frednewman
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Phil Davis had originally written the exposure/development computer program for the Radio Shack PC-6 back in the late 80's. Phil had called it "Automating Exposure and Development".
Phil Davis wrote in Photo Techniques magazine back in 1987 "The various exposure /development systems (the Zone System, for example) have all been formulated for the express purpose of relieving photographers from the hassles of on-the-spot calculation so they may concentrate on translating the subject into a satisfactory image. The mathematics of film speeds, filter factors, bellows corrections, luminance values, zone placement, aperture and shutter settings, reciprocity effects, contrast index numbers, etc, can be a serious distraction when the creative juices are flowing - and the light is failing. Our creative choices obviously influence these factors but, once those choices have been made, the mathematical relationships are objective and predictable. Why not let a machine take over?"
With that thought in mind, that is why Phil had written the exposure/development computer program. When I work with students teaching Beyond the Zone System and using a view camera, I have them get everything right on the ground glass first and then do the metering. Once you have metered zone III and zone VII (Zone System) or Hi and Lo values (incident system), then you put the metering information into the Expo/dev program to get your exposure. This is the way I learned how to work and I say thanks Phil (to myself) in the darkroom after I process my negatives.
The exposure information in the Expo/Dev program comes from the film and paper test/tests and film test/tests that you previously did and that were plotted in the Win Plotter program. The paper test is important because it is based on your enlarger light source and paper choice. So whether you are using a condenser or diffusion head for projection printing or doing contact printing it doesn't matter - all that matters is that you test for your darkroom set up and type of printing. The paper test information is entered into the film test, so that your negative is designed to print on your light source (condenser/diffusion and projection/contact) and paper combination.
Please check out the video on the BTZS Expo/Dev on youtube.com. Just do a search on either BTZS or Expo/Dev. I will be doing more articles and videos on BTZS in the future. Interestingly it takes more time and effort to work with bad negatives in the darkroom then it does to do a BTZS film and paper test.
Luckily I found out about BTZS from one of the editors of Photo Techniques magazine when I started writing articles for them, because like everyone else I was frustrated in the darkroom trying to print from bad negatives.
Fred Newman
Phil Davis wrote in Photo Techniques magazine back in 1987 "The various exposure /development systems (the Zone System, for example) have all been formulated for the express purpose of relieving photographers from the hassles of on-the-spot calculation so they may concentrate on translating the subject into a satisfactory image. The mathematics of film speeds, filter factors, bellows corrections, luminance values, zone placement, aperture and shutter settings, reciprocity effects, contrast index numbers, etc, can be a serious distraction when the creative juices are flowing - and the light is failing. Our creative choices obviously influence these factors but, once those choices have been made, the mathematical relationships are objective and predictable. Why not let a machine take over?"
With that thought in mind, that is why Phil had written the exposure/development computer program. When I work with students teaching Beyond the Zone System and using a view camera, I have them get everything right on the ground glass first and then do the metering. Once you have metered zone III and zone VII (Zone System) or Hi and Lo values (incident system), then you put the metering information into the Expo/dev program to get your exposure. This is the way I learned how to work and I say thanks Phil (to myself) in the darkroom after I process my negatives.
The exposure information in the Expo/Dev program comes from the film and paper test/tests and film test/tests that you previously did and that were plotted in the Win Plotter program. The paper test is important because it is based on your enlarger light source and paper choice. So whether you are using a condenser or diffusion head for projection printing or doing contact printing it doesn't matter - all that matters is that you test for your darkroom set up and type of printing. The paper test information is entered into the film test, so that your negative is designed to print on your light source (condenser/diffusion and projection/contact) and paper combination.
Please check out the video on the BTZS Expo/Dev on youtube.com. Just do a search on either BTZS or Expo/Dev. I will be doing more articles and videos on BTZS in the future. Interestingly it takes more time and effort to work with bad negatives in the darkroom then it does to do a BTZS film and paper test.
Luckily I found out about BTZS from one of the editors of Photo Techniques magazine when I started writing articles for them, because like everyone else I was frustrated in the darkroom trying to print from bad negatives.
Fred Newman
