Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/03/14

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Negative versus Reversal
From: Rolfe Tessem <rolfe@ldp.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2002 17:15:12 -0500
References: <5.1.0.14.0.20020314140934.00a70128@pop.eastlink.ca> <5.1.0.14.0.20020314171557.02beba18@pop.andara.com>

"Robert G. Stevens" wrote:

> A few years ago a sign company hired me to shoot their outdoor signs.  They
> had just done all the signs at a new hospital.  I shot it on both AGFA
> Optima 50 and Velvia.  The Velvia was finer grained and sharper.  The
> colour was also more accurate.  When I showed the results to the people at
> the sign plant, the graphic artist brought both the Velvia and the AGFA
> Optima images up on the computer screen that he uses to create the
> signs.  He commented that the Velvia ones were much better and almost dead
> on to the Panatone colours in these signs.

While Velvia may have many uses, I don't think accurate, literal color
rendition is one of them.

This bias in favor of reversal films is something that, IMHO, should be
relegated to the dustbin of history. 25 or 30 years ago, yes the only
professional color films were reversal films. And the negative films
that were available were relative crap. Even as recently as 10 or 15
years ago, the professional negative films were really geared to wedding
photographers and seemed optimized for medium format (e.g. Kodak
Vericolor).

But in the past 5 years, and especially in the last 2 or 3, there has
been a revolution in the quality of 35mm color negative films. It
probably started with the T grain technology, but it clearly goes
further than that. There are now a huge array of professional 35mm
negative film types available that span almost every imaginable
application and subject. By contrast, reversal films have improved but
only modestly. In fact, Kodachrome is still the benchmark, which ought
to tell us something.

Concurrent with this development has been the move on the part of most
print publications to digital technology in the composition of their
products. No longer does the engraver need a transparency to work from
since everything is scanned anyway. Publishing on the web? Negative is
as good or better than reversal.

In fact, I think you can make a pretty good case that the balance has
swung in the opposite direction. From professional 35mm negative film,
which I can get processed on any street corner in the country, I can
make high quality C prints directly, scan the negative for use in
publications or for further digital manipulation, output digital C
prints, output inkjet prints, etc.

Leica photography is often available light photography. Available light
photography often involves light sources of differing color temperature.
Dealing with mixed lighting is something that the best color negative
films do much better than any of the available reversal stocks, and the
best of the lot are the group from Fuji that incorporates a 4th layer
(Reala, NPH, etc.).

And when you do use flash with the Leica on interior scenes with mixed
lighting, sometimes you want to just punch a little light into the
subject. With negative film, you just put a little piece of half or full
CTO filter material over the flash, shoot at as wide an aperture as
practical, and color correct in the print. Obviously this is impossible
with reversal material. There, you have a wide choice of daylight films,
only a few choices of tungsten balanced film, and effectively no films
at all that deal well with mixed light.

So, with the choice of incredibly sharp and fine-grained film (e.g. Fuji
Reala), the ability to deal with mixed lighting sources, the ability to
handle scenes with a wider range than 3-4 stops, the ease with which the
scanner handles shadow detail, the universal availability of inexpensive
processing, and the ability to output easily in any format I choose, the
choice is a no-brainer.

It's color negative all the way.

As always, YMMV and I look forward to hearing dissenting views.

- -- 

Rolfe Tessem    |       Lucky Duck Productions, Inc.
rolfe@ldp.com   |       96 Morton Street
(212) 463-0029  |       New York, NY 10014
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In reply to: Message from "Robert G. Stevens" <robsteve@hfx.andara.com> (RE: [Leica] Scanner Suggestions)
Message from "Robert G. Stevens" <robsteve@hfx.andara.com> (RE: [Leica] Scanner Suggestions)