Ever wonder where the articles and ideas for the articles on the Figital Revolution come from? Tired of your current process or working method and are looking for something new or a new approach. This audio blog provides high energy ideas on suggestions on how to jump start your creative process and redefine yourself as a photographer.
Resource link mentioned in Audio:
That’s right…since the dynamic launch of the new Figital Revolution web site back in December of 2007 till NOW, April 25, 2008 we’ve had over 30,000 hits!
Viva La Revolution!
I just couldn’t help myself…I needed to test yet another film in Diafine! What I have discovered has made me very, very happy. If you have been following the progression of articles here on The Figital Revolution I have been posting on Diafine Developer and an array of different black and white films for scanning purposes it should by now be clear by now that I feel that this is a great combo when ease of process, sharpness and huge tonality are required. Yes, there are finer grain developers but this finer grain comes at a cost, namely film speed which is something Diafine has no problem with!
So here is what I have just found….Kodak 125PX in Diafine is a perfect match!!! I’ve never given 125PX much thought until I decided to try this test and the results have made me a convert. I love the look of the grain, it is REALLY sharp and has a beautiful tonal range with a working EI of 320-400. Marry 125PX with my other favorite “X” film TX (EI 1250-1600) and all bases for my needs are covered. Here are two sample pictures made recently on 125PX…the full size image is 16.5″ x 25″. (35mm negative, 6300 optical dpi wet mount scan.)
Please note that the second image was shot under very flat light and scanned at 3150 dpi.
Here is my processing Technique:
The temperature for the Developer Part A and B is very important. I found that at 68-70 F my negs were a bit thin in the shadows and by increasing the temp just a few degrees (well within the usable range for Diafine of 70-85 F) everything fell right into place. I also now use this time and temp for TX as well – I often soup both films at the same time…very convenient! I no longer use a prewet for Diafine developer as over time it will dilute Part A to a point that could potentially cause problems.
So in conclusion… TX and 125PX are fantastic films and are now my personal films of choice for all of my black and white shooting. Every roll is run in Diafine as described above and the scans are easy and amazing! Give it a try you too may fall for the combo of “X” films and Diafine.
Final Note: I use in my workflow a bit of noise reduction on my images (Noise Ninja). These images are not at the default setting suggested by Noise Ninja but represent NN at about 1/4 strength.
Viva la Revolution!!
I find this post very disturbing to write and a sad reflection on our current economic situation here in the US, as well as an unfortunate look at the trend in book publishing to find the cheapest and “good enough” printing press for the production of Fine Art Books. Where are most “fine art” books printed now?…China! That is not to say that good books can not and have not been printed in China, but we all know there is a huge difference between a book printed on a cookie cutter press and one printed at a true fine art printing press.
I personally have been very fortunate in my career thus far, having my first book printed at the Stinehour Press in Lunenburg, Vermont and my second book at the Salto Press in Belgium. Both of these presses represent the pinnacle of printing quality (which translates into options for the artist) yet now it seems that the Stinehour Press will be no more in just a few months.
Founded in 1952 and employing over 21 employees the Stinehour Press had won numerous awards for printing excellence and it’s collection of printed books and materials reads like a list of luminaries in the field of Art with a very large capitol A. Stephen Stinehour, who I consider a personal friend, left the press several years ago to pursue other printing projects, yet I know he finds the closing of the Stinehour Press- which was founded by his father- a sad statement on the currect position of the printing industry in the US.
In our quest to get to get the most for our dollar (or Euro or whatever) many people seem to lose sight that in that process of “how low can you go” a lot is lost… and once it is gone it is gone forever. In the “new” industry of Giclee Fine Art Printing I can remember only a few years back where how cheap and how fast you could print was the driving force for marketing products and services. Fade-out/fade-in 5 years and most of the get-rich-quick printing operations are gone, dying, or consolidated because you can only cut costs so far and most of these technologies at the end of the day are still quite expensive to run and upgrade. It seems correct to me that a great print deserves a fair price/competitive price…but you have to compare apples with apples. Also remember that cuts in cost almost always come at the expense of quality and workers pay or health benefits…you know the complaint and I’m sure you hear it everyday on the news or in your own community. Continue reading “End of an Era…The Stinehour Press is Closing!”
