Re: [Leica] Slightly OT: C-41 b&w films

[Rolfe Tessem <rolfe@ldp.com>]

Oliver Bryk wrote:
> In my current location, the turn-around time for professional b&w processing
> is at least a week and involves two 60-mile round trips. I would appreciate
> hearing from LUGers who currently print their b&w images primarily with
> inkjet printers and papers, regarding their experience with chromogenic b&w
> films (C-41 process). Are there nontrivial differences between XP2, TCN and
> Portra? How do the results of scanning these films differ from scanning
> current generation silver based film? Do they look different? Do they have a
> shorter scale? 
> TIA, Oliver Bryk

Oliver,

The main difference is beween those designed to be printed traditionally 
on B&W paper and those designed to fit into a mini-lab workflow and 
print on color paper. XP2 is one of the former. If you print B&W 
yourself, this is the one you want. Portra is designed to be printed 
with the same printer channel as the Portra color films. My guess is 
that it was designed with wedding photographers in mind so the whole job 
could be printed easily at one time by the lab. T400CN was introduced 
before Portra and differs from it mainly in the color of the base. You 
can print it yourself on B&W paper (although the printing times will be 
long) and a mini-lab can do it on color paper, although they will have 
to fiddle with their settings to get a neutral cast. It is not as easy 
for them in that respect as Portra. (These comments apply to the older 
mini-lab equipment. A Fuji Frontier and a good operator can basically 
handle anything).

They all scan well with digital ICE enabled. In that respect, they are 
easier to scan than traditional B&W films.

My favorite is XP2. As you can tell from some of the other comments, YMMV.

Rolfe

- -- 
Rolfe Tessem      |     Lucky Duck Productions, Inc.
rolfe@ldp.com     |     96 Morton Street
(212) 463-0029    |     New York, Ny 10014

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