Digital BW, The Print

It is the word “distinct” that holds the key.  A smooth gradient will have
an indistinct transition from end to end.  We certainly would not want to
see 50 distinct shades along the way.  Does that make sense?

Best regards,
John Moody

-----Original Message-----
From: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Brian
Ellis
Sent: Monday, November 13, 2006 2:25 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: the times, they aren't a-changing-so can we
start over again?

"It comes back to sheer information density, and a 256 shade
gray-scale can never quite reach it"

According to Fred Picker in one of his darkroom videos, a maximum of about
50 distinct shades of gray can be printed on silver based photographic paper
in a tradional darkroom. Now Fred wasn't always the most reliable source of
information and I have no idea how he did the test to make this
determination (he did say he had tested, he just didn't way how). But
assuming he's right on this one, if the great darkroom printers could make
the prints they made with 50 or so shades of gray to work with, what's the
problem with 256? Or was Fred just wrong (I never cared enough to test his
claim myself)? Or is digital printing just so different from darkroom that
it's an apples and oranges comparison?



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