[Leica] Digital Comment

[Bob_Maxey@mtn.3com.com]

>>On a related issue, I scan all of my B&W negatives.  Do any of you
>>develop B&W film differently for digital processing than you would for
>>"wet" enlarging?  I wonder if increasing the contrast digitally has
>>more of an impact in terms of loss of highlight and shadow detail ( or
>>tonality) than would be the case with a conventional print.  If that
>>is the case, and it is just a guess, should it be, or can it be,
>>compensated for in development??


Personally, I am hated on several mailing lists for my comments about
Digital. I will not express them here, because I do not want to tick any of
you off. This is a personal opinion, but my procedures and goals have
always been to produce the best quality negatives, without any thought as
to how the images will be used. With programs like Photoshop and a decent
scanner, you can do anything to the negatives after it is done. A great
negative almost guarantees an even greater print.

Now, I am not adverse to compensating during development, it is done all
the time. However, everything that happens to the negative (Scanning or
manipulation) will be affected by the quality of the original negative. If
you have a great negative, you have won the battle. Remember, you still
have options like dodgeing, burning, water bath development and many
developers that can improve the quality of the negative.


RM