Where Have All the Point and Shoots Gone!

by EveNSteve

OK- so where HAVE all the professional point and shoots gone? To the grave yard or Ebay as the Photo Industrial Complex has realized that there is alot more money selling crappy little digital point and shoots with upgrades every month rather than making quality ones like:

Olympus XA
Nikon 28Ti and 35Ti
Leica CM
Leica Minilux
Konica Hexar
Contax T2, T3
Rollei S, SE

Now we get tons of plastic with resolution that is subpar and noise (digital grain) oozing out of every crack and crevice. Having a quality point and shoot in your bag in my opinion is a must but now days it is getting harder and harder to find one. Ever seen a great drum scan from a negative made by one of the above listed cameras? Compare it with the new digitals and you may find yourself singing along with the Figital Revolution…

Another Week Goes Bye!

by EveNSteve

It’s been an exciting week here in Vermont…I have been testing a new (new to me) film by Fuji (Acros 100, 120mm) in PMK developer for purposes of scanning and the results have been outstanding! And if the almost-not-there grain and beautiful creamy highlights are not enough for you consider the amazing reciprocity failure (or lack of it) this film has…no compensation necessary for long exposures until 120 seconds (2 minutes to most of us)… and no development change to boot. WOW! I will post examples in a few days but for now go order this film so we can keep it in production! No really, go buy this film NOW!

Almost forgot to mention that the packaging and handing of this film is really sweet…no band to lick thanks to Fuji’s peal-off sealer on 120mm film…very cul, very Japanese.

It’s About More Than Pixels Guys!

by EveNSteve

I’ve got a bone to pick…(who me?) I am getting really tired of reading “reviews” about how much better the release of new “X” digital camera or capture back is than film. Recently I’ve been noticing that many of these “experts” are making claims that 4″x5″ film has now been beat or surpassed.

Excuse me, but- what? Do I really need to say it? It’s about more than pixels, guys!

This is, we should all be aware, an argument designed first and foremost to part you from your pocket book. As in: spend, spend, spend!

Consider this… in order to get a capture device that will equal high-end film scans from, say, a medium or large format camera, you are spending $30,000+ dollars on bleeding edge technology (whoops- is it the technology that’s bleeding… or is that us?). Furthermore, remember its life-span is about equal to that of an ant when compared with the legacy of film-based cameras. Realistically, unless you have clients willing to spend tons of money for your services (great for you) or you are just really rich there is NO WAY to get back your financial investment in this type of system before the camera industry trumps your purchase and convinces you that, once again, it’s time to upgrade, upgrade, upgrade! I’ve been down this road enough to know that it is very difficult indeed. These days, I personally prefer the upgrade expense of a new roll of film or sheet of film, it just seems a bit more sustainable. Call me crazy, but I’d rather spend my money on technology that is immediately meaningful such as a better monitor or of course more RAM.

Not to mention, it really is about more than pixels… seriously! There is an inherent “look” to everything: a great film scan, a great digital capture, and to the finished prints from both types of files…you have to choose which you like. That’s right! Despite what you’ve heard, each one is okay. Ultimately, the choice is up to YOU. I will confess here and now that the very high end digital capture systems do in many ways equal great film scans in terms of resolution (or get darn close) but it is different look, kind of like the difference between vanilla and French vanilla ice cream- you know, similar, but different. Bleeding edge digital capture has it’s definitive place on high-end advertising shoots and for situations where you need really fast turn-arounds, but that is a small section of the overall photography market.

Another technique of these “expert” reviewers is to compare something like ISO 100 film with 100 ISO on a digital back… we are lead to conclude that at the best of the best all things are equal or better for digital. I guess these experts want you to forget that most pro film lines are available in ISO’s like 64, 50, 32, 25 and even 15…stack that side by side with a digital capture. Hey- film has this option (or in digital terms “upgrade”). It’s interesting that when there are positives on the digital side reviewers point it out at every opportunity but when the shoe is on the other foot? Silence. The fact is that a low ISO hi-res film scan is impossible to beat with the current digital technology. But why point that out? After all, we have to move those new digital cameras somehow to make room for the next “technological breakthrough,” which at the current pace should be sometime around next Wednesday.

So, the choice is yours… but whatever you do, don’t buy into the BS “reviews” who fail to realize that different is good! Choice is good! Right now we need reviews more about working with a system day in and day out, the durability of the system long term… and YES have an honest, open discussion about how to make your personal choice and investment work. For if we can’t, photographers will just keep on bleeding at the local camera store until there is nothing left to bleed.

