Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/02/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Erwin- You have it! The question is like those age old debates about women, religion, and politics! A lot of smoke and hot air, but it never seems to burn itself out! Personally, and I have discussed this with my unidicted co-conspirator Bob in our skull sessions about split printing, I think that we as a group for get that we are dealing with a SYSTEM. I had chided Bob since his negatives all seem to print on grade 00 or 1 for the most part, and I had told him to lower the contrast index of his negatives. He follows the directions religiously, but wonders why others complain that they need grade 4 1/2 to 5 to get good results. I pointed out to him that not only did he use Leica glass, which is inherently snappy and contrasty, but he also has the wherewithal to have one of the best, most expesnsive enlarger setup and with a top of the line Scneider lens, he has a system with very little flare, and even if there was a callier effect in play with his negs, he has a very 'contrasty' system!! Some of the younger folks complaining on the printing list are no doubt young, using cheaper lenses, or perhaps older lenses with more flare, and are using enlargers that might need a good coating of matte black paint on the inside, and are using $10 enlarging lenses because that' all they can afford- these are the ones needing 4 1/2 to 5 grade paper to print. I think by and large we all forget that the camera lens, and the filter or lack thereof, is but a small part of the overall image producing system!! For some it may well make a significant difference, for others, the effect of a filter would be lost in the 'noise' of the rest of their system! Erwin- more power to you, but you are right that this is like tilting with windmills! At least we can't fall off the horse in our version!! Dan ( Bruised and battered) Post