Response to Can I get medium format quality from 35mm?

> Nobody denied that John. HP5+ is not discussed here. The test was > about enlargements up to 11*14. The Delta100 should be developed in > FX39 (Patterson). You didn't mention whether the Leica photo was > made on tripod (slim chance it was).

OK....hanging right in front of me are two prints, one is 8x10 from Delta 100 in Xtol 1:1 35mm and the other is 11x11 from Delta 100 in Rodinal 1:50 6x6. Both were shot with flash, so tripod or not is irrelevant. The 35 was Leica w/current 50 Summicron, while the 6x6 was Rollei 2.8E, 1954 vintage. The medium format print shows higher sharpness/finer detail, finer grain (extremely fine from either format, have to get within smelling distance to see any) and an appearance of greater clarity or depth. No FX-39 here in the US. Speaking of which, has anyone come across a formula for it? Anyway...overall....considering a large assortment of prints from similar film types and developers, ranging in format from 35mm to contact from 8x10, in side-by-side comparison the larger format always wins...but that may not be all that incredibly important. All prints are made with a Durst 1000 w/Componon-S lenses; the enlarger gets aligned regularly with the Versalab Parallel laser-alignment gizmo (highly recommended). Two of the prints hanging in this room are perhaps technically awful; one's a 6x8 from TMZ 35mm exposed and developed for EI 12500 and the other's a 9x11 from 120 Delta 3200....they both have a fairly short tonal range and are a bit grainy but they're as valid and enjoyable (to me at least) as the nearby 8x10 contacts. And not one person who's seen them has mentioned the grain etc. So..imho from a purely technical viewpoint, other things being equal, 8x10 and larger prints demand a level of quality that just isn't quite attainable from 35mm if you want prints that can look no sharper to an average viewer and have fairly invisible grain. I am amazed at how good 35mm can be these days; back in the dark ages of only 25 years ago we had to use special H&W VTE Ultra film, actually an Agfa microfilm, and H&W developer, at EI 12 or so to exceed the quality we routinely get from films such as Delta 100 and TMX today, and back then medium speed films in medium format gave higher overall quality than H&W in 35mm. Medium format may be less expensive than you think; you can easily find a good Mamiya TLR w/80 lens for less than the price of many ordinary lenses for 35mm cameras.

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