> Message text written by Ken Carney
> >
> My limited experiments to date have been with Kodak professional copy film
> in HC110, which seems OK but I can't locate in sizes larger than 4x5; Kodak
> SO339 which I didn't care for; and regular 8x10 TriX in HC110 which doesn't
> seem to give as much tonal range as I would have thought, given its success
> in the camera.
> <
>
> Ken
Ken, I would recommend the Kodak 4125, available in sizes, 4x5,8x10,8x12,
11x14, and 20x24. HC110 @ 1:11. Try Unique Photo 1800 631-0300. The
larger size will sometimes take awhile to get, as kodak is running it in
batches.
>
> It all depends on what you want in the final print. This is a subject on
> which people have different views !
>
Very true, Terry, I would add that there are more views than film types
and developing combinations.
> My own is that I look for a wide range of tones, up to a d max of 2.4, say
> for highlight detail in the whites, with fine gradation across the range.
> I found, after looking at Frederick Evans's negatives that there were only
> three graphic arts films that would do the job, Agfa N31P , Kodak Sep Neg 2
> and Gravure Positive. The first two went out of production last summer but
> people have stocks. I am not sure of the position on Gravure Positive.
> But,for me, the best answer is Ilford FP4 which I have tried with a range
> of developers only to discover that the best one out of a bottle is
> Ilford's PQ Universal developer which is I believe marketed in the States
> as Universal. This will give very good results if you over expose by two
> stops and over develop by
> 50%; this gives a development time of 135 seconds. If you want the very
> finest results develop in acid amidol( if you want to pursue this I will
> search out relevent postings for you but they are in the archives) for much
> the same times. The film is available up to 11 x 14.
>
I use the FP4 with Ilfotec 1:31.
> Of courseit is possible to use lith films developed to continuous tone but
> my own view is that, if you are going to spend money on platinum to get the
> best, it seems to be spitting into the wind to compromise on the film as if
> you get the negative right more than half the battle is won..
>
> Terry King
>
EJ Neilsen
ejnasn@laplaza.org