Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I find most people shooting the B&W chromogenic films are more interested in getting the film developed at a reasonable cost, and 'proof' prints that can be obtained at any one hour lab. The B&W labs here are outrageously expensive, and only one seems to have any concept of tonal control. If you are careful ( with the contrasst of subject material), the C41 films have a pretty good tonal range, and if the photofinisher bothers to set up the color printer channel for the film, the results are quite good on color paper. T400CN ( we call it T-MIN...as opposed to T-Max... minimum color? okay, we're weird!) is better than XP2, IMHO. The addition of the color mask improves the tonal rendition. It also makes it more "B&W" when printed on color paper. The slopes for this film is very similar to the new Kodak Gold 200, so it there are any under or overexposed frames, they stay Black, White or Gray rather than drifting into a blue toned or sepia colored prints when printed on color paper. I have not tried to print it on B&W paper, but with the incorporated mask, I would think that it would be best to use Panalure or a graded paper; it seems to me that the mask might give unpredictable results with variable contrast paper without extensive testing. dwpost@msn.com