[sanking]

My results show that proportional stained negatives do print differently then conventionally developed negatives with graded papers. My tests have indicated this to me. This especially true when I print on Ago. In which case not all films will build the density range required of this paper without using staining developers. The proportional stain acts as additional density in the upper density regions.

Donald,

I don't think you and Kirk have any fundamental disagreement. He is saying that with graded papers stained negs print just like non-stained negs. You are saying that the proportional stain acts as additional density in the upper density regions. Both statements are essentially true.

What one can say is that when developed to the same effective printing contrast, as measured by the spectral response of the process, stained and conventional negatives print virtually the same. I am not going to say exactly the same because there is one area where I find that even with graded papers tanning/staining developers give better results, and that is when printing strongly backlit scenes. Since development with tanning/staining developers is mostly at or near the surface there is less light scattering than with conventional developers, and this results in keeping detail even in extreme lighting conditions, say when photographing a tree with leaves against a very bright object like the sun.


Sandy