35mm enlarging - who is passionate about it?

[herb]

Man, I wish I could afford a Leica rangefinder sometimes. They are so nice, especially at slow shutter speeds...

However, I tried out a Leica M4-P a year ago; I had it for about five months with a 50mm Summicron, a 50mm Summitar, and a 90mm Summicron. While it was amazing, I am still a bit disappointed that I can't really see a difference in picture quality compared to my Pentax SLR and lenses. No difference at all, basically. I print negatives made with either, side by side, and I have to look up which comes from which camera to be able to tell.

That doesn't mean I wouldn't still want a Leica. They are such lovely works of art in themselves, handle with such precision, and are just pure joy to use. I also like the prospect of using the older uncoated lenses for portraiture, opening up the shadows a bit, gaining some film speed.
I salivate at the prospect of owning and using one of those little beauties.

Thomas, I had an M6 and got rid of it in favor of a Zeiss Ikon
ZI. Still use some Leica lenses, but the film loading is MUCH
easier, and you can tell for sure what film is in the camera.

[Bob Carnie]

Contour printing is a very old method of printing dating back at least to the early 60's using frosted mylar on top of the negative to dodge out areas within a scene and then allow the printer to expose for the upper tones and let the diffusion due the rest.
Red Coccine was used in the forty's to do the very same and was where the idea came from for diffusion dodging and I do not believe the method was invented by any contemporary printer.

[Michael R 1974]

Alan Ross doesn't claim to have invented it. His particular technique is just his version of the various methods that have been used before. Most of them date way back.

[Sirius Glass]

...
The question that keeps popping into my mind is why I even bother with medium format at the sizes I print, which is up to 16x20 with cropped negatives.
Don't get me wrong, I'll keep the Hasselblad around, of course. I love it, and my landscapes are square, not rectangular.

More the other way.

I enjoy printing 35mm. I have gotten some superb 24"x36" color and black & white prints. However my use of 35mm, 120, and 4"x5" cameras has morphed. I have changed from taking 50 to 60 rolls of 35mm film a year to using 35mm for casual photograph, when I do not have a lot of time to spend on a composition, and scouting a location just prior to using the Hasselblad or 4"x5" cameras. My serious work [actually Sirius Work] is done with the Hasselblad. I am still working on the 4"x5"s and refining my skills. I have not worked on the movements of the 4"x5"s yet.

To expand on "scouting a location just prior to using the Hasselblad or 4"x5" cameras", I use the 35mm camera to look at compositions and figure out the focal length len(ses) that I will use for the Hasselblad or 4"x5" cameras. And I will take both black & white photographs of these compositions for future reference and darkroom work. The Hasselblad photographs provide so much more in optical quality, tonality and grain that the 35mm negatives rarely get much attention.

Steve

[Bob Carnie]

Don't need to get your shorts in a knot , only pointing out some info that puts a historical note.

Alan Ross doesn't claim to have invented it. His particular technique is just his version of the various methods that have been used before. Most of them date way back.

[PVia]

I use the mylar Alan Ross suggested. It is made by Grafix and is called Dura-Lar matte .005". ....I have been experimenting with using one or two extra layers of mylar as a thinner diffusing spacer, instead of the plexi (picture a bottom to top sandwich of negative, one or two layers of unshaded mylar, shaded mylar, top glass. I've been experimenting with this versus the plexi only because you need less and less diffusion as the negative size decreases, or else it becomes very difficult.

And you don't see any texture or interference in smooth areas of tonalities? This would be great...

I've experimented with the Dura-Lar Clear that takes wet media without feathering, pooling or shrinking but a pencil mask on the Matte would really be superb.