what is the tonal distribution?
what is the reproduction cycle?
Perhaps I should ask a biologist about the second one. These are not photographic terms. Where did you get these terms?
Perhaps this is why we can not communicate. You are using terms that are not photographic and rather unique to you.
What about people who use vc papers?
You have to key your neg exposure and developement to your paper. That is where the neg is going. Ansel knew this many, many years ago so I do not know why we are rehashing a very old wheel.That was the genius of Picker's book. It keyed the density range of the neg to the paper in a very direct way. I keyed my PMK and pyrocat negs to my paper. I did Sandy's EPC process to key the negs from the different developers to the end - the paper, which for me is a vc paper as many other people use. To create the 'perfect' negative in a vacuum is silly unless that is the end result.
If you are consistent and methodical in your approach then my system works very well. Ikey everytihing to a vc paper w/o a filter which is very close to using a #2 filter. This way I can go down to filters 1.5, 1 and less or up to 5 if necessary. On the other hand if I just averaged the development of my negs from 4.5 munites to 6.5 minutes and through them into a rotary processor for just over 5 minutes then I might need a more flexible system because my negs were not processed appropriately.
It just depends on how systematic you are when photographing. I prefer careful testing and exposure of my film and then careful testing for my normal and plus and minus times. I then use the information gathered while I tested. I don't through it away and just slam things through a rotary processor. This is where the craft comes into play on a daily basis. Otherwise such rigid testing is just an academic exercise to beat people with.
steve simmons
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