Pyrocat and silver printing: what gamma?

skahde said:

I just started with densitometry of my pyrocat negs and I am uncertain what gamma to aim at for visual and blue light. I intend to do silver printing only and use a Wratten 47b filter with my Macbeth TD 502 to do the blue readings.

Any thoughts?

Stefan

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Jorge said:

Gamma or density range? Middle of the road development, I would say a gamma of 0.62. For silver printing I would want a DR of 1.00 to 1.1. to be printed on grade two paper, of course a better approach would be to test the exposure scale of your chosen paper and adjust the film density range to that paper....good luck.

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skahde said:

Hi Jorge,

"Gamma or density range" Rigth know I am aiming for average gradients (G^_) but I am willing to adopt whatever method works best. I would prefer to keep things independent from a special paper as I am using several depending on the tone and response to toning I want. OTOH, who knows what will be left on the shelfs in a few years from now?

My main problem is the the marked difference between visual- and blue-densities. Should I optimize to a G^_ of 0,62 for the blue or rather visual density? For graded Paper I should watch for the blue density I guess but my main papers are VC.

best

Stefan

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