Roger,
I've shot the same image on both Astia and NPS and there is no comparison in latitude. Astia is a very nice transparency film and I use it at times, but NPS can work miracles when you're used to shooting E6 Certain images, even in soft light (such as creeks in the Smokies, exposed to avoid burning out white highlights but surrounded by deep forest) are completely blocked in the shadows with Astia, yet give a full range of shadow detail with NPS. And, as part of my initial NPS test shooting process, I shot images in terrible, contrasty midday sun (far worse than anything I'd use as a real subject), and NPS held detail in fully sunlit white-painted wood alongside foliage in shade. Of course the sunlit area and the shadowed area have to be selected separately in PS and adjusted to taste, but the film held a full range of usable detail.
I'm looking forward to trying the new Pro 160 Fuji film when it becomes available.
Modern LF lenses are extremely sharp, perhaps not quite as sharp as the very best 35mm lenses, but some (such as Rodenstock's 150mm Sironar-S) are astonishingly good. At 3200 dpi, you're getting close to pulling all the detail out of any film format, but since you have a definite need to print extra-large prints, it's worth pulling out every last speck of detail rather than interpolating upward if you want the best possible result.
Best,
Danny
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