Silver Printing of XPan images

[didjiman]

A quick summary of my experience of doing silver contacting paper using digital negatives of mostly XPan negatives:

http://www.5pmlight.com/?p=1721

Of note is that the XPan images hold up quite well, and in fact, I have to say, better than the cropped Mamiya 7II images. It's not a scientific test of course but rejoice in the Mighty XPan, if you have one 🙂

 

[Colin Corneau]

This is interesting.

I've just printed regular silver gelatin prints in the darkroom, with a custom made neg holder...anyone who has one of these cameras knows the lenses are superb. Thanks for the link.

 

[atlcruiser]

Thanks for posting..i might PM you for some more info.

Funny enough I am right now heading into my darkroom to start wet printing some x pan negs. I feel I maxed out on my ability to get a good scanned print...so far!

I was talking with Clyde Butcher a few weeks ago about how he is using 5x7 film then goign to a digital neg so he can use PS to mod it then make gianmorous prints 🙂

I was inches away from a 4' x 6' print....words cannot describe it and my interest was peaked

My initial question:

I have LR but not photo shop. To get a digital neg must I start with PS? I hate to invest in it when LR seems to suit me fine.

 

[didjiman]

Yes, you *need* photoshop because part of the process is to apply an adjustment curve. Basically, if you invert and straight print and then contact print, the result looks like crap, and you need to apply an adjustment curve. You can either start with something "reasonable" and keep tweaking, or use something like Mark's stuff, which basically allows you to start with a good starting point, then print - scan and measure and adjust the curve and repeat. For reasons to painful to mention, I have done it 3 times now, and it takes about 8-10 adjustments to get it "perfect," as a small nudge in the curve can go a long way.

 

[atlcruiser]

Thank you...funny enough I can usually get the concept but i am very good at missing the details!