It can depend on the magnification. Especially in the case of smaller format negatives, as you enlarge to big print sizes the degree to which the image structure "holds together" can affect how we print - not only how light/dark but also contrast choices. However there are still a number of subjective aspects to how well the image structure holds up with increasing magnification.
In response to Bob's question, my personal comfort zone is in the 5x7-11x14 range (usually around 8x10) for 4x5 negatives, and 5x7-8x10 range for 35mm negatives.
Bookmarks