We noticed something interesting: manufacturer specs and commercial film reviews all sound kinda same—each film is “the sharpest with the widest latitude.” Sounds familiar? Is it just marketing clickbait or has industrial “optimization” forced all modern B&W films to behave identically? We have our doubts and we are going to find out. This is a completely independent research process,we are not going to shave any film brand for a plum.

To map the truth, we need your help. Apply via the form bellow and become a RADLAB Test Pilot.

• The Mission: To build a Deep Knowledge Archive. We need to examine how different B&W films handle different developing regimes under specific challenges. Our pilots bring their own photography style, backed by the discipline to meet some tech requirements. Constraints aren’t shackles—the experimental parameters make the results meaningful.
• The Gear: Manual system or automatic point-and-shoot, your gear must be trusted and in perfect working condition to eliminate mechanical variables.
• The Protocol: Each month we pick a B&W film model. Two chosen test pilots get a free roll and a technical shooting mission. Rolls are processed at RADLAB for sensitometric analysis, driven by our core values: objectivity, precision, and reproducibility.
• The Shared Data: All findings will be open-access. We will share the raw analysis numbers, directly reflecting their visual truth through a curated selection of silver-gelatin prints.
• The Deal (Co-Authorship): You keep your negatives and get a custom Technical Lab Report. As an independent open science project, we view you as a co-author. In exchange for the free film and development, you grant RadLab the right to include the images in our Archive and publications, fully credited. Your visual language becomes the direct evidence used to educate the community.

By hitting the APPLY button, Test Pilots agree to be bound by these Terms and Conditions of Participation. Please read them carefully before applying.