Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/05/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Many years ago, about 1958 or 59, I was an editor at Modern Photography >magazine. We used a famous black-and-white lab in NYC. The lab, I believe, >had something to do with printing the Family of Man exhibit at MOMA. >The head honcho told me that Henri Cartier-Bresson was in town >shooting. He used the new Agfa high speed black and white Isopan >Record, said to be about ASA (ISO) 800, but pushable to big numbers, >such as E.I.1,600 and 3,200, WHEN DEVELOPED AT A VERY LOW DIULUTION >WITH AGFA RODINAL. The lab guy told me that he didn't know about >the special development required, and attempted to process Cartier- >Bresson's film in the usual D-76, slightly diluted and replenished. >Ergo...very faint images were the result, even with the inspection >development and greatly extended times. >I explained to the lab chief about Rodinal and the low dilution, >just in case Monsieur Cartier-Bresson ever came back. I doubt it. That's a very interesting story. I like Rodinal a lot and I have heard that many people like it with TMax P3200 and Neopan 1600, although not when these are pushed much. I have heard many different stories about the films/developers that HCB used over his career - D-23, HP3, etc, but never about Isopan. I would be curious to learn a little more about his darkroom technique as it seemed to do a great job of bringing out the best in his lenses: does anyone know a source of this information? Gary Toop