I would like to use Scala as my primary film. The idea of being able to edit/view without proofing, and seeing the print enlarged by projecting, seems tempting. Add that it is suppossed to scan to photo CD extremelly well. I do not wish, however, to give up the option of fiber prints. I could of course go with Ciba's, but that's not for this thread. Any suggestions for making internegatives from 35 mm Scala ? I have a 4x5 enlarger and film holders (Kodak readyload, Lisco, Polaroid 545). I thought of using an enlarger to project onto Tmax 100 film or Kodak Duplicating film, and printing from the 4x5 internegative. Or same idea but using Polaroid Type 55 P/N. Or should I just buy one of those Adorama Slide Duper things and make 35 mm internegatives onto (what) film ? Funny how when one tries to simplify things in the darkroom they grow more complicated. In that vain (simplicity) I'm leaning towards the slide duper that mounts on a camera. My volume would be low (20 or so per month). Don't want to spend a grand on a copy stand/duper setup. Brainstorming this out here, don't mind ideas and input. Thanks in advance. Peter.

-- Peter Thoshinsky (camerabug1@msn.com), July 20, 1998

Answers

Keep it simple! I have made thousands of internegatives, both B&W and colour over the course of a 20-year career as a photographer and lab technician.

I would make internegs on 4x5 sheet film for the best quality. The best film for this purpose is no longer made, namely Kodak Super-XX Pan Film. I have made good inegs on T-Max 100 film, although they can also be made on such medium-speed films as Plus-X Professional, Ektapan and FP4 PLus.

You will have to derive specific development times based on your enlarger and enlarging lens. Generally speaking, a diffusion enlarger will give you best results when making the internegative; avoid using a condenser enlarger, mostly due to dust problems. If you opt to make the inegs by contact, then you will have the sharpest images as well as LOTS of problems with dust! Any dust on the ineg will show up as black marks on the final print, which will require the ineg itself to spotted/retouched.

Bear in mind that no matter how carefully you expose and develop your inegs, you will loose a bit of separation in the shadows and highlights. What you are doing is compressing a density range of something like 3.0 or greater from the original transparancy down to about 1.2 or less and then expanding it out again when you print it. It is sort of like taking freshly squeezed orange juice, dehydrating it, and then reconstituting it with water! The shoulder and toe of the transparancy have less contrast than the midtones do, and compressing them and then expanding them out will cause a bit of quality loss in the final B&W print.

I wouldn't use a colour interneg film and make prints from that; while I have never gone that route, the potential for problems is much greater than with B&W film.

I hope this helps; if you have any specific questions feel free to e-mail me.

-- Terrence Brennan (tbrennan13@netscape.net), September 09, 1999.