Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/10/26

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Would you start a wet darkroom today?
From: Axel Schwieker <axel@baer.rwth-aachen.de>
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 23:09:45 +0200
References: <B61DAAEE.461%jgong@cisco.com>

John,

First I would like to suggest the option to shoot slides. Esp. if you
are still exploring picture taking technique, as you wrote. It ist
cheaper than a darkroom, be it wet or digital, it requires much less
space and time, there are fewer factors which alter the final result, it
will teach correct exposure, and IMO color slide photography is easier
to get a grasp of because the final result is closer to our eye's vision
than BW prints.

On the matter of darkrooms I'll vote for the traditional wet one -
partly because the traditional techniques are much easier to learn and
master, as they are much more obvious to the beholder than to transform
a neg with a scanner to a low-res fuzzy computer screen picture and from
there to gamma calibrated printers - partly beacause a wet darkroom is
much more fun for hbbyists and amateurs - and partly because it is much
easier and cheaper to achieve prints of much higher quality than from a
digital setup. Digital has its advantage were fast turnaround times are
required and where money doesn't matter. Digital equipment for high
quality results that does your optical equipment justice is still *very*
expensive. (Oh, I forgot, this is the LUG - money does not matter)

Regards, Axel

In reply to: Message from John Gong <jgong@cisco.com> ([Leica] Would you start a wet darkroom today?)