Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Rolfe Tessem wrote: > > Herbert Kanner wrote: > > I have just read an article in Photo Techniques that reviews the latest > > NPH (ISO 400) and compares it to NPZ (ISO 800). This got me to > > wondering. I have been using Fuji Superia 400 as found in any chain > > drug store and priced by B & H considerable below the price of NPH. The > > latter is classed as a "professional" film. Does that mean it is > > balanced correctly at birth and kept refrigerated? If so, is this very > > significant with color negative films, where prints are the object and > > final color correction can be made when printing? I understand its > > importance for slide films. I also wonder about the use of > > "professional." It can mean "keep refrigerated"; it can mean lower > > contrast and saturation; it can mean both. I know that Agfa Optima > > calls itself "professional" has similar contrast and saturation to > > Superia is sold off the shelf non-refrigerated. > > > > The bottom line on which I would like advice is this: I do my own > > printing on RA-4. Would I notice any significant difference were I to > > substitute NPH for the Superia 400 that I have been using? > > NPH has lower contrast and saturation -- after all, Fuji bills it as a > portrait film. I find that, in practice, it makes a great all around > emulsion. I have had NPH in and out of 100 degree plus heat (especially > a couple of weeks ago in France) and never had a heat-related problem. > > I believe that the professional counterparts of the Fuji consumer films > like Superia are the Fuji Press 400 and Press 800. Not all have a direct > counterpart, however. I am an especially big fan of Press 800. > > I print my own RA4 as well, and find NPH to be an exceptionally neutral > film that is easy to print. > > Rolfe > If you are doing your own printing ( as I do ) don't get your film in the drugstore unless the pharmacist has a Leica around his neck and a walk in phreezer for your philm and pharmaceuticals You'll drive yourself crazy and will notice the difference. (In your prints) I always get the most expensive cold film i can find. Seldom is it not the best. I don't like Delta 32000 so much though. NPZ is my fave color neg film now. I think of it was Neopan 1600 with much more information. More Photoshop phun all night till 4. And without all the scanning hassle and non latitudes of the chrome films which are all too darn slow and expensive. An 800 film it seems to give the quality of a film of about 2 or 250 ISO or ASA. In other words better than 400. They way we think of 400. Now 400 is better than the way we typically thought of 100. So the NPZ is darn close to how someone in it for a few years would think of a 100 to 400 film in grain and color and sharpness. In other worlds its wedding film, or portrait film. Flash and blast them. Turn off the flash when you can and you can more then you could with the previous standards; the 400 films. 400 films are high res films now. 100 or 125 films are the tech pans ultra high res films only with better panchromatic and no need for funny pricey developers. My opinions, lots of em. Mark Rabiner Portland, Oregon USA http://www.rabinergroup.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html