Digital BW, The Print

Hallo,

Mostly I'm using VM and Piezo.
Very brief:
I started out with B/W film for but soon did find out that negative 
colourfilm was the way to go.
I'm doing MF and 35 mm. Using a traditional scanner (Minolta Multi 
Pro)

However scanning negatives is a bit more complicated than chromes.
Noise is often in the dark parts of the film - that is negatives 
gives more noise in hightlights...

Color negative film is able to capture a much wider range of 
intensities than slide film, and this creates a problem when scanning 
negative film.

Slide film maps a density range of 0:2.7 to an intensity range of 
1:500, but negative film maps a smaller density range of 0:2.4 to a 
larger intensity range of 1:4000.

That is in whole how I look at it - If you want details in the 
shadows as well as in the highlights, *almost everything* tells you 
go "negative"!

But - I have tested some diafilms and indeed I find this true, 
however I get less "noise" and cleaner Quad/PIEZOs with my 1290's.

Am I looking too "technical" at this? 

Black shadows as well more "contrasty" prints might have it's own 
values but the tone curve of what you see can be manipulated in 
Photoshop to give the *impression* of a large tonescale. So in a way -
 the expression using "chromes" insted of negatives cannot be 
negleted.

But sad to say, for me it's more the "clean look" that starts to 
appeal me.....

Is using diafilm for B/W a sin, making Quad/Hex/Piezo B/W prints?
You can stop me now - as I'm only experimenting with it for the 
moment. And I like less film grain or "noise" just as well as I like 
less dots from printing Quad.
 

By the way - I always use low ASA values. Mostly shooting outdoor!
(Indoor you can manage light easier with some costs though!)
I do see a thread here talking Digital vs Film. I do have a 5 meg+ 
digital camera (Sony 707)- but for me that's a joke compared to a 
scanned MF  (a Hasselblad). 



I do see some interesting methods on the net for "High Dynamic Range 
Compression" for chromes that might give you a tools for even out 
contrast within chromes. ( http://www.erik-krause.de/contrast/ ) - To 
be true - this site was the "thing" - that realesed me from 
thinking "negatives only" and made me start experimenting with 
chromes!! 

So - please anyone out there using diafilm for printing B/W?
Or shall I forget it?

Fiat Lux! (Let There be Light!)
Bo Wrangborg
Sweden
Moderator "MultiPro" at Yahoo

I do.And I find exactly the same results as you do.As I stated in a 
previuos post,I've extensively tested and compared many films;and the 
bottom line is that I find slide film to be the ideal compromise 
between cleanness,grain and sharpness,when you deal with a narrow 
range of light. BW film still have a place in difficult light 
situations...

> So - please anyone out there using diafilm for printing B/W?
> Or shall I forget it?
> 
> Fiat Lux! (Let There be Light!)
> Bo Wrangborg
> Sweden
> Moderator "MultiPro" at Yahoo