Real black and white (i.e. - not the c41 b&w) has the potential to be sharper than color because of the way it's made.
As to enlargements, I know lots of folks claim that 8x10 is the largest you can go with 35mm but that's just not true. I've personally made poster-sized prints from 35mm, and I know some billboards back in the day were shot with 35mm. It depends on the film used, and the image itself. I think one problem with small format enlargements is that folks blow it up huge then look at it inches from their face. "This looks horrible," they'll say, no kidding. Now, I don't know if I'd trust the scanner I bought to enlarge 35 bigger than 8x10. As to pro vs consumer films, I have not noticed an appreciable difference for my use. My recent color work has been shot on the Fujicolor 200, a four pack at WalMart costs $7. For black and white I slightly prefer Ilford's XP2, but the local Walgreens carry three packs of Kodak BW400CN for $12 which I might start using since I won't have to pay shipping. When I can develop my own again, I'll probably go right back to Ilford's HP5+. On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Walter Gilbert <[email protected]> wrote: > That's a relief. Thanks for the info. > > By the way ... is b/w 35mm more forgiving than color when printing > enlargements, or are you still pretty much limited to around 8 x 10 before > the grain starts to get obtrusive? And how much difference can I expect out > of professional grade over standard consumer grade films? > > -- Walt > > On 12/4/2010 8:52 PM, John Sessoms wrote: >> >> From: Walter Gilbert >> >>> Great. Looks like I'm staring down the barrel of another expense to >>> go along with my newly acquired pursuit of film photography: good >>> printer, ink, and paper. >>> >>> Seems there ought to be a way to embed processing instructions in the >>> EXIF data to tell the machines not to engage in such foolishness. >> >> Maybe not. It's only scanning the negatives that gives the automatic >> processor fits. >> >> If you're scanning your negatives at home, once you have a digital image >> you like, the mini-labs print them pretty much as you submit it. >> >> They don't automatically correct "mistakes" like the machine does for >> negatives. >> > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- ~Nick David Wright http://www.nickdavidwright.net/ -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
