David Heintz
Allowing Ads
Note: not sure where to post this...
I have recently become interested in film photography, as a compliment to my digital photography hobby. I have acquired some very nice Nikon film bodies that utilize my “F” lenses, which are mostly Zeiss, Nikon, and Sigma primes.
I’ve been using color negative film, sending it out to be processed, and scanning it on either an Epson v800 or a PrimeFilm XA. I “develop” the scans in Photoshop with the help of ColorPerfect. I have worked hard over the past months to get this process to where I am happy with the results.
Although I have printed a few of these on my Epson 3800 (just for fun since I hardly use printers any more) like most of you these are destined for viewing on a monitor, either privately, through a blog or a service like Flickr, or simply attached to an email. Therein lies my question.
Photography with color or black and white negative film was “designed” to be printed, primarily on a white emulsion or paper stock, using an enlarger, or, ultimately, litho, gravure, or offset printing. But printing on a white surface, using what is commonly called an additive process.
Today, when my film is developed, I am assuming this is done using materials and processes right out of the film era. However, the viewing destination for this process has changed completely: today my images will be displayed with a subtractive process on an RGB screen.
So, has development technology – processes and materials – changed as the viewing medium has changed? Or does it really matter? I ask this because I am now getting into black and white film (another can of worms, believe me!) and I am pretty sure there is a relationship between black and white film, process technique and materials, and the papers used for printing. (Or the scanning/digital processing.)
It is very unlikely that I will ever develop my own film. With absolute certainty I will never be printing from negatives. Given this, what can I do in selecting film, sending it out for processing, and scanning it, to ensure the best results for viewing on a monitor?
I have recently become interested in film photography, as a compliment to my digital photography hobby. I have acquired some very nice Nikon film bodies that utilize my “F” lenses, which are mostly Zeiss, Nikon, and Sigma primes.
I’ve been using color negative film, sending it out to be processed, and scanning it on either an Epson v800 or a PrimeFilm XA. I “develop” the scans in Photoshop with the help of ColorPerfect. I have worked hard over the past months to get this process to where I am happy with the results.
Although I have printed a few of these on my Epson 3800 (just for fun since I hardly use printers any more) like most of you these are destined for viewing on a monitor, either privately, through a blog or a service like Flickr, or simply attached to an email. Therein lies my question.
Photography with color or black and white negative film was “designed” to be printed, primarily on a white emulsion or paper stock, using an enlarger, or, ultimately, litho, gravure, or offset printing. But printing on a white surface, using what is commonly called an additive process.
Today, when my film is developed, I am assuming this is done using materials and processes right out of the film era. However, the viewing destination for this process has changed completely: today my images will be displayed with a subtractive process on an RGB screen.
So, has development technology – processes and materials – changed as the viewing medium has changed? Or does it really matter? I ask this because I am now getting into black and white film (another can of worms, believe me!) and I am pretty sure there is a relationship between black and white film, process technique and materials, and the papers used for printing. (Or the scanning/digital processing.)
It is very unlikely that I will ever develop my own film. With absolute certainty I will never be printing from negatives. Given this, what can I do in selecting film, sending it out for processing, and scanning it, to ensure the best results for viewing on a monitor?
