Digital BW, The Print

Martin,


> > The only thing I'm concerned with is a slight increase in the 
> presence 
> > of grain, and that is to be expected going grain on top of grain as 
> > this process dictates.  Could be solved by outputting the scans to 
> > TechPan, but what a pain that would be for the lab... Or, again, 
> going 
> > up a format.
> 
> I look forward to seeing the results on this. Do you feel the grain-
> on-grain problem is related to final print size? If you enlarged from 
> the LightJet or LVT neg would it be less of a problems with smaller 
> prints and become more of an issue as the prints got larger?

The mention I made of "grain on grain" is referring to the fact that 
you have grain from an original neg scanned and printed on a second 
piece of film, which itself has grain.  This often, in traditional 
photographic style reproduction, leads to a boost in the overall sense 
of graininess in the final output. I think you will see it more the 
larger you print, but compared to the original, it will be more 
prevalent.  It would be nice if the labs providing LightJet: 1. priced 
their prints more affordably; 2. offered fiber-based output.  That way 
we could just have the prints output directly from the scans, and not 
have to bring the film recorder into the procedure.


> Well if I seem a little touchy about the balance issue, it is because 
> it is important to me, and I expend a fair amount of time and energy 
> trying to offer or encourage alternate viewpoints and rescue lost 
> posts. I sometimes feel like a hypocrite trying to shore up both 
> sides of an issue.

I think you're doing a fine job of keeping the list on track, and 
having to deal with all of the gruntwork along the way.

Cheers,
Phil
http://philbard.com