[rollei_list] Re: Are Enlargers Obsolete?
- From: Mark Rabiner <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 16:12:57 -0700
>
> In the remote past, I have been able to use an enlarger to get some
> really nice grainy results, that is to say photos in which the grain
> was clearly visible and resulted in a pleasing aesthetic effect. But I
> don't think it is possible to do that with a scanned image - or is it?
>
> I wonder if folks have an opinion on this subject.
>
> Cheers.
>
It really is getting there.
I kind of feel like I'm starting to get it.
The scans people are getting now are just starting to have a more accurate
description of the grain quality that a negative has in it.
Someone closer to the "true" way in which that grain quality is expressed
in a blowup from an enlarger.
It pretty much happened with the move from the Nikon 4000 to 5000.
But it's not quite there yet.. Not quite.
The grain of the image could be thought of as being the image.
If one was doing larger format and or slow film then grain quality is less
of an issue than if one was a 35mm shooter of faster films.
And these scanning issues don't come up.
35mm shooting of faster films demands the opposite of what one might think.
Such work demands the utmost from the darkroom worker.
35mm print making is very demanding from a variety of angles.
The exact dilution you are using. Your agitation methods.
The film itself of course. How great your enlarging lens is and are you
stopped down too much or not enough. Is your grain quality falling off in an
edge indicating your enlarger needs to be lined up better. Or you are
popping your negs because of heat.
All show on an 11x14 print if you look at it closely even without a loupe.
>From 35mm 400 or faster film. Maybe 6x6 in a 16x20 (14x14).
And it is on a level of subtlety just beyond what is being gotten now with
desktop scanning this year.
But I'd expect it to be there in a high end drum scan but I don't know
directly.
Whatever if not this year then next year.
Two at the most. Stay tuned. Or better yet. Stay at it.
Mark Rabiner
Photography
Portland Oregon
http://rabinergroup.com/
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