Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/01/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Scott, A few, good few, years ago, I tried to ascertain the possibilities of making direct contact prints with a 10x8 .................. loading Cibachrome paper into the negative carrier, shooting and then processing. I could find no help/advice and had little time to pursue it further. Does anyone have experience along these lines ............... one-off large shoe-box prints! Greetings, B. On 22-jan-2006, at 10:42, Scott McLoughlin wrote: > Yeah! If they stop making film, I'll never get to satisfy my new > 8x10 contact > printing fetish! Not to mention rendering my hard won M6's just a > couple of > lovely paper weights :-) > > Anyway, I hope a few companies at least keep the B&W film tradition > alive. > I'm not usually optimistic, but I somehow can picture a future > where the B&W > film niche survives. > > Scott > > Norm Aubin wrote: > >> Greetings all, >> >> I have to say, I'm not convinced that film is going to die out. >> Ted spoke >> rather pointedly on it just a bit ago, and I have to agree very >> whole-heartedly. Film is too good at what it does to just go >> away. While >> digital is the cat's meow for many uses (the two extremes of >> professional >> and auntie's happy snap family shots, for example), there is still >> a fairly >> large base of dedicated pro's and amateurs out there. >> If anything is likely over the next two decades, I suspect it will >> be a >> rationalization of the suppliers in response to this smaller market. >> Smaller does not mean non-existent though, so I feel that there >> will always >> be a few makers who address this need. >> Western Europe, the Americas & the eastern rim of the Pacific are >> all places >> where there is a good deal of wealth, so the digital >> infrastructure of >> capture and print or display on PC are all fairly achievable. A >> significant >> portion of the world is not ready to consume in the manner of these >> aforementioned countries though, and they serve as a possible >> source of >> revenue for film and paper distribution. That may change in time, >> as may >> all things, but probably not tomorrow. >> Similarly Daguerreotype, Wet plate, dry plate, albumen prints, >> Bromoil >> prints, platinum prints, and a host of other surpassed >> technologies flourish >> in their own underground. Even if film is transcended by digital >> recordings of Star Trek Tricorder quality, full color and 3-D >> viewing, there >> is still going to be an art market for 'old fashioned' media, because >> photographs, and particularly platinum and silver gelatin prints, >> have a >> "Fine Art" cachet of artifact, not just image. It may be less >> convenient >> than it was; you may not be able to go down to your favorite >> camera store >> and select from 11-teen films and papers, but there will be a >> source for >> this stuff. The big names may not develop new and better films using >> wondrous technologies, but that's okay too, the current stuff >> ain't too bad. >> The internet may become your local store, and fed-ex your supplier >> man! >> >> I cut my teeth on Tri-X and Kodachrome, still love them above all >> others, >> but I use Ilford Delta films, Fuji chrome films, Bergger B&W >> films, Maco IR, >> and am getting ready to try the Efke films soon. I love Xtol, prefer >> Perceptol, use a catichol based developer almost exclusively now, >> but have >> hand mixed from raw other developers that I'd go back to in a >> pinch. As >> long as I have Photoshop and any, repeat any film, I can probably >> get to >> whatever result I want, but I'm glad to think that that is not >> likely to be >> an issue for the next few decades, if ever. >> Someday digital capture may get so damn good that I will abandon film >> completely, although I think I won't. For the same reason I learned >> daguerreotype, and platinum printing, I think I will still have a >> place for >> film, and a willingness to find some where ever it is available, >> it still >> does some things that digital will not, and enough people believe >> that to >> keep it alive for a long time yet. >> I'm an optimist, that's why I shoot for the secrets and develop >> for the >> surprises. >> >> >> Best of light, >> Norm >> >> > > -- > Pics @ http://www.adrenaline.com/snaps > Leica M6TTL, Bessa R, Nikon FM3a, Nikon D70, Rollei AFM35 > (Jihad Sigint NSA FBI Patriot Act) > > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information