<< So why all the agony ? >>
No agony from me at all Terry - all on your side I think.
You are deliberately missing the points here?
1. The zone system is applicable to any process.
2. A silver gelatine print can cope with any range that a silver gelatin neg
can record!
When you say a particular way of making negs produces superior results that
is because of the way that you choose to operate the printing processes.
Other people on the list have said they use quite different negatives.
(Either through choice or because they have to use existing negs so have no
choice.) When I say that _you_ prefer them I mean just that. They give
superior results the way you print, but for the way someone else prints
platinum etc they may be hopeless. So no, they are not superior - only
superior for you.
The bit about enlargement gives the reason for preferring the type of negs
we do for making silver prints. It would apply equally if you managed to
make your platinum paper or gum fast enough (or the light source powerful
enough) to enlarge onto gum or platinum. I was merely refuting your
suggestion that this was in some way to do with platinum/gum/silver being
in some way superior/inferior.
A major function of the list is that it helps to sort out misconceptions of
this sort. I've tried to sort out quite a few recently - you may even have
some idea about step wedges now! The nearest I have got to agony is when
some people have quoted me as saying the opposite of what I actually said.
Incidentally, is there some way you could let me know which messages from
you are personal and which are merely copies of those posted to the list -
which I will get through this in due course. It would save me writing two
answers! Or better, don't send to me if you are sending to the list.
Peter Marshall
Fixing Shadows and elsewhere:
http://faraday.clas.virginia.edu/cgi-uva/cgiwrap/~ds8s/Niepce/peter-m.cgi