Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Todd Flashner 
<tflash@e...> wrote:
> Mark,
> Have you tried rating it at ASA 200 or less? In general, 
overexposure of the
> chromogenic BW films leads to finer grain.


I am CERTAINLY not trying to start some long technical 
discussion here. But that whole "modify this to change the grain" 
thing has just never proven that true to me.

People used to tell me, "Oh, just push the Tri-X four minutes in 
the soup to get chunkier grain". I guess you could see it some, 
but it just never made that much difference to me, where I 
actually saw it in the print.

I'm not a chemist, but to me, the grain is just going to develop out 
to whatever it's going to develop out to -- it seems predetermined 
and unalterable. 

Maybe the APPEARANCE of grain -- maybe there's something to 
that. But grain is grain - a 400 film is going to have consistent 
grain, no matter how you rate it. 

A friend recently tested Ilford XP2, and rated it from 50 all the way 
to 1600, and yes, the 1600 frame was "grainier" looking, but I 
think it was more to do that the frame was radically 
underexposed, and he also had to apply a steeper curve to get it 
to look right.

I've been shooting for 22 years, and I've always wondered the 
truth about alot of this grain stuff. To me, a lot of it is 
misinformation, wives tales, and myth.

God knows how long I've always wanted to say that to 
somebody...a weight has been lifted.

Mark Tucker
http://marktucker.com/