> You must be doing some *major* alterations to the curves if
> you can't duplicate
> the process using paper grade and exposure adjustments. I'd
> be interested to
> see what the altered curves look like.
Still early in the process of determining what is exactly going
on. But essentially, here is the rub:
With T400CN, there are two particularily annoying
characteristics: The tonal curves are more stair-stepping
instead of a nice smooth gradient from one extreme to the other.
The second characteristic is the inability to get clean blacks.
If you have the contrast adjusted (it supposably is designed to
match a grade 3 paper, which is a bit harsh to begin with) to
keep your gradients halfway smooth, the blacks are a gray mush.
If you go up to grade 4 (or higher) you can get nicer blacks,
but the gradients go to pot on you. Everything takes on about
three or four levels of gray.
In scanning, I sought to expand the contrast range, which is
rather easy to do, but the same problems that I experience in
the darkroom came up. By adjusting the midpoint I was able to
achieve "max black" (stolen from the Ilford pro forum), yet keep
the mid-tones and highlights normal.
So, my challenge will be to figure out a way to intensify the
development in the blacks yet stick with a paper grade no harder
than 3. I'll be experimenting with sodium-bicarbonite and
different developers.
AG-Schnozz
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