[LargeFormat] End of an Era at Arizona Highways

[Schuyler Grace]

Yup, these are pinholes, for sure.  As soon as I spotted the first one on
the light table, I checked to be sure (in Arizona, we have plenty of dust,
and the house cats that think they want to be LF photographers when they
grow up don't help by shedding on everything in sight).  The way I see it,
if I'm the cause, I kick myself and get out the spotting brush.  But I'd
think Kodak would have some pretty stiff quality control to keep this from
happening on their end.  Luckily, I got a second shot of each image, so it
isn't the end of the world.

That said, I found one sheet with two pinholes and two more with one each
out of a box of fifty sheets.  But I have never found a single pinhole in
any of the hundreds of sheets of TMax 100 4x5 and 8x10 I've shot over the
years (plenty of dust and stray hairs, though).  This is only my second box
of TMax 400, and perhaps I'm being too picky, or my statistical number just
came up all at once with this box.

Is it just me, or has anyone else run into this issue?

-Schuyler



-----Original Message-----
From: largeformat-bounces at f32.net [mailto:largeformat-bounces at f32.net] On
Behalf Of Richard Knoppow
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 3:03 PM
To: f32 Large Format Photography Mail List
Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] End of an Era at Arizona Highways


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Schuyler Grace" <schuyler at bellsouth.net>
To: <largeformat at f32.net>
Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 12:19 PM
Subject: [LargeFormat] End of an Era at Arizona Highways


> I'm not saying it's an altogether bad thing, but Arizona 
> Highways made a
> point of announcing in their latest issue that they have 
> begun using some
> digital images.  This won't end their 80-year association 
> with LF
> photography, but they won't be LF-exclusive any more.
>
> Oh, and I'm now kind of hoping Kodak will do away with 
> their B/W film
> products sooner than later.  I processed a big batch of 
> 8x10 TMY last night,
> and more than a few sheets had pinholes in the emulsion. 
> Perhaps, I
> thought, Kodak's strategy isn't just following industry 
> trends, but simply
> turning out worse and worse quality product, until no one 
> wants to buy it.
> Then, they can announce the end of another unprofitable 
> line to
> shareholders.
>
> -Schuyler


     Check to see that these are actual holes in the 
emulsion and not clear spots caused by dust on the film 
during exposure or some other cause. Pinholes are possible 
if there was a coating problem. You have to look at the 
emulsion surface with a quite strong magnifier to see if 
these are actual disruptions in the surface.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk at ix.netcom.com 

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