Am I missing something, or are you disagreeing with yourself?
w shumaker wrote:
<>to get increased tonal subtlety you need a higher contrast film
Provia 100f is less contrasty and can potentially provide smoother gradations.
IMO, low contrast film will always record more tonal graduation info.
High contrast film maps any given range of brightness in the scene into
a narrower range of density on film than does low contrast film. Thus,
whatever minimum difference of density can be discerned or measured on
the film represents a narrower range of brightness in the scene on low
contrast film than high contrast. More density increments for a given
range of scene brightness is like more dpi in a scan, it carries more
information detail.
None of this is meant to say that this one characteristic makes one type
of film better for all uses. It does mean that low contrast film is an
inherently better choice, all other things equal, for those who
digitally process and print their images. More info going in means more
control of what comes out. You can always increase contrast for viewing
and printing, but if you lower contrast, you are just spreading out the
limited amount of data, not increasing the amount of data and the
results are never the same. Again, it's analogous to dpi, a 640x480
image sampled up to 1280x960 is less sharp - carries less info - than a
native 1280x960 image.
In the Velvia vs. Provia example on the interesting web site you
provided a link to, the contrast in the Provia landscape could be
increased to match the dramatic look of the Velvia, but the lost tonal
detail in the Velvia bridge enlargement compared to the Provia can't be
recovered. Low contrast films will tend not to lose the deep shadow
detail, like the trestles, but even if aside from that, look at the
tonal detail on the railing; the Provia is much more subtle and detailed.
The electronic darkroom changes the rules.
Moose
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