Your printing preference for leica optics?

[ken_chi]

Hi, I am just a beginner curious to know how other members here print

their work to optimize the leica optics. I understand that there are

many variables involved... what I would like to know is what your

favourite printing choices are given that you shoot mostly handheld

avalible light:

 

1) Your favourite film choice for black and white? (anyone use slow

film here Pan F by default because of max sharpness)

 

2) what is your favourite enlargement size? (I haven't gone beyone

8x10 yet, mostly 5x7)

 

3) what paper type and brand do you prefer? Mat or Gloss? RC or FB

based?

 

4) what time of the day do you like to shoot best?

 

Thanks for sharing!

cheers

[mike dixon]

My most-used b&w film is HP5+, but I also use several others. I use PanF+ because I like the tonality and it allows me to use wide apertures in relatively bright light.

 

I print proofs at 3" x 4.5" (on 4 x 5); most enlargements are 6" x 9" (on 8 x 10). I also print bigger if that's what's required.

 

I use Ilford glossy papers almost exclusively: MG IV and CoolTone in RC, WarmTone in RC and FB.

 

Most of my shooting is done between 4 pm and 2 am--no real favorite.

[ray .]

Plus-X.

 

8x10, 11x14, 16x20. 16x20 is my favorite if it's a nice shot and the neg is sharp.

 

Ilford Galerie glossy.

 

Late afternoon.

[cosmo_genovese]

Tri-X (35mm), [Tri-X Pan (120/ISO 320), Tri-X (120/ISO 400)]--all shot at EI 200, processed in D76 1:1 with Benzotriazole; Ilford MGIV, Pearl Surface; 20x24-inch prints, selenium- or sepia-toned (depending on image)

[cosmo_genovese]

And, 10am-2pm for both studio and outdoor shots

[christoph_frick1]

Favourite BW films: as I currently don't have neither wet nor digital darkroom and therefore have to rely on commercial photo labs, I prefer Agfa Scala (slides) and Kodak T400CN -- "normal" BW negs come back much too grainy from the lab. Many years ago, when I did have access to a (obviously wet) darkroom, I did like Pan F a lot -- unfortunately at that time I only had a crab camera with a very bad lens :-( -- today I do wonder how Pan F exposed via the Leica glass I enjoy using now and properly developed would look like. The Agfa Scala only gets developed by pro labs -- it's a bit expensive, but so far I was very happy with the results. The chromogenic T400CN comes back from C41 reasonably well and consistent (much better than "normal" BW films). Regarding printing I'm struggling with prints from the Agfa Scala -- tried the most expensive versions of "DigiPrint", but wasn't too happy: the glow is gone, it looks muddy. So if anyhow has some tricks for good prints from Agfa Scala I would be very happy.

Regarding paper I would prefer the old-fashioned fiber-based versions, which can give a 3-dimensional feeling to a print, somehow like an oil painting.

Time of the day: depends on subject; e.g. sometimes landscapes are great early morning/evening just after sun rise or just before sun set. But some subject matters don't seem to need this special light so much: e.g., only very few of HCB's photos seem to depend on particularly nice light.

[alfie wang]

I print completely digitally all of my Leica shots at letter size (and rarely smaller) using an Epson printer on Archival Matte paper or Heavyweight Matte for proofing or Ilford Galerie Smooth papers. I am testing other papers to see what effects I get but for right now I'm sticking to the good old EAM.

[fotografz]

I am also almost completely digital in my printing these days. Scan at

4000 dpi on a Polaroid SprintScan 120, Print B&W images on an Epson

2200 in RGB color space, usually on Epson Premium Luster or Archival

Matte. For weddings I print mostly 7"X10"ish image size on letter sized

sheets. For display images I usually up-size the image using Genuine

Fractals, or more frequently now using a Step Interpolation program

from Fred Miranda. Those are usually res'ed up to 13"X19" and reduced

back in PhotoShop to fit an A-3 sized sheet (image size about 11"X14"

or larger). I still have a traditional wet darkroom where I use double

weight "Brillant" fiber based enlarging papers of the multi-contrast type.

[chansonbleu]

I like the Ilford Delta or Kodak TMax developed in XTOL. 100 speed is as slow as I shoot. I enlarge to 11x14 most of the time (60%) with 8x10 next and an occasional 5x7. My favorite paper is Forte Polywarmtone Semi Mat Fiber Base developed in Zonal Pro Warm tone developer. I do 90% of my color printing digitaly on an Epson 1280 printer. Once or twice a year I'll do some Ilfrochrome (Cibachrome) prints.

 

Regards

Steve

[peter_l_ck]

Hallo Ken, my choice is Delta 100, exposed with 80 ASA and developed at 20°C for 5 min in Spur HRC (comes from Germany, e-mail: spurschainqweb.de) = very fine grain, very sharp, wonderful tonal range and easy to scan. And I like Delta 400 exposed with 500 ASA

dev. in X.tol 1+1.

Enlargement size: minimum 7x91/2 with 135 film and 8x10 with 120 film. With Leica lenses it`s easy to print until 16x20 - if you use a tripod.

I prefer RC lustre or better but more difficult FB.

24 hours a day.

Peter

[bobtodrick]

Tri X exposed at 250 ISO, dev'd in Tmax dev with a 20 percent dev increase (I like my negs black!!). Workprints are on Agfa RC Gloss printed at 8X10, finished prints are either 11X14 or 16X20 Agra Mulicontrast Premium Fibre, toned 1-25 in Selenium. For some things that require a very soft look the finished print is on Kodak Polymax C surface fibre. A great paper Kodak introduced about 5 years ago, it is a reformulation of a paper they made in the 30's. NO whiteners in the paper at all give it a very creamy look that is great for some applications. I'll shoot anytime if there is an interesting image.

[ray .]

Peter, it's possible to get a nice sharp image on a 16x20 print without having used of a tripod.

[ray .]

Also possible to say it: "without having used a tripod".

[al_kaplan1]

Tri-X, incident reading, exposed somewhere between 200 and 400 depending on how much shadow detail, range of subject contrast, etc. Developed for "normal" time in D-76 1:1, printed with triple condenser in 1965 vintage Omega B22-XL, 1962 vintage 50/2.8 El-Nikkor, through DuPont Varilour filters on Ilford Multigrade in it's various types. I'm still waiting for DuPont top re-introduce Varilour Semi-Gloss fiber based paper so I can make decent prints again :-)!

[peter_l_ck]

Ray, you can if there is enough light. But even with 1/1000 you can normally see the difference. Try also a good monopod. Peter

[peter_l_ck]

Btw, I use a Dunco 6x7 enlarger with an Apo-Rodagon 4/80 for 135 film so I have no vignetting. I meter with a Heiland splitgrade with which I´m even at the first trial near fineprint - it saves time and money.

Peter

[piang_ngok_chong]

I am new to this forum. This is not entirly a straight anwer to the original thread. I am writing in response to Cosmo's input. Some time back, Cosmo had written about the wonderful combination of D76 and benzotriazole.I bought a bottle of Liquid Orthazide (benzotriazole) to try out the combination. But I did not know how much Liquid Orthazide is required. I put in 1 cc of Orthazide to 600 cc of D76 1:1 and developed two rolls of TriX. The negatives were completely blank! Transparent! Two rolls of blank strips! As if the negatives were not exposed at all! I understand that benzotriazole is a restrainer. Could benzotriazole be so powerful that development is totally restrained? Any inputs? I have not tried it since. BTW I like Trix in D76 1:1. Thanks. Chong