Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/05/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Wed, 8 May 1996, Gary J Toop wrote: > > >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 > > Since Monsieur Cartier-Bresson didn't and doesn't process his own films and doesn't make his own prints, I'd say that he won't tell you. The guy who used to do it is Pierre Gassman of Pictorial labs in Paris. Perhaps the son of Pierre will talk. But perhaps not. Ed Meyers