On 1/26/2012 11:12 AM, Jim Nichols wrote:
> In searching for film available locally, I found a 4-roll pack of Kodak
> Ultramax 400, so I gave it a try. To me, except in bright light, the noise
> level is objectionable, but I plan to use it up anyway.
Jim, consider the possibility that your are mis-attributing the problem. I've
used several Kodak ISO 400 and 800 films
over the last few years. None of them have had that kind of grain. I didn't
look at my scans of the premium films,
Portra and Supra. I'm not sure where Royal 400 fits & I believe HD 400 was a
consumer grade film.
I've just looked at some scans I made of Royal and HD 400. They are certainly
grainy enough, at 100% view of 4000 dpi
scans, ~5600x3700. But when reduced to web size, while still grainy, they don't
show the bad artifacts around details
that these do.
When treated with NR at full size, before other processing, web versions look
quite nice. Sure, there's some grain
visible, but it doesn't mess up the detail.. The first seven in this gallery
are HD400 taken and processed in 2008.
<http://galleries.moosemystic.net/MooseFoto/index.php?gallery=OlyOdyssey>
Scanning is sometimes tricky. A particular scanning resolution and a particular
film grain my interact to produce
"grain" clearly not so obtrusive when viewed magnified on a light table. Then
heaven only knows what's going on with the
Walgreen's scanner. Before I got my first scanner, I relied on an old line
photography shop to scan my film when
developed there. I thought they weren't bad - until I got my own scanner. Oops!
Without access to the film, I can't say for sure what the problems are. I can
say with considerable certainty that there
are better looking images on the film. Your decision to eschew that film in the
future is certainly valid, in context of
your choices in scanning and post processing. But it ain't all the film.
Scanning Moose
--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|