Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Richard 
Smallfield <r.smallfield@p...> wrote:
> Hi,
> what with the demise of Tech Pan and APX 25, I wondered what people 
think the finest grained film is. I love the optics of 35mm cameras 
and would like to still be able to shoot something like APX 25 if it 
existed.

I use Kodak Ultra 100 as my all-round film for low graininess and 
high dynamic range. Rather than desaturating, I use the channel 
mixer, like many others. Using a Nikon 5000 scanner I can get 13 
stops of usable information, if required. Colour negative films have 
advantages over traditional B&W films if they are going to be 
scanned. Whether you like the look of them or not is a different 
matter, of course. Among the silver-image films, I use TMX (TMax 
100) - which I find to be a good, versatile film. There are 
replacements for Tech Pan - I haven't tried much of any of them 
because I still have hundreds of rolls of Tech Pan left, but I've 
tried a few rolls of Bluefire and Imagelink HQ. The Imagelink looks 
promising.

Best, Helen