Bruce,

You are absolutely correct as to how it should be and I will tackle the paper you referenced. I made an error in my statement and I don't really know why I said that. Even with all my experience shooting transparency film the same is true. I know I am making mental mistakes of flipping highlight and shadow areas when looking at negatives

My question remains then as to why my test samples show, at least to my newbie B&W eye, such exagerated grain in the thin areas? It seems counter intuitive. Sorry I cannot post a larger sample image here as it's hard to see on the posted sample.

Thanks again for your valuable input,
Jim