Here is something which is pretty straightforward and yet VERY interesting….a simple test target made by me to determine film sharpness and grain when processed in Diafine:
Just click on the images below and check out the enlargement…the full size image (these are 35mm scanned negatives btw) would be 16″x 25″ at 360 dpi (optical resolution). No sharpening has been applied to the images but I did “try” to make them look as good as possible using levels and a little (I must stress the word little) noise reduction.
So what are your thoughts!?
Finally part 2! Here are some sample images made on my M7 Leica and my Rollei 2.8 (F – 1960) using Fuji Acros at an EI of 160.
The two square images of course were shot with the Rollei (120mm) and the hand and zipper image was made with my Leica M7. Full size the Rollei images are 18″ x 18″ (142MB, 16 Bit, Grayscale, 120mm Negative, 3200 dpi scan) and the hand and zipper image is 16″x 24″ (160MB, 16 Bit, Grayscale, 35mm Negative, 6300 dpi scan). The detail crop of the zipper represents approx a 3″x4″ section of the larger 16″x24″ print…amazing!
Here is how I processed it…
Fuji Acros 100…EI 160
For more information on the process and testing conducted please listen to the audioblog link below….
TIP– When your developer starts to get dirty…say after 30 plus rolls just run it through a coffee filter to “clean” it…use a different filter of course for each solution.
That’s right…since the dynamic launch of the new Figital Revolution web site back in December of 2007 till NOW (April 8, 2008) we’ve had over 20,000 hits! Stay tuned for our next post tomorrow!!!
Viva La Revolution!
This is a test in progress post but I feel really good (and excited) about my results so far and wanted to share…
Here is a difficult test image (huge dynamic range) shot with 35mm Acros 100 (Diafine EI 200) with my Leica M7 and a 50mm F1.4 Sumilux at F8.
The processing is very different than suggested on the box or in previous posts- I will be posting the developing “how to” after this weekend as I want to run just one more test. The full size image which was scanned at Indian Hill Imageworks on our Imacon at 6300 dpi, fluid mount, 16 Bit is 24.5″ x 16.2″ (optical resolution). The crop image is a 2.5″ x 2.5″ section of this larger file…do you see the bent nail?! The large file link at the bottom will download a scaled down version (Approx 10″ x 6″ @ 360, 8 Bit) so say around 8MB uncompressed (best for high speed users only) will give you an idea of what is possible with the incredible combo…the full file (98MB) is amazing.
More in a few days.
Viva la Revolution.
Stephen Schaub
OK, this is a quickie. I’ve been running some tests here at Indian Hill Imageworks to determine if using contrast filters such as:
would cause a problem with this awesome film/ developer combo. Answer: NO. I personally like no filter or a ND if I’m shooting in bright light (remember TX in Diafine has an EI of 1250 to 1600 so unless you like F22 at 1/1000th its ND (Neutral Density) or Contrast Filter time!) I love the full gray tones of this film/ developer combo and find the “straight neg” is the easiest to scan and get every bit of tonality.
NOTE: On the Light Red 090 just be very careful with your shadow placement.
NOTE 2: ONLY use good filters…I like B+W and Heliopan…Yes they are expensive but worth it! Here is great resource for an explanation of Filter Flare and other optical stuff!
What, you say?! No sample pictures with this article (horrors)!!???…Go make them yourself you lazy bum, I’m tired! (A joke, of course- I’m never tired!)
My final article in this series on printing and hand coating your own inkjet papers will be out very soon…stay tuned!
Viva la Revolution!! Stephen Schaub
The last (I promise) rebuttal to the ongoing discussion on “does your camera matter”? For a bit of background on this post please click on this LINK to read my first post which was earlier this month.
LINK to new article on Luminous Landscape
Viva La Revolution! Stephen Schaub
Figital Revolution 
