I've got some extra bellows, AC strobes, macro lenses, bodies, etc and was thinking that I could possibly rig up some old slide copying equipment into a dedicated rig for taking shots of a 35mm step wedge. I've got larger format step wedges already but the for the sake of the surplus equipment I've got collecting dust and filling drawers around here, I would only need to buy a 35mm wedge to move ahead on this project.
According to both of my flash meters, my old flash equipment is consistent. At least it repeats to the same digital dot, seemingly endlessly. I don't know if this indicates the sort of accuracy I need, though. I had thought of constructing a permanent housing, diffuser and taking gear to stay positioned in a locked orientation. I thought I could tune it easily enough by gray card shots on the same film that I could shoot the wedge in varying exposures for developing a baseline. I've got a Macbeth that wouldn't work for a small wedge on 35mm film like this but I've got a projection reading densitometer that's part of my darkroom exposure time/analyzer and this is consistently within .01 of the Macbeth so I trust it enough. It also has color channels and reads at the projected size.
I've noticed old Honeywell and Beseler slide copiers going quite cheaply on the auction site. Are these consistent enough for this duty? Are there some sensitometers that adapt to regular photo duty that are floating around and are somewhat affordable? Most of what I find seem to be X-ray calibrating gear and I really don't understand what sort of versatility they have.
According to both of my flash meters, my old flash equipment is consistent. At least it repeats to the same digital dot, seemingly endlessly. I don't know if this indicates the sort of accuracy I need, though. I had thought of constructing a permanent housing, diffuser and taking gear to stay positioned in a locked orientation. I thought I could tune it easily enough by gray card shots on the same film that I could shoot the wedge in varying exposures for developing a baseline. I've got a Macbeth that wouldn't work for a small wedge on 35mm film like this but I've got a projection reading densitometer that's part of my darkroom exposure time/analyzer and this is consistently within .01 of the Macbeth so I trust it enough. It also has color channels and reads at the projected size.
I've noticed old Honeywell and Beseler slide copiers going quite cheaply on the auction site. Are these consistent enough for this duty? Are there some sensitometers that adapt to regular photo duty that are floating around and are somewhat affordable? Most of what I find seem to be X-ray calibrating gear and I really don't understand what sort of versatility they have.
