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Leaving the Wet Darkroom?



 
 
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Old January 2nd 05, 04:10 AM
Josh
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Default Leaving the Wet Darkroom?

First, I did think long and hard about posting this to R.P.Digital but
after looking at the posts there, I decided that I needed the advice of
people who were more involved in the wet process. I have contributed to
many of the analog newsgroups for years so please try not to flame me.

I have been involved with photography as a hobby for years and I have a
125 square foot plumbed darkroom in the basement that has given me long
hours of enjoyment. I have been a follower of the zone system as well
using my trusty Crown Graphic, Mamiya 330, Mamiya 7, and an old Moskva
folder, shooting many negatives and printing them on my D5XL. I have
even dabbled in color.

Lately with the addition of two children to the mix (2 years old and 4
months old) I have not had nearly enough time (read none) to pursue
printing in the darkroom. I still shoot black and white and have a
stack of negatives that have gone unprinted.

I recently dragged my old $199 flatbed scanner with the film adapter
lid and scanned those negatives just to see them, and discovered that
there were many shots I would love to print. Some serendipity through
work allowed me to recently acquire a G5 dual processor Mac. Of course
the cheapo scanner doesn't do any justice to the negatives (but mind
you, I was pretty impressed anyway).

I am contemplating getting a dedicated film scanner (such as the Nikon
8000, which from what I read is a bit older but not significantly worse
than the Nikon 9000, and a lot cheaper used) and scanning these and any
future negatives I create and creating a completely digital workflow
from that point on.

The questions I have a

1. Output. What are your thoughts on how to create black and white
prints digitally? Do they have the feel of real prints; the gloss of
the paper, Dmax, contrast, tone? Who makes them and how are they made -
are people exposing real B&W or C paper to digital light and processing
them, versus giant inkjet printers? Longevity? Do they carry the drama,
or emotion of a print? Does the "art" come through?

2. Giving up B&W film. I am still able to process my B&W film myself
with my Jobo, but from what I am reading I am tempted to just shoot C41
film and have it professionally souped. I would still want to print
black and white but it seems the color information is useful in
generating grayscale images in Photoshop, and eliminate the need to
commit to a specific lens filter color. A grayscale scanned and printed
C41 shot would have a specific "look" to it (grain wise) that may be
different than some specific pure B&W technique, but it would be a look
possibly worthy unto itself. This would keep my hands totally dry.

3. Giving up instant gratification. Obviously there is some pleasure in
seeing and handling your finished product immediately when you are
done. I'd have to wait until that big envelope (or tube) came in the
mail to see what I had created. But if I could reliably see what I was
going to get on the screen it would be liveable. How easy is it to
profile a serivce's prints. Can you display, print and calibrate some
sort of step wedge so you have some idea of what white, black, and all
the greys will look like with some degree of accuracy. Are people
generally happy with what comes in the mail 2 weeks later based on what
they had been visualizing on the monitor. It would eliminate the 20 or
so prints I usually have to make before I am happy.

4. Being able to feel I run a color darkroom as well. I have tried RA4
and been pretty happy with the results, but the process didn't thrill
me. And I felt there was less for me to control, so I kept up just
bringing my color negs to a lab and getting prints. But digitally I
feel I'd be more involved in the final output and have more possible
manipulations. Again, how easy is it to calibrate to an outside
printing service so I am not disappointed with the final results I get.

Thanks for letting me rant. Any thoughts on all of this? Has anyone
made the switch and are you as happy? I know I'll miss the process,
even the smell, but I want to get back into photography but just cannot
get back down into the darkroom right now.

-Joshua Wein

 




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