Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On 8/1/04 9:50 AM, "Greg Locke" <locke@straylight.ca> typed: > I will dissent (...of course :^) > > I HATE Tri-X. > In a way it's like saying "I hate Texas". It's 5 states in one you're bound to have liked one of them if you checked it out. Tri x has really gone though changes over the decades since I first started using it in the mid 60's. Those days there was hemp in the film base now it's a product of the Dow chemical company. Maybe it was the tri x of the late 70's which you could have glitched with. I used to always look at a book of Kodak black and white films and they had a big curve for each film. The curves were the same if it was a dull base verses a shiny base of if the film was rolled with the shiny side on the inside or the sprocket holes were inside out. But the curve on the tri x "pro" 320 film had not semblance to what sever to the many tri x 400 films. They were both black and white films, that's all they had in common. With the same basic name on the outside and color; green. So Kodak come out with a new product and decided that to make the kind of money on it they felt they needed to so they put an old trademark or label on it. One with legs and which was a proven seller. Tri x. This they're known for more than the typical other big time company by a long shot but it's old news. Now I'm not saying that tri x has been tweaked to a degree where it would be more ethical to just call it something else. I think the curves of the tri x 400 now and the curve in 1965 would basically resemble each other. But so many other aspics of the films personality of which I'm not coherent on are definitely a different kettle of bouillabaisse. I think it's "look" is was gone decades ago. And it's not just what people are wearing in the pictures it takes. It has a clean behind the ears look now which makes it homogenized with it's Tmax and Portra and other films. It's no longer a Chicago 7 film but has joined the mainstream. Esoterically monochromatic Tom Hayden has become big time colorized Ted Turner. Mark Rabiner Photography Portland Oregon http://rabinergroup.com/