Large prints

[George Huczek <ghuczek@gdipa.Unibase.COM>]

> 
> At 08:52 AM 10/8/96 +0200, you wrote:
[cut]
> And Leica should get it together and compete with big prints next
> Photokina. I've seen 8-foot tall pictures taken with a 40s vintage Leica
> that are amazing. (Using some developer that sounds like "Perutz" with an
> aerial film of some sort - all old stuff I can't remember well.) 
This is of interest to me, as I have not been able to achieve
print quality in 35mm that compares to what I can get from a 6x6
negative taken through a Blad.
   Being a rather new (but I hope not naive) reader of the LUG,
   and interested in Leica equipment, I would like to know how
   some of you produce 16x20 prints with a Leica which would be
   indistinguishable from something taken with medium format.
This has eluded me for many years, even after extensive testing
with slow speed B&W films and fine grain developers. Perhaps "Perutz"
is referring to "pyro"? I don't know. However, from personal experiences,
I have found that there is no secret recipe, or magic potion,
that can do it all in the darkroom. Every developer offers, at
best, a trade-off between such opposing factors as film speed,
sharpness, and granularity.
   That having been said, I am intrigued by the recent discussions
   on emotive lenses and that Leica glow that so many of you have
   referred to, without general concensus regarding how it is
   obtained. Not using Leica lenses, I have been able to recognize
   "the look" in prints which I have seen exhibited. I am further
   impressed that Leica users, being skilled in their craft, are
   able to produce such images that stand out noticably.
Perhaps there is something to be said about the _users_ in addition
to the equipment itself. Without trying to be patronizing, I wonder
if indeed Leica optics reach beyond the limits that the film has
to offer, such that the format size becomes the limiting factor
regarding the quality of large prints?


-- 
George Huczek