Digital BW, The Print

On 3/7/05 4:19 PM, "Djon" sent the following verbage:

> I think it's destructive to continually drive toward the ultimate
> technical control (CSII is coming! EEEK!) because that makes the
> activity, photography or printing, acquisative and consumerist. That's
> precisely what Macbeth, Microsoft, Macintosh, and Adobe have in mind.
> 


That's why I use pinhole cameras and paper negs. You know, that old Canon
Nikon slash Ilford Agfa conspiracy slash consumerist thing.

Upgrading for me is not a desire to gain or possess. Just a desire to
upgrade.... Ya, I looked it up.

One area where I see a huge difference in scanning 16 bit, is with my
pinhole negs. They themselves exhibit banding right in the neg... Some would
call it posterization I suppose. I use a zone plate for some, and the very
atmospheric transitions can be klunky when worked on. Scanning 16 bit RAW
gives me the neg as it is, scanning 8 bit adds to the banding.. The
difference is very  evident with even slight tonal corrections. Keeping the
image in 16 bit gray right thru to the print stage has really changed the
look of the prints.

Carolyn