Digital BW, The Print

At 10:36 AM -0400 4/26/02, Shire,Stanley wrote:
>Another vote for "bigger is better." I am making (mostly landscape)
>images with a Mamiya 7II. The camera is light (no mirror, no prism; just
>a beautiful, bright rangefinder camera). The 6x7 negs (scanned at home
>on an Epson 1640 with trans adapter) and Silverfast print beautifully.
>Sharp, sharp, sharp.
>Although I use my CP5000 for some stuff, the M7 gets most of the
>"serious" work.
>

I must have missed the first message in this thread, but it seems to 
be a discussion about everyone's choice of format and why.  I think I 
will go "against the grain"...and vote for 35mm...or maybe I might 
better say "with the grain."    While I own high quality professional 
4x5 and 2 1/4 outfits which I occasionally use for professional work 
requiring detail or camera movements,  I must confess that I am a 
35mmm photographer in my soul.  I hate to use tripods and like the 
rapid visualization and discovery that only small format can give. 
Smaller is better for me.  I hate to lug around lots of equipment. 
Also, to my eyes,  the abstract quality of grain is a big plus. 
Infrared is a specialty of mine and it certainly doesn't look real in 
the sense that Tri-x does.

In the future, I will most likely go all digital...as Photoshop is a 
big part of my routine now.  I have been a part-time college 
photography teacher for about 18 years, mostly black and white and 
for the last three have been only teaching  the Digital Imaging 
(Photoshop) class.  I will probably make the switch to all digital 
when the 35mm professional cameras have larger capture devices and a 
20mm lens takes a 20mm image and not a 28mm image.  Actually I like 
the idea of shooting everything in color and converting in Photoshop 
to get zthe effect I like.  This is similar to what a lot of people 
are doing with color negative film for black and white final prints.

All formats are wonderful in the right hands.  I certainly admire 
other photographers work with large formats, but I can shoot a roll 
of 35 in the time most 4x5 people set up a camera for their first 
shot.  I like that variety and the process of discovery that comes 
with it.  It all simply boils down to a one's personality, 
temperament and individual aesthetic.

Bill Agee
-- 

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