Re: Eclair Cameras: T-max versus 7245

[Leo Vale <leoavale@yahoo.com>]

--- Mark <super16acl@aol.com> wrote:
> Issues of grain aside ... I believe that real B&W
> film, photographed and lit 
> correctly for B&W contrast, has a unique look when
> projected that can't be 
> duplicated when color neg is printed in B&W. Perhaps
> I'm being too Artsy here.
--- I'll buy that about the B/W.  If nothing else,
there's the use of color filters for fine tonal
control.  You can't really use that on color stock for
a B/W print or transfer.

> All I know is that when I see an original 35mm print
> of Citizen Kane, or the B&W 
> Nykvist/Bergman films of the 50s, there has been
> nothing like that look to 
> come out on the silver screen since the demise of
> real B&W, (except perhaps 
> SHINDLER'S LIST and some of WOODY ALLEN'S MOVIES).

--- "Print" and "real B&W" point to the problem.
I spent two and a half years restoring Fox Movietone
Newsreels, so I got to look at a lot of nitrate fine
grains and prints.  Another six years of restoration
work gave me a chance to see more nitrates.
Modeern B/W prints just don't ccompare, they look so
anemic next to a nitrate print. 
1000' of nitrate is and feels heavier than 1000' of
acetate.  The nitrate has more silver.  That shows on
the screen. Velvety blacks and rich tones.

Shortly after acetate replaced nitrate, manufacturers
drasticly reduced the amount of silver in photographic
film.  The way that ASA film speed is determined had
to be modified to account for this.  And, of course,
the manufacturers have been cutting back on the silver
ever since.  
I suspect that one of the reasons for the richness of
the color in three-strip Technicolor negs and even of
Eastman color neg from the early 50s is due to the
higher silver content.

I don't know that anything can be done about this.
I'm inclined to think that B/W is a lost art.
I also think that all B/W movies should be in 'Scope


yours in TohoScope, 

--- LV






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