Originally Posted by
Alan Townsend
Drew Wiley,
I do not like TMax films. This is personal preference. The dye does not wash out easily, it requires additional steps and leaves a curly mess of a film that won't lie flat. This reduces sharpness more than the low granularity increases it.
Flat tonal response means a nearly linear H&D curve. I prefer films with a more traditional curve, which gives more contrast in the midtones and less in the shadows and highlights. I also appreciate a little more grain as well.
I recently read an article online that said Tmax is more like digital than other films. When I read that, I thought for a while and realized it was true, and that was why I don't like either one. It was after I started using Tmax, scanning negatives, and printing digitally, that I quit photography. I don't like digital because its too easy and I love chemicals. I have a chemical addiction to photography.
Our eye/brain systems do not see micromesh like pixel arrays because there's nothing like that in nature and therefore no need. We see film grain because it's organic, just like the sensors in our maculas. In film, the sensors are the randomly sized and shaped grains that are not noise but signal. In digital, we know there are tiny arrays of pixels, but never see those pixels on the print. I wonder why there all the confusion.
Going off topic briefly, in my digital pictures, I want to see the pixels the same way as in my film photography I want to see the grain. Otherwise, how do I know they are sharp?
Regards,
Alan Townsend
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