if all of the other factors come into play, ie shot properly, developed properly, printed properly.
again, as an ex long time professional black and white developer and printer, like anything in life, lots of attention to detail and all the factors I mentioned come into play. Even if I give the greatest negative to someone who is a so so printer, compared to a printer who has lots of experience and is a great printer, the final results on paper will be completely different.
but lets face it, already back in the day, really good b+w people were sort of rare, and nowadays its kinda like finding a dinosaur.
I was fortunate to have access to my dad's cameras and darkroom when I was a kid. I was also fortunate to help him, and watch him print. Unfortunately, even though he was a patient teacher, I was never as good as him. On the good side, I was the only 11-year old running around town with a Leica IIIf or a Rollieflex. He really wanted me to learn.
I found these dinosaur bones the other day when I was cleaning up the garage. They were left over from a distant past when I loaded my film canisters from bulk rolls.
