[Largeformat] Photo 101 - Class 23 - Film

[tigershark_001@hotmail.com]

-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
GET A NEXTCARD VISA, in 30 seconds!  Get rates
of 2.9% Intro or 9.9% Ongoing APR* and no annual fee!
Apply NOW!
http://click.egroups.com/1/7872/13/_/515046/_/968038235/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

Douglas,

No you are not alone, I do color printing too and find it easier 
someway than B&W.
B&W needs a B&W mindset and a few days a month i feel compelled to do 
some B&W printing... the smell of Fixer ... the magic of that image 
appearing in the developer tray ... YES I need it !

When it comes to B&W negative processing, you really have 2 CHOICES
1. Do it yourself or 
2. Have a small custom lab do it for you.

Large labs use replenished tanks mostly with D-76 and .... thats no 
good for TMax film.  They also overcook this film because they are on 
a Kodak quality-process schedule and have no sense about art, 
greytones, zone system, and .... EI 50 on TMax100 !!!  Large labs 
create dense, blocked negatives and if you are lucky, you may be able 
to print a so-so image on #1 paper... with no sparkle in it or an ok 
image on #2 paper with lots of burning....
All that you created in the field is lost, except for an image that 
would be ok in a newspaper.

I can't really see why any magazine prefers negatives over Chromes 
except for the fact that more photogs and labs are getting sloppier 
about exposure and process control.

A negative is more forgiving than a chrome. But a Chrome has a
cleaner 
scan, particulary in the highlights, where almost clear film will 
generate no noise, in opposite to a negative which will be most dense 
right there. And all scanners (even drum scanners) will generate some 
noise when density increases.

A negative has an (orange) mask incorporated which is meant to offset 
imperfections in color paper response (named Arrastres) and that mask 
has no other function than just that.  Negatives are meant to be 
printed on C-paper.  Newer scanners and software can scan negatives 
fine, but the same scanner will scan a chrome even better, and with 
more color fidelity....(What was the hue of that red shirt on that 
negative ?)

Tigershark