[Leica] AW: Leica Users digest V15 #58

[BegoMario.Garde@oppenheim.de]

>Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2000 12:41:57 -0800
>From: drodgers@nextlink.com
>Subject: [Leica] Chromogenic b/w films with Leica

>Although I'm the first to admit that Tri-X is the "mother of all films", I
>broke ranks recently and tried some XP-2 Plus.

It's a shame, they don't make more advertising for the Tri-X. The more I
work with b/w the more I like that film. 

Ilford's XP-2? One of the big misunderstandings in photo-history! Especially
if people have their prints made in color-process. If the computer of the
printer "has a good day" and your portraits come out in a nice, warm
brown-tone, things are OK. But -- urgs! -- imagine your spose with a green
face all over.

>"How good is the image structure of T400 CN film?
> Exposed at EI 400, the grain and sharpness are noticeably better
> than those of most traditional 100-speed black-and-white films."

Misunderstanding part two: What's bad about grain? Some weeks ago I bought a
book with photographs from Ralph Gibson. Most were, I believe, taken with
Tri-X and have lots off grain. But IMHO every little dot on the picture just
adds a lot of atmosphere. Or remeber that photo from Man Ray on which you
only see black lips on a white background. The picture only works as it has
extremely much grain.

Indeed, with Ilford's XP-2 you won't see any grain. My vocabulary isn't that
good -- so it's a little hard to describe. For me photos taken with XP-2
look like you watch TV and set the colours to zero. Instead of grain the
photos show a assortment of "clouds"

Probably we are so much used to high-definition pictures (TV, advertising,
...) that we have to learn to workwith grain again instead of looking for
film with a higher resolution?

>.... I can get C-41
>processing done  for $1.50/ roll. That's about what it costs for me to do
>my own b/w processing -- and  much less once time is factored in.

Ups! Misunderstanding No. 3? I wouldn't develop b/w myself to save money but
to have more control on the results. How about b/w-prints? Do you make them
yourself? I was very disappointed by the b/w-prints I received from the
photolab. 

> I've also heard that chromogenic films have great exposure
> latitude, to the point you can shoot at 100 - 1,600 on the same roll. Is
> that true, and if so what's the downside?

Don't forget: Regular b/w-films have a great exposure latitude, too. But of
course the technique of the Ilford XP2 is quite different. What I understood
was (and expressed in a very simple way) that XP-2 has actually two layers
of film with different sensitivity that react depending on the exposure.
This way the XP-2 seems to be very interesting for those who have to work
with very different light-situation within one roll of film.

Bego
(Cologne, Germany)