Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/04/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> From: RJOA@aol.com Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 09:35:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Wedding photography From: RJOA@aol.com Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 09:35:31 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: Wedding photography Try Ilford XP-2(ASA400) and develop with C-41 chemicals(1-hour labs) - it gives that sepia contrast tone. If it does then your lab's color balance is likely off, unless they are "toning" like this intentionally. It should come out with normal tone blacks and whites. Incidentally, using regular photo labs to process XP-2 sounds great in theory, but have you ever tried it? If so, you may find, like I did, that many of these labs are now refusing to process XP-2. The sales people who work the counters are not usually well-informed or knowledgeable about photography. They follow the instructions they were given. The predominant mis-information they are given (in Canada at least) is that using XP-2 will contaminate their "chemistry" [sic]. More often the reason why they can not accommodate the film is because of this "sepia tone" effect mentioned in the previous post. Unless they use the right type of paper, they experience off-tone color. Customers have been refusing the prints if they are not satisfied with the particular color-tint that the machines happen to be pumping out any given day. This has caused increases in costs for the 1-hour labs, having to take the time to reprint the negs properly. I found that to get machine processing for XP-2 I had to search until I found a lab about 135 km away which did a good job on the printing, but at a premium. I remember when color prints used to cost about three times as much to process as B&W (I'm dating myself here ... back then air was clean and sex was dirty ... ) now it is just the reverse. It costs rougly two to three times as much to process B&W as to do color. Go figure! It still costs me less to do B&W in my own darkroom, but there I do everything by hand. Modern machine processors are all set up for color, with the exception of a few specialty labs which still are capable of producing excellent B&W results. - -GH