Is there good information somewhere about negative comparison?

[William Francis Ahearn]

I have my own way of deciding which of my bracketed B&W negatives I select to print with, but I wonder what others do? Shadow detail, highlight detail, middle tones? As my eyes get older am having difficulty reading my negs even with a peak 8x loupe.

[David A. Goldfarb]

In that situation (bracketed exposure, constant development time), I'd probably look to see which negatives had adequate shadow detail and go from there, but probably the best way to do this is to proof them all at the minimum time needed to achieve maximum black in the unexposed film rebate and see which negatives have the best range of tones and detail.