What would you like to see in a plotting program?

[Mahler_one]

One already can have most of what you desire....the Plotter program and Expodev written by Phil Davis. Carry into the field with a Palm device which is often available for a fraction of the price of any Apple phone...and show me how an iPad will fit into your pocket dancqu :}.....seriously now, it might be nice to be able to write a similar program for the Apple OS...but IMO nothing is to be gained. Expodev loaded with the plotter files in so simple to use, and so complete, that using such is a real joy and makes LF photography that much easier. Obviously, Plotter and Expodev are not for everyone.....go to BTZS.org and take a look at Phil Davis's articles about Plotter, Expodev, and other matters.

 

[Tim Gray]

Oh yeah, I'm running iPython as my interpreter. I think I automatically import scipy as sp, amongst some other things. But you should be able to get there if you munge the import statements a bit.

 

[Lee L]

Obviously, Plotter and Expodev are not for everyone.....

Like people who don't run Microsoft, or a Palm device. To each his own. There is something to be said for making your own custom version when it's as easy as a few lines of Python, and can be used cross platform for free.

Actually, the BTZS software used to run on Macs, but that support was dropped. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that was about the time Jobs decided to put a custom GUI on BSD Unix and call it OS-X.

Lee

 

[RalphLambrecht]

...Actually, the BTZS software used to run on Macs, but that support was dropped. I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that was about the time Jobs decided to put a custom GUI on BSD Unix and call it OS-X.

Lee

It was well before that time of OS-X. The original Mac code was very clumsy and run on Visual Basic (I believe). I got together with Phil, and I prepared a prototype running in Pascal, and later in C++, for him. We had a rough time, because he did not want to add many features I felt were necessary to move it to the Mac. In the end, he was not comfortable with supporting so many platforms at once and decided to concentrate on a few, at which point I froze the code and handed it over to him. This must have been around 1996.

 

[Lee L]

It was well before that time of OS-X. The original Mac code was very clumsy and run on Visual Basic (I believe). I got together with Phil, and I prepared a prototype running in Pascal, and later in C++, for him. We had a rough time, because he did not want to add many features I felt were necessary to move it to the Mac. In the end, he was not comfortable with supporting so many platforms at once and decided to concentrate on a few, at which point I froze the code and handed it over to him. This must have been around 1996.

Thanks for the info Ralph. I wonder if the program will go off the market. Some of the BTZS software kits have been marked down to below half price. Do you know if there is anyone who will maintain the software now that we've lost Phil? With the original Palm Pilot and 'Windows 98 or better' showing as the hardware or software requirements, OS changes, and films changing formulation so that the built-in data is going out of date, one has to wonder about the long term viability of the software. If I were in the market, I'd be asking the View Camera Store these questions before buying.

Lee

 

[Mahler_one]

I'm impressed with the breadth of computed knowledge available on this particular thread. Of course, likely being amongst the more senior members here suggests that most of what I am reading about computer code and the like is well beyond my experience! You raise very interesting points Lee, especially since I recently had some problem transferring data from Plotter to ExpoDe, and neither Fred nor Dennis could completely solve the issues. In the end everything worked out, but not before I figured out a small "work-around". There are some dedicated individuals at the BTZS.org site who try to help solve various issues involving the program. Nevertheless, I wonder if someone here with the requisite knowledge might be willing to help keep Phil's memory alive by endeavoring to keep the the Plotter and ExpoDev programs relevant to current and future operating systems. Having little inkling as to the difficulties involved with writing computer code suggests that I am no doubt minimizing the efforts needed to bring the programs up to current computer code standards, and it is fairly obvious that the financial returns would be little to none. Just wondering aloud....

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I really don't know. I went on to do different things at that point.

 

[frednewman]

Hi Stephen - The majority of photographers that use BTZS don't use the Plotter program, they do one or two film tests with us and then we put the film test data on the expo/dev program for them. We do sell very few Plotter programs, in fact there are many more responses to your question than programs sold in the last few years. Due to the small numbers there will be no upgrade in the program. I talked to the programmer that did the PC version of plotter and the number of hours required is way to many to justify the upgrade for the small number of sales. We will continue to provide the Plotter for PC and it will not be discontinued. Currently I run the plotter on a Dell with XP and have never had any problems. Originally I used the Mac version about 20 years ago and kept the old Mac until the PC version became available. I would recommend running it XP which I have done with more film tests than I can remember and the software always worked great and I think is great improvement over the original Mac version.

You have to remember the Plotter program is a part of the BTZS system. The real advantage of using the Plotter for PC is that the data from the Plotter is used for both the Power Dial and the Expo/Dev for the palm pilot. Phil Davis had calculated the reciprocity for about 80 film and developer combinations and this is part of the Plotter Program when you export your film test information into the Expo/Dev program. He wrote an article in the D-Max newsletter Volume 9 Issue 4 about how he calibrated the reciprocity.

Now the real advantage of using the Expo/Dev program is that after you put your meter readings (zone 3 & 7 or incident hi & lo) - you enter the f/stop and the program tell you how long to expose the film (including reciprocity correction) and then in the memo section it tells you how long to process that sheet of film.

I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with Phil Davis and he entered all the density readings for all the film by hand. When I used to visit him he was always testing something and I would enter the densities for him.

An interesting side note is that this whole BTZS system came out from the frustration of an early job he had photographing black tires on asphalt. He said bracketing doesn't work. Then he decided to solve the problem and the result is the BTZS system.

I hope that answers most of the questions. If you have questions you can always call me.

Fred Newman

 

[frednewman]

Hi Stephen - The price was reduced on both Plotter for PC and Expo/Dev because with the economy being what is is today and I wanted to make the programs more affordable and yes we will continue to have it in stock.

Fred