Digital BW, The Print

Hello Jeff,

>Can you tell me why this is the case? If I wanted to make an 
>8x 10 B&W print using a hextone ink system From a 6 MP digital 
>SLR raw camera file (that has me carefully processed and 
>converted to grayscale) as opposed to shooting a B&W medium 
>format neg and scanning it.... what would be lacking? If you could 
>please tell me your answer in real world results rather than... 
>just numbers.. that would be great.

Let me give it a try.  I have found from actual experience that I can
get a better 8x10 print from a 645 neg scanned on my 1600dpi flatbed
than I can from a 35mm neg scanned on a friend's 4000dpi Nikon film
scanner.  At 4x5 or 5x7 it's a toss up, but by 8x10 the difference
becomes apparent.  I can't explain this in numbers, but the difference
is clear.  I can only assume there is more information on the larger
neg and that scanning the smaller neg at a higher resolution doesn't
make up the difference (it probably just gets more of what _is_
there).

Note: My experience is with Tri-X.  With a finer grained film the
print size at which the difference becomes noticable may be larger,
but I think the principle still applies.

Now, suppose the 6mg file equals 35mm (debatable, but for now let's
accept that, or even suppose you have an 11 mg 1Ds file).  What have
you got?  The same amount of information as the 35mm neg?  Then you
still lose to the 645 neg.  And if you compare to a 6x7 neg the
difference is enormous.  It will leave even the 645 neg in the dust
(so to speak <g>).

This does not mean you cannot get excellent 8x10 prints from 10D 6 mg
files (I'm looking at a beautiful 7x10 print made from a 10D file
downloaded from DpReview.com).  It just depends on what your own
personal criteria and standards are.  It's easy to get used to working
within a certain realm.  I can't count the number of times over the
years that I've gotten used to looking at 8x10 prints from 35mm negs
and thinking they look pretty good, only to be shocked back to reality
by seeing one from a 6x7 or 4x5 neg.  Ever seen an 8x10 contact print?
 Makes you want to crawl away and hibernate <g>.  It's all relative.

If you are considering a 10D, you might try downloading a bunch of the
sample files and work with them.  It's really a great resource.  It
would be a good way to tell if you'll be happy with it.  There is a
large selection available at that web site.

Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm