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[OM] Re: A question about film preference

Subject: [OM] Re: A question about film preference
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 20:57:52 -0800
Bob_Benson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

>I have lurked for three months now, and have greatly enjoyed
>the camraderie and knowledge exchange. 
>I've learned a lot.
>
>So,  my question (and I'm sorry if I'm covering ground already covered 
>before
>I joined the list ........)
>
It's really hard to find a legitimate subject that hasn't already been 
covered multiple times.

>1.  Assuming my objective is mainly landscape and 20x30 prints .... 
>(color)
>
More important than film choice are 'sharpness" and "steadiness" 
choices. To get top quality prints that big from 35mm requires careful 
equipment choice and technique. There is a lot of material about this in 
the archives. One rather interesting and unique resource is Gary Reese's 
lens tests <http://members.aol.com/olympusom/lenstests/default.htm>. 
Gary did several tests comparing various vibration alternatives. You 
will notice many lenses originally tested with OM-1 and mirror lockup 
later retested with OM-2, 4 or 2000 with mirror and aperture prefire 
with generally better results, esp. in the short to medium tele range 
and with some zooms in theat same size/weight range. Pay heed also to 
Oly's recommendation for all teles:

" Also, to prevent camera shake: When using a tripod, hold the camera 
steady with both hands and press the shutter release with the ball of 
finger, not with the cable release."

All of this, of course varies with lens, shutter speed, tripod and head. 
There are big differences in the extent to which some tripods resonate 
with and seem to amplify, mirror and aperture slap and shutter noise and 
others tend to damp it.

>2.  And assuming I hadn't been happy about Cibachrome et al prints before 
>1985 ....
>        (too garish for my tastes)
>
Cibahrome is long gone under that name, but lives on as Ilfochrome. I've 
never printed it, but have a friend who does lovely 11x14 work with it 
which is not at all garish to my eye. The whole world of color printing 
has gone topsy turvy over the last few years with the advent of photo 
quality inkjet printers. They are capable of stunning results with 
longevity in a class with Ciba/Ilfochrome. But that means getting into a 
digital workflow, which I love and others don't, and the question of 
where in the process it starts. 20x30 also means serious money for a 
printer to do it yourself. 12x18 is reasonable, then it gets serious.

>3.  What film would be your preference?
>
Lordy, what a question! Everybody so far has said slides and given their 
opinions about slide films. I would go with negative film. Whatever 
other virtues they have, slide film don't have the exposure latitude to 
capture the full light range of many landscape scenes, forcing one to 
choose highlight or shadow detail and lose the other. Color neg captures 
it all and lets you choose tonal range and contrast later, where you can 
experiment and change your mind.

Moose




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