Digital BW, The Print

Martin's Gigabit film link is certainly a curious offering.  Have you
tried the film, Martin?

My experience with film scanning shows an unnoticeable difference
between pyro and traditional film development. My tests were done with
8X10 HP5 and TriX negatives.  I also decided that the silver print
results of Pyro vs. HC110 or TMax developers were not of significance
for my work.  Although I shoot 8X10, I'm not of the "spectacular
landscape" school of photography.  I make pictures of people and
cultures so my tolerances may be wider than the "red filter over the
gathering storm clouds" crowd.  I like great landscapes, I just don't
photograph them.

I shoot HP5 for most everything.  I like that "old school" dark and
grainy look but the newer C-41 b/w films are easier to scan.

Frank

http://www.culturalvisions.com


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y..., Alessandro Pardi
<alessandro.pardi@i...> wrote:
> Martin,
>  
> thank you for your very detailed answer. There's a lot of
information and
> food for thought, here, especially this pyro developer and Gigabit
film I
> never heard about. I have finally found a B&W lab I can trust, so
I'll ask
> them about this.
> Just out of curiosity, what is your scanner and how large can you
print with
> 35mm FP4+ and (especially) TMax400? I'm thinking about 13x19, and am
afraid
> that grain may be an issue with but the slowest film.
> About the sharpness of color and B&W film, this is exactly what I
expected
> to see in my PanF vs. Supra test (I shot exactly the same scene, with a
> sharp prime lens), but apparently my 2700dpi scanner isn't enough. Let's
> wait for the Canon FS4000 and see...
>  
> Thanks again,
> Alessandro Pardi
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Martin Wesley [mailto:mwesley250@e...]
> Sent: martedì 23 ottobre 2001 23.02
> To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@y...
> Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Film poll
> 
> 
> Alessandro,
> 
> My personal film and developer choices are Ilford FP4+ and Kodak
TMax 400 in
> 4x5, 120 and 35mm film. In 120 and 35mm I am also starting to
consistently
> use Ilford SFX.
> 
> The FP4+ is my primary 4x5 and 120 film. This works well for my in
terms of
> grain, resolution and film speed for most of my work which is done on a
> tripod. For low light or hand held I switch to TMax400 and also find it
> useful for heavy compression of -3 and -4 developments.
> 
> The SFX is a good all round film and lets me play with near infrared
images.
> Very nice grain structure.
> 
> I develop my film in a pyro developer of my own devising in a Jobo film
> processor. The results with my developer are very similar to what
you would
> get using Gordon Hutchins PMK pyro developer.
> 
> Pyro developers not only produce neutral silver density but also
produce a
> yellow or yellow/green stain in proportion to the silver density.
This gives
> you high lights that are much more printable as they are not composed of
> opaque particles. The stain has no grain and decreases the
graininess of the
> image which may or may not be desirable to you. The use of pyro as a
> developing agent induces an edge effect increasing the sharpness of the
> negative. A sort of chemical unsharp mask effect.
> 
> The stain from pyro development then makes RGB scanning a logical
choice as
> there is meaningfully different information on the three channels.
> Especially the B channel. In theory you should be able to work on
monochrome
> images in RGB and have more digital information to send to the printer.
> 
> I tried Technical Pan years ago and while it is very high
resolution, I did
> not like the tonality of the film at all. Many different developers have
> been used with this film. You should check out the Photographers
Formulary
> 
> http://www.photoformulary.com/ <http://www.photoformulary.com/> 
> 
> Also if you are interested in very high resolution films the new Gigabit
> film looks like it would be worth investigating.
> 
> http://www.gigabitfilm.de/html/english/toc.htm
> <http://www.gigabitfilm.de/html/english/toc.htm> 
> 
> There is an excellent article by Burkhardt Kiegeland in Photovision
magazine
> July/August 2001. The film is also available from Lotus View Camera:
> 
> www.lotusviewcamera.at
> 
> A note on using color film for B&W. Color films have three emulsions
layered
> on top of each other while a B&W film has a single layer. Because of
this
> B&W films tend to produce sharper, higher resolution negatives.
> 
> Martin Wesley
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]