B&W - Expose for the shadows, scan for the highlights
Jul 31, 2021 15:34:14 #
That's a little different than the old rule for B&W film, "Expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights."
Here are 4 of the 16 images I took last Wednesday with a Hasselblad 500 C/M in a 6x4.5 format on Fuji Acros 100 rated at ISO 64 because of the light yellow filter on the lens.
Since all of the scenes were in direct sunlight they all got the same exposure based on Sunny 16. Despite the differences in scene dynamic range I used my normal development in Xtol 1+2 for 9:30 at 75°F in a small stainless steel tank and reel.
I scanned all 16 images with an Epson V750 at 3200 ppi which is a little higher than the scanners optical resolution of about 2400 ppi. They all came out as expected but I picked these because their compositions were more interesting.
The only post processing was to crop away the edges outside of the frame where the film base recorded as black. The first image need a little dust spotting in the open sky.
I explain my rationale behind this in A Practical Guide to Film Characteristic Curves – Part 2 which includes the attached samples.
Here are 4 of the 16 images I took last Wednesday with a Hasselblad 500 C/M in a 6x4.5 format on Fuji Acros 100 rated at ISO 64 because of the light yellow filter on the lens.
Since all of the scenes were in direct sunlight they all got the same exposure based on Sunny 16. Despite the differences in scene dynamic range I used my normal development in Xtol 1+2 for 9:30 at 75°F in a small stainless steel tank and reel.
I scanned all 16 images with an Epson V750 at 3200 ppi which is a little higher than the scanners optical resolution of about 2400 ppi. They all came out as expected but I picked these because their compositions were more interesting.
The only post processing was to crop away the edges outside of the frame where the film base recorded as black. The first image need a little dust spotting in the open sky.
I explain my rationale behind this in A Practical Guide to Film Characteristic Curves – Part 2 which includes the attached samples.
Aug 1, 2021 18:31:06 #
selmslie wrote:
... I explain my rationale behind this in A Practical Guide to Film Characteristic Curves – Part 2 which includes the attached samples.
What I didn't cover in that article is the viability of using a digital camera with a macro lens to photograph the film. This looks like a viable solution but I have not looked at it closely yet because my Nikon ES-2 adapter only showed up last week after being on back-order for four months.
The ES-2 should make it easy to digitize 35mm film but there is no comparable adapter for medium format film. With a high resolution scanner I don't have a burning need to set that up since I can already get close to 50MP from 6x4.5 cm and over 70MP from 6x6 film, color or B&W.
But I don't think I am going to get much more than 24MP of useful megapixels resolution from a 35mm negative. Film is sharp but over ISO 100 grain starts to be too become annoying.
Regardless, when it comes to exposing the film through the adapter, it's probably a good idea to shoot raw and use ETTR.
Aug 8, 2021 07:49:42 #
selmslie wrote:
That's a little different than the old rule for B&... (show quote)
You learn something every day. I always thought that Hasselblad made only 6x6 format cameras. I really like the third photo in this series. Maybe because it has more contrast than the others? I tend to like high contrast images. Personal preference, I guess. Now I'm going to go and read your article.
Erich
Aug 8, 2021 08:21:42 #
ebrunner wrote:
You learn something every day. I always thought that Hasselblad made only 6x6 format cameras. I really like the third photo in this series. Maybe because it has more contrast than the others? I tend to like high contrast images. Personal preference, I guess. Now I'm going to go and read your article.
Erich
Erich
Thanks. The third image was my reason for making the trip.
The A16 back has two advantages. You get 16 shots instead of 12 and the aspect ratio is easier to use.
Aug 8, 2021 09:09:37 #
selmslie wrote:
Thanks. The third image was my reason for making the trip.
The A16 back has two advantages. You get 16 shots instead of 12 and the aspect ratio is easier to use.
The A16 back has two advantages. You get 16 shots instead of 12 and the aspect ratio is easier to use.
I did not know that. Good information to have. Makes the camera even more versatile!
Erich
Aug 8, 2021 09:25:18 #
ebrunner wrote:
... I really like the third photo in this series. Maybe because it has more contrast than the others? I tend to like high contrast images. ...
The image in the original post was scanned with Nikon Scan.
This one was also scanned on the same scanner with Viewscan. I was able to get a lower contrast scan. Two different looks. I have to print both of them to judge.
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