Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I read through this thread, and I think some of the things I have been seeing are a little strange. The K2 yellow (Y2, medium yellow, etc), is a filter I have found very close to useless with the Tmax line and not that useful for TX. I would suggest bypassing anything medium yellow and going right for a #15, K3, Y52 or even modern G or 056. This gives two stops of reduction. Some mistakes people are making include (1) giving exposure compensation and (2) not using the right film. As to (1), the whole point is that you are *cutting out* light. For example, limestone building against blue sky. Both will show up as a light gray on paper. Ugly. Slap on a blue-cut filter and you have cut the sky down 2 stop and the building maybe 1. But if you give it two stops compensation, you will end up bringing back the blue and shouldering out the building. This effectively destroys your efforts What you really need to be doing is compensating *less* - like maybe one stop where the filter says you are "supposed to" give 2. Your average clouds on blue sky are already bright enough to take the 2-stop hit. And so what if you take a stop from the shadows. That's not where the action is. As to (2), TX unqualifiedly sucks at highlight separation. It has a very sudden shoulder and a big bulge in the midtones. In fact, in 35mm it is not so hot in separating midtones, either. If you are so inclined I can discuss tons of pictures I have taken on it, where midtones have not separated well, even in N+2 and N-2 processing. If you want grey, and not white, skies, use Plus-X or its 120 cousin, Verichrome Pan. These two have extraordinary highlight separation. Because Kodak up-rated their speed, and increased development times since they were invented (if I recall, they were originally 50/64, not 125), you will get better skies (since allegedly "normal" processing is in fact a 1-stop push. Which brings me to my next point - that the only real way to control and separate highlights (like skies) is to do N+1 or N+2 processing. But wait, you say -- that will kill my shadows! Wrong -- only if you don't know how to print these. You just drop the paper contrast (which only increases tonality in the shadows - the number of distinct tones in the highlights is always the same, no matter what the MC grade - this is actually fascinating). How do I know this? I just got back from a trip in which I shot 24 rolls of TX, all at N+2, nearly all with G filter (this is the modern, orange iteration), never giving more than 1 stop of compensation, with nary a shadow problem. This is a follow-on to three trips in which I did the same thing. Worse, I've even done it by mistaking TXP for TX and shooting the same way. No problems. The 060 is a false prophet. Good for darkening lips and ok at foliage, but completely useless for skies. Does not cut blue well because it contains blue. Maybe its appeal is that it tends to make pan film look like ortho. Who knows.