Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/04/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Mark Well, it finally sounds like you are off the stuff and finally gone cold turkey! Excellent and accurate opinions Mark. (Probably because I agree with them :-) Jerry Mark Rabiner wrote: > Hi Martin! > Well I only got mottling once in my life. And that was when I tried > diluting HC110 more than dilution B as Ansel Adams was reputedly > supposed to have done but I say "no way." > Even when i was into two both developing i never let my negs just sit > there. I agitated very gently once a minute. Worked great. > When it comes to mottling just don't dilute to the point where that > happens or agitating as un frequently as that point. > > And you want to pull back to a point where it never happens. Not just > happening un frequently or perhaps with certain films or the way your > water is certain times of the year. I call it "giving it some leeway." > > It would be good, Martin if you could see GeeBee's prints in person. For > all you know he could just be a mast of Photoshopping the jpeged for the > internet imagery. Those could also exist as excellent prints, we just > dont have any way on knowing that.. > > One tip since you seem to think i know what I'm talking about is to do a > lot more shooting with the yellow-green Wratten 11 filter. It only eats > a stop and gives you gorgeous much more nicely printable tones from sky > down to foliage down to peoples faces. > > People admire the photographers who make gorgeous imagery from larger > format negs. Contact printing even. Platinum emulsions possibly. > I don't admire them so much. Any idiot can make great images from a 4x5 > or larger neg. And medium format is a whole lot easier then 35mm. I've > always said you can develop sheet film in pee-pee in your back yard play > pool and it will come out a lot better then anything you could ever do > with roll film. That's why they say : "F8 and be there." If you're > within three stops it's impossible to screw up a 4x5 neg. You can tap > dance on it! Just show up and press the shutter release and we have our > cover shot. > NO think of Salgado's prints and other large prints done by people > working in 35mm. Those people have got to be obsessed and obsessive to > get that kind of quality from a 35mm neg at those high magnifications.. > And they have to have tenaciousness. It doesn't happen the first few > months you're in the darkroom on weekends. It does not come from fooling > around with this and fooling around with that. It's a focused sustained effort. > And sure a 16x20 or 20x24 print can be gorgeous from a 35mm neg but does > not do so well side by side with a neg from larger formats, especially > sheet film. But it can be impressive as hell. And can involve capturing > action and hand held 36 on a roll stuff you don't get from larger formats. > > >b) High edge acutance (i.e., sharpness) > comes from the higher dilutions and DOES NOT COME from two bath developing. > Stand developing might be something to play with after you've been > pulling excelling silver prints for a decade and your started to get a > little bored. I don't think Ansel ever did stand developing. If he did > it was not big with him I've read him extensively (he's one of my > favorite writers) My opinon is put the stond on the list of things > somday you'll do if you have time. At the bottom of that list. > > People say to me "want this last remaining brick of Agfa 25 or Panatomic > X or Verichrome pan?" and I always say no because the work I'm doing now > I want to pay off and be doing in the prints and work I'm doing next > month and year and decade. So if they're not making it any more than I > don't want any part of it. > > My advice would be to put that stuff in the freezer and buy a brick of > something they'll be making next year and beyond. You could then take > your Verichrome Pan on you next vacation to Mars I've heard it cuts > right through those Martian sandstorms. > > A replacement for Verichrome Pan? Try Agfa Pan 100. The stuff is only > stupendous. A bit grainer than it should be but we're talking tonaliy. > I use Fuji Across for both my stuff requiring a medium ASA as well as my > "high res" stuff. The stuff i refer to myself as my "Ansel Adams" stuff. > For when i want large print landscapes or large print anything. Even > though Ansel Adams reputedly used Tri X I assume real Tri x 400 not the > 320 pro stuff. > > I don't do those "funny" European films from the country formally knows > as Yugoslavia or other foaming and frothing slavic or otherwise areas > because I know as a sit here at this monitor that next year I'm going to > walk into the film freezer at Pro Photo and its not going to be there. > It's a here today gone tomorrow done deal. Those poor people if they > have to dodge sniper bullets on the way to the film and paper making > factory I should give them a break and try out their stuff but I just > don't. There is no price low enough. > Darkroom work requires a concentrated ongoing effort. Not a "I'll try > this new staff next week using this new developing process I hear they > do in Outer Mongolia." > > Fuji though will be around longer than Kodak and Ilford. Oh!! try FP4 > that has a bit of a cult following and is said to be very strait line > which might also translate into being richly toned and hell!, easy to print! > But a slightly filtered neg is SO much easier to print! try the > yellow-green 060 from B+W. Happier negs! > > Mark Rabiner > Portland, Oregon USA > http://www.rabinergroup.com > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html