wrote:
> There is nothing like B&W negatives for longevity.
You think? I'm scanning negs from 20-30 years ago before it's too late.
Mould is a big issue and a swine to try and fix. These were very well
processed and washed but ironically that encourages mould. OK, storage in a
humidity and temp controlled environment, with filtered atmosphere to keep
the spores away, would produce a different outcome, but acetate film base
is unstable anyhow. I don't seem to have that problem yet myself, but I
know of one photographer who has widespread vinegar-rot syndrome on negs of
similar age to my own.
So B&W film is in general no better than an inkjet of mediocre longevity,
or a CD carelessly stored. Shoot on Estar base and invest in a clean room
to do better.
I've dispensed with wet printing a couple of years ago, after 30yrs of
fighting the materials. Cone Piezography produces a very different sort of
print, but likeable in its own terms and digital workflow has overwhelming
advantages and control (specially where mouldy negs are concerned). Besides
all of the bromides I really liked have either been discontinued or
sanitised to mediocrity for H&S reasons. There is simply nothing around
that comes close to, say, the original Agfa Record Rapid, stuffed as it was
with noxious Cobalt and God knows what.
There are technologies for printing dig on bromide or Ciba for those who
can't accept inkjet aesthetics, eg
Personally I love the smooth tonality of dig, even for B&W. I mostly used
the finer grain films, TMax CN, Delta, XP1/2 anyhow, to escape grain.
Before those, I used solvent developers, or pushed ISO125 in 2-bath rather
than put up with the offensive mush.
Regards
Tony Sleep -
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