There seems to be no end to the discussion that some will push to justify lugging around a big camera. Yes, the points that Bob brings up are true. If the goal of the print is to be seamless in tonal transitions that might be very important. I however, strongly believe that it is WAY down on the list of things to me concerned with as a print maker and story teller. If it is the most important aspect of your image, I suggest getting the big blank canvas and join the other intellectuals and wonder why no one "gets it". If some one is scientifically curious if there are differences that is one thing and quite different than does it really make that much difference to the statement being made by the image. One easily measured and the other a big who cares. Eric Eric Neilsen Photography 4101 Commerce Street Suite 9 Dallas, TX 75226 http://e.neilsen.home.att.net http://ericneilsenphotography.com Skype ejprinter _____ From: pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pure-silver-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter Badcock Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 7:51 PM To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [pure-silver] Tonal gradation/smoothness in 35mm negs c.f. larger formats There has been a discussion on APUG about the differences between 35mm negatives and larger format negatives in relation to tonal gradation and smoothness of tones (particularly in the highlights). So all other things being equal, can somebody please tell me why I can't get the same tonal gradation/smoothness onto a print made from a 35mm neg cf. a larger negative of the same film, same scene, same exposure conditions, same developer etc etc. If possible, assume grain size is small enough to be irrelevant - i.e. keep the print smallish, say no bigger than 6-7 inches. Rather than pre-empt any explanations you folks come up with , I'll just supply you with quotations for now rather than the original APUG thread (of course you can search for it yourself, but I'd rather you thought about it independently because I'm not satisfied with the only answer that was posted on APUG) regards Peter Quote: Originally Posted by Allan Swindles <http://www.apug.org/forums/forum52/45389-35mm-big-enough-quality-prints-pos t560618.html#post560618> View Post Lol, IMHO the biggest advantage of medium/large format is in the gradation, particularly noticable in monochrome work. Quote: Originally Posted by mhv <http://www.apug.org/forums/forum52/45389-35mm-big-enough-quality-prints-pos t560379.html#post560379> View Post What is important when you print from a small negative is to get proper contrast. Too many people end up with flat, ugly stuff when they enlarge a lot. You need to get proper exposure, development, proper paper grade, a good paper developer, know how to dodge and burn, etc. If your goal is to get the smooth tones of MF or LF, forget about it, it just won't happen. But you can make excellent full-scale prints if you set your heart to it. Quote: Originally Posted by aldevo <http://www.apug.org/forums/forum52/45389-35mm-big-enough-quality-prints-pos t562345.html#post562345> View Post But let's not kid ourselves. In photography there's no substitute for square inches and 35mm gives you all of 1 1/2 to play with. And the real issue here isn't necessarily grain or apparent sharpness - it's smoothness of gradation, particularly in the highlights. You can create adjacency effects till the cows come home in 35mm - so much so, in fact, that I believe you can actually make an 8x10 print in 35mm appear sharper than a print of the same size taken in 120 with good equipment. But smooth, translucent highlights? Not a chance. Quote: Originally Posted by aldevo <http://www.apug.org/forums/forum52/45389-35mm-big-enough-quality-prints-pos t562861.html#post562861> View Post I've developed 35mm FP4+ negs in straight Edwal 20 from the photographer's Formulary (and that's about as solvent as you can get, btw) and at 8x10 there is still, very definitely, inferior highlight gradation relative to any MF negative enlarged to the same print size I have ever seen. And I've seen many of those. The highlights will betray 35mm every time once we are above about 4x. _____