Re: [Leica] enlarger or scanner?

[Jeff S <4season@boulder.net>]

Luc.Stockman@ond.vlaanderen.be wrote:
[snip]
>      My greatest concern is how printing with the same quality of the Leica
>      lenses.  For the moment I followed the modern way and use a Nikon
>      LS-2000-scanner with Epson 760 printer.  Although the printouts look
>      fine at 8x10s, I have discovered that I get more fine details when
>      zooming in at my PC-screen then looking with a loupe on the printouts.
[snip]
>      Now my greatest concern: I intend very seriously picking up my old
>      pastime and realising a complete dark room with Kaiser multicontrast
>      enlarger and Componon lens.

For now, I'll continue to use both digital and conventional darkroom
methods: I don't have a really satisfactory way to scan my medium format
and 4x5 negatives and I'm not expecting medium and large-format digital
backs or scanners to reach "consumer" price levels any time soon. Best
deal so far seems to be $10/scan onto Pro PhotoCD at Werner's.

I had my first look at prints made with Epson's Stylus Photo 1270 on
"photo quality inkjet paper" and came away moderately impressed though I
didn't think the dots looked smaller than output from the older Epson
Stylus Photo EX. Better color rendition and saturation yes, but the EX
print might've faded some over time. Some of the sample prints done on
Tetenal's dual-sided (glossy/mat) photo paper looked really good and the
base looks like true white. I hope they consider selling this paper in
100 and 250-sheet packs at better prices per sheet.

So far the most satisfying prints I've gotten are the conventional ones
and I'm still looking to turn my 6x7 enlarger in for a 4x5 model. But
I'll put more emphasis on digital printing as we head into summer,
because darkness will be a scarce commodity by then and my "darkroom"
will be too hot for comfort. At these times, I even schedule film
processing for late nights and early mornings only: My Jobo CPE2+ isn't
designed to cool below ambient temperatures.
- -- 

Jeff Segawa
Somewhere in Boulder, Colorado