I am suddenly tempted towards ribaldry - but will contain myself. Many of you will have pictures you've taken on both 35 mm, and a larger format, of the same scene. I know I have. Amongst my slides I have shots of mountain scenes taken with a Bronica SQ-A and a Pentax ME Super taken at the same time on the same film stock - Kodacolor. Perhaps some of you, or even one person could do an experiment?
Find a pair of negatives of the same subject or scene. Focus your enlarger and make a print of the 35 mm negative. Then put the bigger negative in the 35 mm holder. Focus and make another print without moving the enlarger column up or down. Compare the two. Does the larger format show less grain? Is it sharper? Is the 'tonality' better. Unless there is a big discrepancy between the two images due to differences in the quality of the two lenses, the processing, or other taking conditions, they should be similar. I know mine are. A good achromatic loupe would be enough to come to a conclusion - a print is not really needed. That is merely labouring a point I've been trying to make for days. Is there less grain on your 6 x 6 at say 5-10X magnification than on the 35 mm? There certainly is not on mine. Are the edges of objects less sharp in one than the other? Not that I can see. I've just done this myself. Even though the outcome was a foregone conclusion - I was being objective. But I used a microscope, not a loupe. What about tonality? I like tonality! I don't know what it is. But I'm ready to guess. Is the word meant to describe the range of tones, grey levels, or colours, that are discernable on a slide, negative, or print, by the human eye? If so whose eye? Or is it the range of grey levels or colours measurable only with a densitometer or spectrophotometer in a laboratory? Is it something only certain people can see? Is it that barely discernable gut feeling of 'betterness' due entirely to the fact that one piece of film is bigger than the other? Is it magical? Does it involve an oracle? Maybe Harry Potter can help us? When someone say's 'trust me' - never do. When they say 'believe me' - don't. Say 'prove it' instead. Again I am tempted, but will restrain the impulse. Don Dr E D F Williams http://personal.inet.fi/cool/don.williams Author's Web Site and Photo Gallery Updated: March 30, 2002
