I used to do copper based printing back then, too. Made it myself, printed in my own darkroom. It was an amazingly cool looking result. Especially from my larger B&W negs (2 1/4 sq)
Anyone find anything similar to that for digital now? Either from a printing shop or as a PS plug in would be cool.
Thing is, once it’s printed, it looks fine. I print film to digital, and the results look as good to me as a traditional C print. Maybe even better. I don’t notice the scan affecting the look of the grain in the print. Grain/noise always looks a lot, lot worse on screen. Something that might look over-sharpened and noisy on screen may print beautifully, depending on the output size. Many photographers, in my experience, severely undersharpen their files for print as they’re judging print sharpness on screen. A file properly sharpened for print often looks pretty ugly on screen.
Nobody said otherwise.
But, the same argument could be made for medium format vs 35mm or 8x10 vs medium format.
35mm SLRs and DSLRs are a hobbyist / journalist format. They are not designed for Fine Art photographers. But, those types of photographers have always been, and will always be, in the very, very small minority.
They might not be designed for fine art, but 35mm certainly is used in fine art. One of my friends, whose work is in the permanent collection of several museums, for instance, photographs with his 21MP Canon 5D Mark II and prints BIG, like 4 feet by 6 feet. The results are jaw-droppingly amazing. I would never have thought a 35mm sensor could produce such rich detail. Granted, he is extensive in his post-production and works for days on a single exhibition print, but 35mm is certainly suitable to fine art.