Re: [Leica] C41 black and white

["Bill" <ohlen@lightspeed.net>]

Mark Rabiner writes:
>For your own black and white darkroom you don't want a dark orange mask to
act
>like a safelight built into your negative! You want no mask at all for
printing
>on black and white paper. Panalure would make a mask more doable but I hate
the
>stuff I have old boxes of different contrasts molding in my darkroom.
>Mark Rabiner


This is simply untrue.  The orange mask does not act as a safelight.  It does
(to me) make reading the negative very difficult.  In printing on polycontrast
paper, you will find you need to increase the contrast grade at least one from
what you would normally use for a black and white film negative.  (Kodak's
data sheet acknowledges this).  I find the edges to be somewhat soft, but
there is very little apparent grain.  It is a useful film if you don't have a
darkroom but have a negative scanner.  It is also useful if you are on a "road
trip" and want to know if you need to hang around the area a little longer to
retake the photos.  Unless the C41 processor really knows what they are doing,
I find their prints are really uncontrolled.  Usually I will have a index
print made without "correction" which gives me a better idea whether I need to
reshoot or not.

If you want an uncontrolled "artsy" look, try processing the film in D-76.
Some very interesting results.  I saw one done as a "mistake" that won a photo
contest.  In any event, the film prints fine using conventional b&w printing
methods.  Not my film of choice, but it does have its uses.

Regards,
Bill Larsen
ohlen@lightspeed.net
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