[pure-silver] Re: Fwd: Re: 35mm (started with Film in Dektol)

  • From: mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:38:35 -0700

Bob there are many excellent points here, and a couple of others I would like to bring out.  First is that because you use a film with the same name, doesn't necessarily means its the same emulsion in all its formats.  Film XYZ in 35mm maybe be a very different film than the same film in MF, 4x5 or any other size.  Richard would be the expert here, and I defer to his expertise.  Yet because we get brand x in one size, many might expect it to be able to treat it the same way that work in one format in another.  That might not be true.

The other thing no one has mentioned yet as well is viewing distance.  If the use is such that the viewer is not going to see it up close, then you have introduced another element for consideration.  A 35mm can look fine the size of a billboard if its viewed from a 1/2 mile to a mile away.  The reverse can also be true.  I walked into a store a while back of a sports stadium filled with people that looked great on wall that was about 20 feet or so long.  Looked great when you walked in the door, but as you got close to that wall the image broke down.

One thing I want to do before I go is to do a few portraits using something like 20x24 negative.  Maybe one day.  Our own right tool for the job is a perfect way to express what I am thinking.  What one finds very comfortable, another would find awkward. 
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Fwd: Re: 35mm (started with Film in Dektol)
From: "BOB KISS" <bobkiss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, November 18, 2009 3:17 pm
To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

I think this might have been mentioned earlier in this thread but I
just wanted to reiterate one important difference between formats. The
number of tones possible in an image is related to the number of pixels per
unit area. It is very clear that, given the same size final image and print
of a subject (and all other variables being the same: film, dev., etc.) the
larger the negative, the more silver grains per unit area, the smoother the
tones will appear. Remember that an 8X10 sheet of film has exactly the same
area as a 36 exposure 35mm roll of film. If you have ever seen a good 16X20
print from a good 8X10 neg, you will know what the phrase "breath taking"
means. Because of the size, it is more impressive (though having the same
info content per unit area of print) than a good 8X10 from a good 4X5 neg.
And, no matter what you do in 35 mm, as long as the same film is available
in larger format, you will have the same difference...again in smoothness of
tones, not necessarily in other aspects. This is an extreme simplification
of the matter because silver grains appear in a "grain size distribution"
but the concept is basically the same and sound.
I have been shooting special local (Chattel) houses in 8X10 and
making contact platinum-palladium prints...really lovely. In a few cases I
have scanned the 8X10 negs with my 4990, worked on the in Frotoshop
(intentional), output enlarged digital negs with my Epson 3800, and made
pt-pd prints of them. Amazing! You lose so little enlarging 8X10 to 16X20
either in detail or smooth tonality.
All the above being said, I STILL love my Leica M-3s and Nikon F-2As
and very much enjoy the "incredible lightness of being" when shooting 35mm.
There are some things for which they are absolutely the right cameras. At
the same time, from nearly 30 years of pro experience, I have learned to use
my 'Blad 500C/M or ELM nearly as "lightly" as 35mm.
I guess each of us chooses our own "right tool for the job".
CHEERS!
BOB

-----Original Message-----
From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:pure-silver-bounce@freelists.org] On Behalf Of Elias Roustom
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 5:54 PM
To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [pure-silver] Fwd: Re: 35mm (started with Film in Dektol)

Here's something I dug up in the search that this thread started me on:
http://old.photodo.com/art/35_m9.shtml

Elias
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