Digital BW, The Print

On Dec 9, 2004, at 5:53 AM, Alan.Huntley@... wrote:

>
> Hi Steve,
>
> Hope Clayton doesn't mind my jumping in on this discussion, too...
>
> Yes, sensors do display a linear response to incoming light, but that 
> response is more like negative film than slide film. Additionally, 
> because the sensor doesn't have a "toe" or "shoulder" to its 
> "characteristic curve" you actually realize better results on both 
> ends. I'm not sure about the prosumer cameras like the Canon Pro1, but 
> with high-end equipment like the Phase One P25 back, Betterlight scan 
> back, and probably the new Canon 1Ds you're looking at 10 - 12 stops 
> of dynamic range. Throw in the fact that you have very clean images to 
> work with (no grain, etc) and our old measurement factors start to 
> crumble. FYI, from what I've read the new Phase One P25 back (22 
> megapixels) is seriously challenging drum scanned 4x5! I don't know 
> this for fact because I don't own one, but it certainly gives us an 
> idea of where this technology is header. Hopefully, someday this 
> top-o-line equipment will be affordable to the average consumer.

I can say, we've been for years shooting 4x5 in a museum studio and 
drum scanning on a series of high-end drums. I would definitely say 
that in many cases the Betterlight scan backs deliver results far 
superior to the scanning process, but the scan backs aren't always 
convenient. We've recently (this year) began to do most of the work on 
the MF backs, including the H20, H25, and P25. While I wouldn't say the 
quality blows away drum-scanned 4x5 - or even meets it - the 
convenience and costs ultimately led us down that path for almost all 
of our work short of really large paintings. The MF backs deliver more 
than enough quality/resolution for almost all of our work, though I 
still wouldn't really compare it directly to really good scans off a 
really good 4x5. YMMV

-R