[alt-photo] Re: Copy film (Kodak 4125)

[etienne garbaux]

Kevin wrote:

>We have found that Ilford Ortho Plus is a very good replacement. It 
>has a very manageable curve to work with, much like Kodak Copy film.

I do not share your enthusiasm for IOP.  While the contrast of IOP 
can be adjusted via development, the range of adjustment is similar 
to any camera film and far, far less than is possible with the 
double-emulsion 4125.  Also, with high-contrast development it shows 
a pronounced shoulder, which precludes the sort of fine control of 
shadow and highlight densities 4125 made possible, and the D-Max 
falls short of what is necessary to make negatives with good 
highlight separation at a DR suitable for pure Pt, salt prints, etc. 
(i.e., DR >2.3 or so).  It is also much faster than 4125, which makes 
it a pain to work with in the darkroom.  T-Max 100 is actually much 
better in every respect than IOP for copy use, although the 
panchromatic sensitizing makes it that much more of a pain in the 
darkroom.  IOP is just an ordinary medium-speed pictorial film that 
happens to be orthochromatic, which makes handling easier in the 
darkroom.  It is not a real copy film in any sense.

Best regards,

etienne