macandal
Member
After much trial and tribulation, I did my film speed test. I decided to use the Ansel Adams method that appears on his book, "The Negative." I was thinking and thinking about doing it; I perhaps thought it too much but, in the end, I didn't it wasn't enough. I got monumentally confused and, of course, the test is wrong. I have to do it again.
The problem was that I was thinking in "mathematical" and not "photography" terms. This is what I mean.
The test first says to get a reading of the subject. That is zone V. Then from that reading go down four stops to arrive at zone I. So, my reading was f32/'60. Four stops less would be f128 (never seen a lens with that f stop, but, for the sake of my example, bare with me), because what they're actually saying is "close the aperture 4 stops." What did I do? I went down mathematically, I was thinking numbers, not apertures. So, I "went down" to f8 and decided that f8/'60 was my zone I. That's where my problems began. Then, once you're at zone I, his (Ansel's) instructions indicate to reduce or increase by one-third of a stop. I kept thinking numbers and not photography. So, when he said "one-third stop less", I moved my aperture indicator to the left when I should have been moving it to the right because what they were saying was "close the aperture." By moving my indicator to the left, I was opening my aperture more. And when they asked to move the indicator "one-third stop more", I moved it to the right (closing the aperture) when I should have been moving it to the left (opening the aperture).
Anyway, I have to do it all over again. I thought I was thinking it too much, but, apparently, I didn't think it enough.
Using the densitometer is another thing. Maybe another post. Let's just say the instructions were/are crap. For now, I just want to get the film speed test (the shooting) done. I'll deal with the densitometer later.
The problem was that I was thinking in "mathematical" and not "photography" terms. This is what I mean.
The test first says to get a reading of the subject. That is zone V. Then from that reading go down four stops to arrive at zone I. So, my reading was f32/'60. Four stops less would be f128 (never seen a lens with that f stop, but, for the sake of my example, bare with me), because what they're actually saying is "close the aperture 4 stops." What did I do? I went down mathematically, I was thinking numbers, not apertures. So, I "went down" to f8 and decided that f8/'60 was my zone I. That's where my problems began. Then, once you're at zone I, his (Ansel's) instructions indicate to reduce or increase by one-third of a stop. I kept thinking numbers and not photography. So, when he said "one-third stop less", I moved my aperture indicator to the left when I should have been moving it to the right because what they were saying was "close the aperture." By moving my indicator to the left, I was opening my aperture more. And when they asked to move the indicator "one-third stop more", I moved it to the right (closing the aperture) when I should have been moving it to the left (opening the aperture).
Anyway, I have to do it all over again. I thought I was thinking it too much, but, apparently, I didn't think it enough.
Using the densitometer is another thing. Maybe another post. Let's just say the instructions were/are crap. For now, I just want to get the film speed test (the shooting) done. I'll deal with the densitometer later.