Hi, Because of the "commotion" around my choice for XP2super I was sort of forced to A) atleast try it B) keep you guys updated about the results While doing my grocery shopping I have bought a roll at the supermarket, yes it was one of the two black and white films available there, so it can't be good, can it :). Made a 2 hour walk trough town (Ghent, Belgium) yesterday in the late afternoon and filled the roll with various shots. Took the roll to the photo store and had it 1-hour developped with 3x4.5" proofs on color paper (professional service). Bought the missing darkroom equipment and selected Ilford Multigrade IV RC as first paper(thank you guys for the assistance) Haven't printed myself yet, was going to do it this evening, but plans changed, so it will be next weekend probably. Still I found the result of the proofs amazing enough to do this posting. I have made an exposure series from ISO 50 to ISO 6400 of a quite contrasty view (a shipping lock on one of the rivers) All exposures were printable!!!!, and only the ISO 6400 one was really poor quality. Results based on viewing of proofs with naked eye and 4x magnifier, viewing of negatives on light box.: Contrast: The contrast was extremely variable. The highest contrast, and highest apparent sharpness was the ISO 800 print, with the ISO 400 and ISO 1600 following close. Towards the lower ISO there was a gentle but consistant drop in contrast, At ISO 200 this could still be interpreted as nice for the high contrast scene, from ISO 100 it was too much, the ISO 50 looked faded. In the higher ISO's contrast drops quickly, and becomes very poor at 6400 Shadow detail: was good up to ISO1600, still vagualy visible at ISO3200, gone at 6400 Highlight detail: good all the way on the negatives, even at ISO50, but on the prints the extreme highlights are problematic in the highest contrast zone of the film around ISO800. Grain: No visible grain in the lower ISO's, first light appearance of grain in the out of focus shadows at 800, more in all shadows at 1600, quite visible in mid-tones at 3200, most at 6400, The grain (or clouds) is always less apparent then f.i. the Delta 3200 I once tried,even at 6400. Sharpness: Looks pretty good to me, I could see even the the slightest bit of camera shake, and could nicely follow the sharpness degradations from the plane of focus towards the DOF limits, even when the whole scene was well within the "official" DOF limits. (lens F50mm f1.7, most used apertures f8 and f5.6) A brick-pattern, of ca. 20lpmm on the negative, looks pretty sharp and contrasty on the proof, viewed with the naked eye. First conclusion: Looks pretty good, pleasantly suprised by the ISO1600 performance, a bit disappointed by the too low contrast below ISO200, or even at ISO200 if it weren't such a high contrast scene. But I think I could find even these low ISO's usefull at times, especially because the out-of focus/bokeh area's look beautifull at low contrast and grainlessly smooth. More definitive conclusion to follow after printing. But for now it looks good enough to try a few more rolls. See you, Erwin - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org.
