In this situation, a lone covered hopper trails behind the GE C30-7As followed by 40ft trailers on flats.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Back of the original proof-print, complete with my notation. At the time the GE C30-7A diesels were relatively new.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Digital photo exposed on February 1, 2026 using a Nikon Z6 and converted using DxO Film Pack7 to resemble an image exposed on Ilford HP5 black & white film.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Same image as above, but converted to resemble a photo exposed on Kodak Tri-X 400. It was this conversion that inspired this post. I have a lot of grainy high contrast photos from the 1980s that look like this one.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DxO has offered a discount to Tracking the Light readers. If you are interested in buying DxO Film Pack 7 or other DxO programs, the discount code \u201cTRACKINGTHELIGHT\u201d will work for 15% off for any new customer at\u00a0shop.dxo.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The purpose of this exercise is purely appearance and nostalgia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6060,10,6108,48],"tags":[5043,5128,104],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/RN_RDC_Reading_Outer_Station_HP5DSC_5700F-1.jpg?fit=2048%2C1363","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BVuC-bkz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43559"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43559"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43639,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43559\/revisions\/43639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}