Accuracy in using a full frame digital camera as a proofer in strobe lighting for MF

I shoot B&W film only using 35mm and medium format (develop and print myself).

Using strobes in portraits but am having a hard time with the contact sheets looking nothing like I had envisioned. I am using a Hasselblad and Fuji stopped making B&W instant film so I can't use Polaroids to check my exposures.

What I would like to imitate would be something like Roger Hick's Hollywood Portraits or Photographing People which can have some highly stylized and contrasty shots at times requiring careful placement of the lights. I have 4 strobes as well as beauty dishes, honeycombs (10 and 20 degree) and soft boxes. Light placement, spread of light and intensity on the subject is not even close to what I intended.

I was thinking of getting a digital camera for color work eventually (Leica M9 or Nikon D3 or D4) as I have all Leica or Nikon glass but would get it sooner if I can use the camera as a "proofer" of sorts for my B&W strobe trials.

How accurate would the digital picture be in comparison to what would be captured on film considering these variables:

1) using 35mm digital full format to assess MF film: would using as close as possible equivalent focal length and adjusting additionally by camera distance to subject in achieving similar framing.

2) setting same ISO, same shutter speed and aperture on both cameras. Would this yield similar exposure given different formats?

3) setting the digital camera to monochrome. Will this be an accurate capture of what the film camera will capture in terms of black, white and gray tones?

4) the Hasselblad can sync up to 1/500 using the leaf shutter while the M9 can sync at 1/180 and the D3 at 1/250. If I use the 1/250 speed for the digital capture, can I use the equivalent exposure (1/500 and double the aperture) to get the same picture (DOF non-withstanding) if I needed the faster speed to freeze motion?

ymc226 said:

How accurate would the digital picture be in comparison to what would be captured on film considering these variables:

1) using 35mm digital full format to assess MF film: would using as close as possible equivalent focal length and adjusting additionally by camera distance to subject in achieving similar framing.

2) setting same ISO, same shutter speed and aperture on both cameras. Would this yield similar exposure given different formats?

3) setting the digital camera to monochrome. Will this be an accurate capture of what the film camera will capture in terms of black, white and gray tones?

4) the Hasselblad can sync up to 1/500 using the leaf shutter while the M9 can sync at 1/180 and the D3 at 1/250. If I use the 1/250 speed for the digital capture, can I use the equivalent exposure (1/500 and double the aperture) to get the same picture (DOF non-withstanding) if I needed the faster speed to freeze motion?

Click to expand...

1. Yes, similar except the square Hassy format of course.

2. Yes, should be similar.

3. No.

4. Should get you close.

Why not rent a digital back for the Hassy when you need it?



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Digital is like shooting color transparency--not as much latitude as b/w neg, and you have to expose for the highlights instead of the shadows. By the same token, Polaroid wasn't a perfect match for negative film either. You had to calibrate to use it as a reliable proofing tool, and likewise, you would have to calibrate your digital camera to use it as a proofing tool in the studio. You could find, for instance, that a perfect digital exposure gives you a flat neg for traditional enlargement, so you have to think about how to compensate for that.

ymc226 said:

4) the Hasselblad can sync up to 1/500 using the leaf shutter while the M9 can sync at 1/180 and the D3 at 1/250. If I use the 1/250 speed for the digital capture, can I use the equivalent exposure (1/500 and double the aperture) to get the same picture (DOF non-withstanding) if I needed the faster speed to freeze motion?

Click to expand...

If you are shooting inside and the strobe is providing almost all the light, then the shutter speed won't matter. In other words you can use 1/500 on the Hassy and 1/250 on the Nikon both at f/8 and get the same exposure. The flash exposure is probably over in 1/1000 of a second or less (check the specs on your flash units).

With bright ambient light you will need to balance the two light sources, and shutter speed will be important.

I'm interested in the same thing.I'd like to believe that using an equivalent focal length and finding a representative ISO on the digital camera, we should get very close to match digital with film and at least as good of a match as the Polaroids were.