Re: [Leica] 400 B&W

[Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com>]

At 3:27 PM -0500 3/9/02, SthRosner@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 3/9/02 1:58:22 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>henningw@archiphoto.com writes:
>
>>  For scanning, the lack of acutance of the chromogenic films
>>   is an asset
>
>Henning, a question from an long-time Leica photographer but a complete
>newbie- zombie when it comes to scanning: after scanning a chromogenic
>negative, can one recapture in the final print from the negative scan, the
>acutance that one imagined in the original scene and sought to record on
>film, by editing with the software program? I hope I haven't made the
>question too loopy.
>
>Seth         LaK 9

Actually, Seth, the digital workflow enables you to control acutance 
quite effectively. Unsharp mask and its derivatives do exactly this, 
and give you an amazing degree of control. I dislike printing 
chromogenic film in the darkroom - I know, I know, I've said this 
before - but it's the ideal B&W material for scanning. Actually, if 
your only intention is to scan and use the result digitally, shooting 
colour negatives for final B&W output gives you even more control, as 
you can simulate a wide range of coloured (read: for B&W) filters 
after the fact, and you can get very fine grained colour neg film 
like Reala.

You have a lot more control over the final acutance if you shoot 
chromogenic initially, because if you use unsharp mask too 
agressively with conventional film, as Mark the Rabiner sez, you get 
that 'crusty' look which is a kind of digital reticulation.

And Mark, yes, for web use conventional films are just fine because 
the grain aliasing issue doesn't come up, so if you want to 'wet 
print' your negs and show them on the web, conventional film is still 
the best choice IMHO.

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    *            Henning J. Wulff
   /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
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