[Leica] What food for our Leicas

[Gerry Walden <gerrywalden@cwcom.net>]

Over the last couple of weeks I have been pondering the films that we use 
in our Leicas and wondering why we choose such a wide diversity.   For 
instance, as I have now gone totally digital, I now shoot Kodak TX400CN 
when I want a black and white film, and either Kodak or Fuji print and 
slide film.   But why am I differentiating between monochrome, print and 
slide?   Why, for example, do i just not shoot everything on print film - 
after all it is all going to be scanned before I output it.   Why do I 
shoot slide film at all?   Anything that goes to a possible publication is 
scanned and output to disk.  Or why not just concentrate on slide film and 
do all my printing from that, converting it to monochrome should I need to?

I don't know about others, but I have a psychological problem 'seeing' in 
black and white when my brain knows full well that there is colour emulsion 
in the camera.   Is this a common malfunction of our brains, or am I unique 
in this?   I know a number of good digital monochrome workers who shoot 
solely in colour now, doing the conversion on the computer with no trouble.

And I fully appreciate that if I just shoot tranny then I may have problems 
with contrast if I try printing in black and white, but surely that can't 
be that difficult to control (even if that involves two changes in my 
brain  - positive > negative > monochrome.)

At the risk of starting major debates, does anyone else have these thoughts 
and anything to add?   I, for one, am sticking with the three film types at 
the moment but I am trying to get my brain used to the colour 
film/monochrome print battle.

Gerry