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[OM] T400CN in the darkroom - Eureka

Subject: [OM] T400CN in the darkroom - Eureka
From: AG Schnozz <agschnozz@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 3 May 2002 10:28:04 -0700 (PDT)
Thanks to some wonderful advice given to me from the Ilfopro
forums, I managed to successfully use "Split Filter" (or
Split-Contrast) printing.

The main issue with Kodak's T400CN (as with several other
emulsions to a lessor degree) is that you have a choice of
acceptable gradients/highlights with muddy gray blacks or nice
sparkling blacks with unacceptable gradients.  T400CN prints
best on Grade 3 paper--supposably.

With split-filter contrast control you expose the paper with
Grade 0 filtering and then expose it again with Grade 5
filtering.  The Grade 0 exposure takes care of the highlights
and midtones and the Grade 5 exposure addresses the lower "zone"
numbers.

On one particularily troublesome picture, I've spent hours upon
hours attempting to get the picture right to no avail.  Best
print yet is this muddy piece of crud.  In less than 20 minutes
I went through two test strips and produced an 8x10 that was
nearly perfect.  A little bit of dodging and burning to
manipulate things according to my "vision", but for a straight,
un-manipulated print it was amazing.  Especially considering
that I had never done it before and I only ran two test strips.

I can tell, that even with split-filter printing, T400CN will
remain much more difficult to print than conventional films, but
this added tool does work amazingly well.  It may not be for all
film types or images, but when dealing with troublesome
negatives with hideously long tonal scales, this technique is a
life-saver.

AG-Geletin/Schnozz

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