Digital BW, The Print

Actually, a used 8x10 (depending on what you get, of course) and a couple of
used lenses would probably not run much more than the cost of, say, a Canon
10D with a consumer grade lens like the 28-135 IS zoom. And, the image
quality at any size from any film would wallop the 10D output. I speak from
experience because I own both!

I'm not going to argue the use of 8x10...I agree with Mark, use of large
format gear is very dependent on the subjects one likes to shoot. Would I
use an 8x10 for street photography? Of course not. Would I use 35mm to
photograph the grandeur of the landscape? I probably wouldn't select that
format as my primary choice.

I hear what you're saying about B&W conversions in the digital darkroom, but
I've tried just about all of 'em and have yet to settle on something that I
like as much as scanned B&W film. As I said before, maybe it's just too many
years of working in the wet darkroom and shooting film. To say that Ansel
would be ALL digital now is a very strong statement. I'm sure that he would
embrace digital as he always seemed to be forward thinking/looking. But,
Moonrise at 40x60 from digital? I don't think so! Even from the
1Ds.............

If you like your prints, great! That's what it's all about. You don't have
to please me or anyone on this list. I've seen wonderful images from a
plastic Holga. Was the photographer happy with the result? I bet. Would they
satisfy me? No. But, that's the beauty of our craft. I only have to be
satisfied with what I do.

Alan Huntley

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "flyfishingusa2002" <tflyfish@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2004 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Do most of you still shoot b&w on film?


Alan,Whilst i accept what you say, the question is how many of the
readers of this forum have the money or the knowledge to work with a
10x 8 neg? Very. very few I imagine. Scanning small format film is a
big problem in itself as I found out with a Nikon scanner. Currently
I use a Canon 10d and shoot everything it color. The digital darkroom
allows the photographer considerable flexibility with post
processing, for example, you can oversaturate a single color to
emphise it on the final color to B/W conversion. Add a filter via
Photoshop, etc, etc. Can you do that with your 10 x 8 tri x neg ?
How much does it cost you to get one 10 x 8 print? Ansel Adams would
have been all digital by now I'm sure.
Each to their own, I have a number of BO prints hanging on my wall
that were shot on both neg and digital, the truth is that I can't see
any difference from here apart from which subject i like or not like.