Digital BW, The Print

WOW, lots said but not a lot of info. Said tongue in cheek, but so much not
mentioned that really effects the question.

While some may think they have "the" process for making perfect negs, in
either color or B&W, I have found great stuff can come from many places. It
really comes down to matching your environment to make a good clean neg. 

 

Color or B&W neg? I haven't push the envelope on it yet, but Kodak did
introduce some C41 films meant for scanning. They looked good to me, but I
only have tried it under studio lights and I don't think that is a fair
comparison to many of my other negs. If you put the priority on little post
scanning a good color neg may be your best bet if you like the ICE control.
If your intent is B&W, your not really concerned about color crossover tat
might be a problem with way over or underexposed C41. 

 

Grain and sharpness can be a complicated issue when you are talking scans
and prints. What type of scanner do you plan to use? What is your post
production plan? In handling digital files to print, the whole process needs
to be taken into account; at least from where I sit. 

 

I find that Vue Scan allows me to get better B&W scans than Nikon Scan ( I
use a 9000). I didn't however, try to beat the beast by going positive with
my negatives. How many tests are you willing to run? You can scan in RGB and
look at the channels for noise, sharpness, etc. and decide what you have
handles each best. XP2 looked sharper than mushy TCN. I rather like Delta
100 or 400 negs that I have scanned. Tech Pan is also a dead film is it not?
So unless you have access to it, our process may not help you. I liked HC110
at 1:25 for contone images with it. What if any color stain is in your negs?


 

Heavy hitters don't always use a bat the same way you might either. Get to
know your tools and hit it out of the park in a way that makes you most
happy and damn what the rest of us say Harry. 

 

 

Eric

 

Eric Neilsen Photo

4101 Commerce Street, Suite 9

Dallas, TX 75226

214 827-8301

 

http://ericneilsenphotography.com

SKype ejprinter

 

  _____  

From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Harry
Lockwood
Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2008 9:38 AM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] Re: Scan color or B/W better for B/W printing?

 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhit
<mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint%40yahoogroups.com>
eThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "djon43" <djon43@...> wrote:
>
> While I would 
> > > like to think it would be dust free I know that is effectively 
> > > impossible. 
> > > ~Mary
> > >
> > 
> I gave up on silver film, partly 
> > because of the dust problem. 
> > 
> > Harry
> >
> 
> It doesn't take much skill to eliminate "dust problems."
> Use of a lab will inevitably result in scratches, no matter what
> you're experiencing at the moment. 
> 
> 1) use distilled water, not filtered, for the last change or two of
> water (agitating...you do of course use a stainless reel because you
> can't properly clean plastic). You can use relatively clean tap water
> to mix chems and to do the initial rinses. 
> 
> 2) use distilled water, not filtered, with 3 drops Photoflo per 500cc
> for a few second dip before hanging.
> 
> 3) hang to dry in a low dust area...in my case, that's a casually
> cleaned bathroom, hanging from clips on coat hangers hung in turn on
> the shower curtain rod.
> 
> Any small amount of dust that remains can be cloned out in
> moments...in extreme cases (carelessness) it can be eliminated with
> the lightest Photoshop dust/spot setting (which will conserve some
> film character that XP2 and color neg films totally lack to begin
> with). IMO if you resort to XP2/color neg you might as well go digital
> because your detail resolution and tonal scale will be
> better...assuming more than 10mp on APS-C and assuming you don't use
> inexpensive zooms. 
> 
> An important trick is to avoid polyethlene negative sleeves.

Then I guess I lack the "skill to eliminate 'dust problems.'"

No Lab involved; I develop my own Ag-based films. No scratch problems
whatsoever. SS 
tank? Check.

Photoflo rinse? Check.

Hang to dry in closed shower stall? Check.

Distilled water rinse? Uh oh. Haven't tried that. Since I have a roll of
TMax in the tank, I'll 
give it a try.

Another problem I couldn't solve was film curl. Created scanning problems in
my Nikon 
4000 ED. The C41 film I get from the local (pro) shop is dead flat.

I use PrintFile neg holders, and, indeed, they are polyethlene. The
manufacturer claims 
they are archival and better for not attracting dust. What would you
recommend as a 
alternative?

Might as well go digital? Bite your tongue! (As I fondle my M7.)

As for tonal scale, my feeling is that the printing workflow may have a
greater impact on 
*my* images. I use K7 piezo inks on (typically) HPR in an Epson 2400. And
since I don't 
do landscapes, perhaps I'm just not seeing the loss of tonal range.

(Also, I had originally mentioned the exposure latitude of XP2 which I find
valuable in fast 
shooting situations and tricky lighting.)

Nonetheless, I do appreciate the comments/suggestions. I realize there are
some heavy 
hitters (ncluding djon43) here with vastly more experience than I have.

Harry

 



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