Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/06/21

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Image Sharpness at f8 / f16 and Kodak T400CN
From: brad daly <bwdaly@hiwaay.net>
Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 22:34:42 -0500

james:

>Is it possible to print these negs using your own enlarger at home, onto
>black and white paper?

yes.  it is possible to print TCN onto real black and white paper.  in
fact, it's about all i do.  i think it's just a beautiful film--incredible
skin tones, wonderful ability to preserve highlight detail, sharp as a
tack, and almost grainless.  i think TCN printed onto ilford MG warmtone FB
glossy and partially toned in viradon is just sublime.

some people have had trouble with contrast and TCN.  the film has an orange
mask, designed to make it print better in minilab-type machines.  this
seems to give some people problems with muddy highlights.  (i think this is
because said people print on agfa 118, which always has muddy highlights,
imho.)  i've never had a problem.

the only drawback is that the film isn't archival.  i've never read a
definitive article on how long chromogenic black and white negatives will
last.  i assume they'll last for many years stored in good conditions.

>This may be a silly question, but I was wondering if there was a colour
>imbalance, or maybe
>you need to use a filter etc.?  

yes.  it will require filtration for use on multigrade paper.  if you're
printing on graded paper, then you have no worries.

on a related note, the camera store where i work just installed (on monday)
a fuji frontier minilab, and i started training today on printing with it.
i printed both a roll of TCN and of ilford's XP2, just to see how it did
with monochrome.  the prints, for fake black and white proofs, were better
than anything monochrome RA-4 prints i've seen.  not as good, of course, as
real darkroom prints, but awfully damn good.

- --brad


- --
brad daly	                  bwdaly@hiwaay.net
photographs: http://home.hiwaay.net/~bwdaly
"I can't imagine anything good about being blind and lame at the same time."
	--Alvin Straight