Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "m_misiaszek" 
<m_misiaszek@...> wrote:
>
...
> 
> Paul said:
> > " I develop (Tech Pan) to a higher contrast than the 
> > driver assumes for negatives.  So, by telling the driver 
> > it's a "positive" (slide film, presumeably), even though 
> > I also set the driver to "grayscale," the 
> > driver gives me its full dynamic range capabilities.  
> > I then adjust  the histogram manually.  It works well." 
> 
> Paul, sorry, but I am not sure what you mean by "developing". 
> Do you mean *darkroom* development, ...

Yes, I develop Technical Pan film myself.  That film's native 
characteristics are to be very high contrast.  As such, holding down 
the contrast has always been difficult and often results in blotchy, 
un-even development.  Allowing it to go to a higher contrast -- which 
works well for scanners designed for slide film -- allows medium 
format Tech Pan negatives to be essentially free from the problems we 
had with the film when we were printing with an enlarger.  

>... C41 B&W, ... option ...

Many love these films.  I used them in medium format for my hand-help 
B&W shooting.  I had a Fuji Zi with zoom and AF that really made a 
fine combo for fast action people shooting.  I switched that type of 
shooting to digital now.  For my landscape work I found that the C-41 
films in 6x6 or 645 were barely able to make what I'd consider a 
super-sharp, reasonably fine grain 16 x 20" enlargement.  Also, 
unlike silver films, as my filtered skies get darker, the grain 
increased.  These films are smoothest where there are lots of 
overlapping dye clouds.  They look just like the 400 ISO films they 
are in the shadows.


Paul
www.PaulRoark.com