User ID

`


There's this thing on the internet called
google ? It looks up stuff for you. All the
confused egos in this thread could just
ask google to look up:

NIST SPECIAL PUBLICATION 260-135

or

Standard Reference Materials:
Film Step Tablet Standards of Diffuse
Visual Transmission Density
--SRM 1001 and SRM 1008

... or not, since it might hurt :-(


`

User ID

`



Jeeeeziz .... another internet genius.

It's transmission step tablet. Nothing
wrong with the OP's terminology.


`

BebuLamar

Yup! Stouffer calls them Step Wedges and Tiffen calls them Step Tablets and that was why I figured out the OP meant the Tiffen's.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I'm absolutely awestruck to be in the presence of a genius of your calibre. You're a mind reader, as well. If you look at the OP's original post, there was no mention of "transmission" or of the NIST Standard anywhere in that post. That would have saved a lot of bits if it were there. Then, most of use would have understood what was being asked and would not have needed your level of geniusisity.

Oh, and, hopefully, your bright enough to realize that your approach to contributing to these threads might irritate some folks here. But, then again, you've only been around since the beginning of July. So, there is some excuse for your irritable manner.
--Bob

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

Actually, Kodak labeled theirs "step tablet" (I am looking at the envelope for one of my #2 step tablets as I type) and a few manufacturers call it a "step tabeler". It is used with a densitometer to precisely match the tonal range of a film to the tonal range of a photographic paper to yield a full tone print.

Bipod

For some reason I cannot fathom, all the suppliers avoid the term "step wedge".
It must be a faux pas in graphics arts circles or something....

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Film and print density can be measured by a densitometer and the densitometer can be calibrated by using a step tablet (reflection) or a step wedge (transmission).

Unless you have a densitometer that needs to be calibrated, neither a step tablet nor a step wedge will be of much use other than as a curiosity. The number of steps is not important so long as you know what each step represents.

Here are some TIFF steps wedges covering the full range of black to white.

18 steps

(Download)

52 steps

(Download)

86 steps

(Download)

129 steps

(Download)

256 steps

(Download)

Bipod

The primary use of the step wedge these days is in lithography: "Stouffer: the platemaker's choice."
"Used with litho plates, photo polymer plates, silk screen stencils, printed circuit boards, film positives,
photo print papers, and more."
http://www.pcbsupplies.com/servlet/the-564/Stouffer-21-Step-Sensitivity/Detail

How many opitical enlargements, inkjets or laser prints are sold every year compared to how many
lithographs in books, magazines, and posters?

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

The Stouffer 21 Step Sensitivity Guide ($7.49) can hardly be compared to a step tablet or step wedge used to calibrate a densitometer.

Bipod

So buy the calibrated one: $17.50.
Or the "calibrated and certified" one: $107.50.
If that's not expensive enough, I'm sure some camera or filter manufacturer
would re-sell you one at a stiff mark-up.

Stouffer is the leading manufacturer of step wedges for industry. Deal with it.

olsonsview

If Memory serves me correctly I believe the "Step Tablets" the original poster mentioned were often sold by Kodak in the old film days. Though with the demise of such things by Kodak, yes Stouffer is a large supplier of them still, along with Aperion and other companies. I seem to remember that the difference between the 2 and 3 was indeed the size of the tablet, and it was a Kodak product. I had many such tools in my darkroom back in the day for calibrating and fine tuning the curves for Zone System for a particular film/developer/paper combination. They were also useful when explaining zone system to students.
The "step wedges" were most often calibrated/developed film like material that was sold as a finished negative of various formats with the similar steps of density on them. I think the finest of those used carbon particles on a clear substrate rather than actual film? Far more archival. One could then enlarge and project the wedge onto photo paper with their own enlarger and lens and develop the print, then examine the final print with a reflection densitometer, or by eye, comparing it to a step tablet like above discussed. Much of this technique is also used in the printing industry.
There were a lot of picky and technical photographers using all formats of film, though maybe the most picky were large format sheet film users? We used many of these tools to fine tune our craft. I was one myself, using both reflection and transmission densitometers to measure and calibrate. I am not talking simple easel enlarging meters, but rather expensive lab grade instruments. The reflection densitometer used a calibrated glazed tile to adjust the instrument. The tile was made with both black and grey surfaces of specific reflection % to make sure readings were accurate. More than anyone wanted to know I am sure, though actually a short version! LOL !

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

I don't need to buy anything. I already have one somewhere in my closet that I have not even looked at since the mid-1980s.

Because I develop my own film and scan it myself, I have devised a more practical solution to the question of measuring film densities. You can read about it in A Practical Guide to Film Characteristic Curves where I show a simple way to measure and plot film densities using a scanner.

As for print densities, there is little point in measuring them. Prints canrange from paper white (it varies with paper types, surfaces and viewing conditions) to maximum black.

All you need to know is how to work the film/paper combination to get what you want. Familiarity with the Zone System helps but you don't need to apply it rigorously.

BebuLamar

I have color densitometer for both reflection and transmission. I calibrate it with the film strip for transmission and a plague for reflection supplied by the densitometer maker X-rite.
I never have a step tablet.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

The plaque is a step tablet with three spots and the calibration wedge is a transparent wedge with five steps. They are all you really need.

A wedge or tablet with 21 or more steps just gives you more distinct densities to work with if you have other makes of densitometer.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

I think I am getting seasick. What is a tablet in this context?