Digital BW, The Print

Djon,

I used a number of developers with Tri-X, including Acufine from Dr 
Harold Baumann, D76 at various dilutions, and Emofin. The best 
speed/grain compromise I found was from Emofin, a 2 bath developer (I 
also tried Diafine, which was I think similar.)

Back in those days - around 30 years ago - I used to belong to a camera 
club, and entered a 20x16 into a competition shot at EI 1600 on Tri-X 
developed in Emofin. The visiting judge held up the print, angled it to 
the viewing light for a closer look, then commented to the audience that 
it was good to see that there were still some workers using medium format!

However I didn't much like the tonal quality it gave, and also found it 
hard to get fully repeatable results with this or any other developer 
that was re-used and went over to using one-shot developers. Rodinal was 
interesting, giving great sharpness with prints up to around 13 inches 
wide from 35mm, but somehow then losing it on larger prints. Another 
one-shot developer I also came to like, particularly with TMax 400, was 
Johnson's Unitol (later made by someone else I think.) Neofin was the 
stuff in those ampoules wasn't it? I tried it without finding anything 
special unless you enjoyed breaking them - and they cost a small fortune.

However most of my more recent work on faster 35mm films has been with 
chromogenic films, with the only Tri-X being the very occasional 4x5.

Back to digital, what I've seen of results and reviews from the Nikon 
D2X have been pretty impressive, and certainly I think there is a good 
medium-term future for cameras with sensors around this size. Lenses are 
probably a more serious limitation than sensors in getting more from 
smaller cameras, although of course the two are very much linked.

The camera I'm hoping for in the relatively near future is a better 
version of a digital rangefinder, preferably with a Leica M mount. 
Certainly not one based around the Mamiya 7, which though a nice camera 
isn't in the same usability league as a Leica or Hexar. Its over a year 
since I took my Mamiya 7 out of the cupboard to take pictures with it.

And yes, the F10 sensor is impressive compared to the other tiny 
sensors. Perhaps it will be used in a better camera, or Kodak will 
incorporate some of that technology in larger sensors. But I suspect 
'months' or even a year or so rather than 'decades' would be more accurate.

Regards,

Peter

Peter Marshall
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Djon wrote:
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Peter Marshall
> <petermarshall@c...> wrote:
> 
>>If you consider pointing out that the image you put forward as
> 
> having "a 
> 
>>sensor and system that blows them away" is actually unsharp and noisy 
>>compared with those from the systems you were deriding, 
> 
> 
> Peter, I'm not deriding systems, I'm just predicting that they're
> already dead. Who actually believes that the slr form factor will be
> relevant in the future? You don't, from what you said. I don't. 
> 
> I hope I didn't suggest that the F10 form factor or chip were the
> future...I just meant to indicate that they were clear signs that
> Canon and Nikon were at a dead end. Certainly neither company has a
> low noise digicam above 200ei...but according to all reviews, Fuji
> does. This is not surprising considering that Fuji and Kodak are
> partners and are decades ahead of both Canon and Nikon in research. 
> 
> Back to Accufine for a moment. You evidently used it and found it
> grainy. I used it and found it much less grainy than alternatives at
> 1200 ei, its sweet spot. 
> 
> What developer did you use back in days of yesteryear that was less
> grainy with Tri X ?  Please specify. I always found Accufine soft,
> grain dissolving.. I preferred sharp developers, such as Rodinal and
> Neofin: many developers looked softer to me. 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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