Hi-Def Giclee (TM) Printing at Indian Hill Imageworks

by EveNSteve

After researching current printing technologies as it relates to scanned and digitally captured images Indian Hill Imageworks in conjunction with ErgoSoft has developed Hi-Def Giclee (TM) printing. This breakthrough allows for spectacular tonality and clarity that exceeds traditional wet processes and eclipses other Giclee printers. This ground breaking technology when married with the d’Vinci Fine Art Printer allows for unparalled preformance. Add into the equation a great film scan from a Pyro processed negative and the world is yours!

If a picture is worth a thousand words than the two posted here are an encylopedia… Picture A. represents a 1440 dpi print on an industry Pro Printer on fine art paper. Picture B. represents a 1440 dpi print on the d’Vinci Fine Art Printing Platform as a Hi-Def Giclee (TM). The printed image is only 1/2 an inch in size but look at the difference in detail….Amazing! For the first time digital printing has reached well beyond the wet process and now is using 21st century technologies to their fullest.

I’d like to thank Mark Rowe, Applications and Color Specialist at Ergosoft USA (the amazing RIP software that powers the d’Vinci Printer) for his insight, clarity of thought and help.

If the Paper is a Mess then it is Time t o Confess

by EveNSteve

When will companies learn that the cover-up is always worse than the offense? Recently I became aware of two inkjet paper companies who had significant problems with a new batch of current production paper. Instead of fessing up and having an open dialog about the problem and reassuring photographers that the problem was being corrected they stayed quiet. WTF! So here I am with a large roll of paper which is not quite as useful as a roll of toilet tissue.

We the photographers need to remember- without us they have no market. Demand more. And, when something is done right, and quality control and company service is great reward it with your money… so we can put the other ones out of business!

The World is NOT Flat….and Neither is your Film!

by EveNSteve

OK- so the world is not flat and you think your film is…NO. Film flatness has always been a concern of LF photographers but something most roll film users never give a second thought…time to wake up. Think about it…if you are shooting 120mm film which is wrapped around a spindle then it is fed through a system of rollers in your camera thats bending and flexing it, this is a serious problem…especially if you leave a roll in the camera for a while…a half “s” cuve will form and as a result that neg will most likely not be as sharp as the next (this varies from film to film based on the type of base material used, backing, ect…). If you are shooting at say f8+ for most of your works then this is much of an issue but a 2.8 or 4 it is huge. Humidity and temp also effect this…a lot! So where does this leave us….

My technique is this…load the film just before shooting and shoot the whole role, especially if it is going to be wide open at 2.8. Don’t leave half exposed roll in your camera…and Don’t expect the first or last frame to be as sharp as the middle frames…not going to happen.

Do this test…put your camera on a tripod and focus at an object say 10 feet away…then shoot 2 frames focusing at the same point at say f2.8….then do this at the same point at f8….then let the film sit in the camera for a few hours or overnight and do it again at f2.8 and f8, now process your film. What you will see is that some negs are sharper than others even tho the point of critical focus has not changed.

This is just food for thought for those of you who like myself like to shoot film wide open and sometimes get frustrated with a focus shift due to film flatness or lack there of…it is not your fault but it is a another level of variability you now need to take into consideration. By the way…one of the worst camera’s for this issue is a (drum roll please)….Hasselblad…no kidding. Look at how the film is loaded into the holder…very scary indeed!

Additionaly, don’t think this is limited to film…ever consider just how accurate your alignment is with your digital system…not as good as it could be!

I’d like to thank Bill Maxwell for of Maxwell Precision Optics for his insight into this area and for pushing me now one step closer to the edge…

Film Tests Completed

by EveNSteve

I have been working now for the last month to tweak my PMK Pyro development of black and white negatives for scanning on our Imacon scanner…I have hit gold! My new process handles several films (7) and the scans are capable of a dynamic range approaching 20+ stops. The grain structure is amazing…even at an ei of 1600 very little grain is visible if you wish. What does this mean…Film is back in a big way! My scans are capable of a dynamic range not possible in single shot digital systems but that is not really why I went through this testing….rather the film scans I am making have a rounded quality that when printed digitally on our d’Vinci Fine Art Print Platform at Indian Hill Imageworks have an analog feel but with a crazy long tonality not possible in traditional processes. This is using technology in a smart way, the best of analog and the best of digital. Additionally, why lock yourself into one look (ie the digital sensor in your camera is your digital film, can’t remove it so your stuck)- while I have dozens and dozens of different film stocks to choose from, each with a different grain structure and dynamic range.

The first image to the left shows the full frame negative, the other image below shows the same negative enlarged to 100″ x 100″ print and a sample detail area to look at….