Arian:(posted 8428 days ago)Maximum Black on the leader is what you get anyway, as it is usualy fully exposed and developed as much as anywhere else on the neg-I assume you are talking 35mm.
This is OK but only relative. What counts is the range of tones between "Bmax" on the neg and the base density plus fog on a totally non-exposed portion. Books on sensitometry will explain this, as will Ansel Adams' "The Negative" and Fred Picker's "Zone VI workshop", both necessities for a serious amateur b&W shooter.
Then what REALLY counts is the maximum black(Dmax) on the paper. This is a function of the print exposure time, the type of paper and the deelopment time. Picker bases his world on a contact proof that has a series of exposures, from which you chooes the last exposure test time that is not blacker than the one before-that is Dmax on the paper where it counts. The contrast range of the paper or the filter used then determines where the brightest white with texture falls:- Zone system basics, at least as I understand it.
Cheers