Selection of photographic film.
We should consider all circumstances when choosing color photographic material, that would favor the use of negative or reversible films. Negative films must be duplicated. We choose them first of all then, when we want to paste photos on paper into an album, when we want enlargements on paper for personal reasons or for an exhibition or when a professional photographer needs to return prints to clients. Amateurs are primarily supporters of reversible films, because they allow you to make beautiful projections with family and friends. Often also for graphic purposes, therefore reversible films are more often used than negative materials in printing, however both with reversible membranes, as well as negatives, equally good prints can be made.
It must be said, that outside of cinematographic production, which uses only negative materials for photos, in the field of amateur and professional use, reversible films are used much more often than negative films. We can consider this even more closely. First of all, the cost issue. This is a very important factor that helps significantly in making a decision. In addition to the price of reversible films, there are only minor development costs, if they are not already included in the sale price of the membranes. In contrast, color negative films require quite expensive copies to be made. Former shortcomings of reversible membranes, consisting in the impossibility of making copies of them, have been removed in recent years.
Currently, there are reversible films intended for copying (ORWO wolves), on which very good duplicates or enlargements can be obtained. There are also special intermediate negative materials (Agfa-Leverkusen), with which, in addition to copies, you can also obtain enlargements on paper. Reversible colored papers are also produced, which allow you to make good enlargements without the help of a transition negative. Understandable, that the original photo will always be better than the copy obtained from it. As a result, the reversible image has richer colors and better resolution than the positive copy, because each copying causes quality losses. However, there are also other points of view on both types of materials.