Digital BW, The Print

Richard writes:

> I'm curious which you've tried and not liked.

Originally I remember trying Portra 400BW, Kodak Black+White (IIRC), Kodak
TCN400 (?), and XP2.  I was just getting into the chromogenics and probably
didn't spend enough time working with all of them.  Maybe if someone has
scanned the others (you?), someone can point to a few examples.  I'd love to
see a chromogenic (or indeed any B&W film) that handles light like Tri-X but
doesn't produce all that bothersome grain.

> I've gotten wonderful results from XP2 and have
> not been as keen on Portra 400BW myself.

In my case I think I just latched on to one film because I could predict the
outcome, and went with that.  Someday I need to try the other chromogenics
again.

> I find the XP2 scans but easier for me with my
> Nikon LS4000 and in medium format with my ol'
> Epson 1200U.

I forgot to mention that Portra 400BW has to be scanned as color negative,
but with grayscale output.  If you try to scan it as straight B&W, the
scanner doesn't allow for the orange mask or the low contrast, and the scan
looks pretty bad.  Newer versions of NikonScan allow this, but the older
versions of the software don't (you can't set color neg and grayscale at the
same time).

The other chromogenics sometimes produce negatives more like black and
white, so I suppose they should be scanned as true black and white.  I'll
have to try it sometime.

I only recently ventured into chromogenic for MF, with the 400BW, but the
results are beautiful.  And it's just so nice to have film that is
simultaneously fast, sharp, and almost free of grain.