Digital BW, The Print

Greetings -

I've been lurking on this list, and previously on several others related to
digital imaging, for a few months now. Having learned a great deal from
everyone -- for which many thanks -- and come to some conclusions, I
thought I would briefly describe my experience in case it's useful to
anyone else starting out.

I take pictures with a 35mm camera on Kodak TMax 400 film, developed in
TMax developer. For a number of years I printed on both Agfa Multicontrast
8x10 RC paper (prints to give away and for my own file collection) and
Ilford MG Fiber (for my "portfolio"). I have never sold a print as such,
and have seldom been paid for a picture: I do this for my own reasons and
to create pictures to give to other people.

Darkroom work is something I have had to shoehorn in between work and the
rest of my life, and the time and tedium of setting up, washing, drying,
spotting, etc., not to mention the cost of materials and darkroom rental,
were getting to me. I have therefore ended up with the following digital
equipment set: a Minolta Dimage Scan Dual II (2820 ppi), Photoshop 6.0 on
an iMac, and an Epson 1160 printer. The scanner produces excellent results:
I can see the grain of my negatives (which I like a lot; see below), and
that grain is pin-sharp corner to corner. The printer appears sturdy and
reliable. I have a lot to learn about Photoshop, but already I can
manipulate images to create a more balanced print than I ever learned to
make under the enlarger.

What I have not ended up with, to my surprise, is _any_ of the quadtone B&W
inksets. Having tried the Epson OEM color inks (weird color casts), PiezoBW
(too brown, too much nozzle clogging, too expensive), and the MIS
variable-tone inkset (best of the bunch), I found that I simply do not like
the grainless "large-format" look that quadtones produce on paper. My
pictures are often about expressions and gestures and fleeting events, and
seldom depend on sheer technical excellence for their impact; I like 35mm
for that reason, and I like the way a good lens retains its sharpness down
into the film's visible grain.

So what I _am_ going to use is just the black cartridge on my 1160, by
simply selecting "black" rather than "color" in the Print dialog. I will be
trying out both Generations and the MIS double-density black in an effort
to get maximum depth. Yes, I will see tiny little dots in the highest-value
areas; but I need to look very closely and in any case they don't bother
me. I am accustomed, after all, to understanding a picture as a pattern of
tiny black dots of silver on a sheet of white paper. The results on Epson
Heavyweight Matte (for now) are just what I'm looking for: a
black-and-white image that retains the distinctive look of 35mm but with
all the flexibility of Photoshop adjustments and desktop output.

Are there any other 35mm photographers out there who feel as I do? or is
everyone else happy with, and striving to achieve, that smooth big-negative
look? Am I alone in my deplorable practice of just using the black
cartridge?

Thank you all again for the enormously valuable information you are
providing. I look forward to more stimulating discussions.

Best regards,

-- Nick

NICHOLAS HARTMANN                                +1 (414) 271-4890
611 N. Broadway, Suite 509                  fax: +1 (414) 271-4892
Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA                       polyglot@...

Technical and scientific translator:  German and French -> English