Thanks Matt.
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If I may dcy, going to any internet forum and deciding what your photo process will be, based on that alone, is like basing your understanding of current events on ****** cable news. There are lots of well written books on photography....(some have been mentioned. Adams, Horenstein, Lambrecht) .....any one of them would be more reliable than internet discussion.
Moderator note: comment edited and made slightly less specific, to make it less likely to bring rise to politics!
Well... It's not like I'm not using the camera. But during the work week I am at work. I shoot mostly on weekends. When I'm home at night and I'm bored I can't really do much more than plan what I want to do next.
Furthermore, I thought it would be a good idea to do a dedicated test and shoot the same handful of scenes over and over with different films and different developers. I suggested that idea in the forum, precisely in response to another comment about being willing to make mistakes. I received very positive responses for that idea. So I went ahead and spent over an hour in the hot New Mexico sun doing the shoot, then I started developing the films, and now the feedback I'm getting makes it sound like the whole thing was a huge mistake and a huge waste of my time because I shouldn't be trying out films and developers --- some of this from members that said the test was a great idea. And as I said in another thread, I didn't even start out looking for new developers. I had PC-TEA and was happy with it, and some members of this forum strongly nudged me toward D76 and D23, so I figured I'd follow that advice.
I understand that this forum isn't a single have mind and conflicting opinions are to be expected. That's just the nature of things. I'm just hoping for a little bit of understanding that I am receiving conflicting advice, sometimes from the same people, and I am doing my best to follow the advice without going crazy or making my life miserable.
When I'm home at night and I'm bored
Testing is a subject with which you'll always have the most contradictory views, especially if the zone system is involved, or even just mentioned. You have people here who have done every test possible — zone system, beyond the zone system, to infinity and beyond the zone system, etc. —, and others who have done no tests and just learned through experience.
Both make great pictures. Why? Because in the end, they both learn by looking — learning to look at the scene, learning to look at the negative, learning to look at the print. Now a test, any test, can be part of the learning process at any of these stages. But the test never serves as a short cut to reach your goal — of making nice prints from good negatives — faster. And they are usually most useful when you want to perfect your understanding of something you already have started to master.
Buy books by photographers, buy books about photography. You'll never be bored.
Well said Alex. & DCY....... make that drive to Santa Fe to see real fine photographic prints.
but because in principle setting yourself up to make great negatives whether using the Zone System or no system, is quite simple, and a lot simpler than the so-called “purists” would have themselves and others believe. It’s an easy thing with a lot of flowery language lumped on to it. In fact it is easier than this EZ method.
And take a camera, and photograph whatever interests you.
You mentioned some well controlled ADHD. If you can channel that, don't channel it toward developer choice or technique or equipment.
Channel it toward experiencing - visually and photographically - the plethora of interesting things in the world around you!
I understand that this forum isn't a single hive mind and conflicting opinions are to be expected. That's just the nature of things. I'm just hoping for a little bit of understanding that I am receiving conflicting advice, sometimes from the same people, and I am doing my best to follow the advice without going crazy or making my life miserable.
Then there's the "minimum time to maximum black" printing time. Assuming you judge it properly, what is that telling you? And of what value is it?
*Someone* could have read about and learned the Zone System in the time it took to read all these posts.
I'd strongly recommend to stop doing that. Take advice as input for your own decision-making, not as gospel. Whatever you do, there's always bound to be someone who thinks you did the wrong thing. Try not to give a f about it. It's the only way to survive.
My point is just that every camera/metering mode has its own traits, for example, if it uses average metering over the whole frame, it might favor the background over the subject when there’s a big brightness difference. Or, when shooting close-ups, the sensor’s position above the lens makes it more sensitive to the top of the frame. The more you shot and check results, the more you’ll get used to these traits. This is a well-crafted and easy-to-use camera., but sometimes you still need to guide it and make some decisions yourself. As Matt said, you can sense when you can confidently leave things to it, and in those occasional, less common situations, do some refinement.
You mentioned some well controlled ADHD. If you can channel that, don't channel it toward developer choice or technique or equipment.
Channel it toward experiencing - visually and photographically - the plethora of interesting things in the world around you!
Seems like you might be trying to figure out which typewriter, ink and paper combo is best for you, before you've figured out what to write.
Well... In fairness, my posts are a limited window into my life. It's not like anyone is going to come into a forum and ask "what should I photograph?".
Negative film is remarkably forgiving.
I have an idea that brother Ansel ever really used his zone system all that often.
DCY. check your inbox....
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