Digital BW, The Print

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2003 6:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Digital, film, scanning comparisons


> The rule is much more general than this, in fact.  It is
impossible to
> translate any scene represented as a single set of monochrome
values or as a
> set of R,G,B values into any other scene represented in the
same way,
> because you MUST HAVE the original curves of the original scene
in order to
> effect the transformation, and you cannot get these from just
one number, or
> even from just three numbers.
>
> Additionally, the rule applies indifferently to color film and
B&W film, and
> to color electronic sensors and B&W electronic sensors.

etc etc.

Anthony,

It is all very correct. In practice however the narrow band
filters are not that narrow, our eyes and brain are based on tri
stimuli as well (but a bit more complicated), and a B&W picture
made with a narrow band yellow filter looks weird anyway. So that
means that much can be done afterwards on an RGB image and we are
not selective enough to see the difference. If it has to be
exotic then digital can do as much or more but not exactly the
same. So that digital replication of the Tri X curve will satisfy
a lot of us, to some it means an extra taste next to the original
and to you it never will be the same. And for me it means that I
never get that chrome yellow or deep red in the painting exactly
reproduced in the print. In science you can't get away with that,
it could mean that the big bang was twice as long ago.

Ernst