Exposure or scanning question

A place to talk about cameras, lenses, tripods, etc. and how to use them
Post Reply
Meekyman
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:38 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Exposure or scanning question

Post by Meekyman » Thu Jan 24, 2013 12:07 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Folks,

The subject could be in two forums, so thought I'd post here.

I am new to large format photography. I am using a pentax digital spotmeter to meter and am fairly happy with reading tones and using the meter. I am using both slide and negative films. With slide film I can view on a light-table and am happy with my metering and the images look exposed quite well. I can not see how the negatives are exposed.

So, I sent three negatives and one slide off for scanning as TIFF's to a company who only do scanning and nothing else, so hopefully experts at it and they used a calibrated EPSON V750. The negatives are Kodak Portra 160 and when viewing the scans in photoshop elements or capture NX2 the exposure was off with blown highlights. I have a calibrated monitor and printer. The negatives include sky whereas the slides do not. When metering for the negatives the approach I followed was based on the dynamic range being 10 stops, being biased to the highlights. So, I metered the darkest tone and set at -2, giving me a mid-tone to set for exposure. I am sure the brightest tones were will within +8, so the contrast should have been handled by the film.

Is there something wrong in my metering for neagtive or my dynamic range of 10 stops assumption? Could the scanning have been done improperly so that I lost highlights? Since the exposure of my slides look OK on the light table and scanned, I'm happy with my light meter.

Thanks

Graham

AbsolutelyN
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:53 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Re: Exposure or scanning question

Post by AbsolutelyN » Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:34 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Graham

It sounds like your metering is absolutely fine assuming the meter is accurate - just place the darkest shadows at -2 and let the rest fall as they may. There is little chance you'll have overexposed to the extent your highlights will have been clipped unless you make a serious mistake in exposing the neg - sounds like a very bad scan to me. Can you see detail/tones in the sky by looking at the neg on the light table?

You can easily tell how well a neg is exposed by looking at it but it perhaps takes a bit of getting used to. I still got an image out of the most over exposed neg I've ever shot - accidentally over exposed by at least 15 stops or more. It was a very bad image but there was still detail there. It would look extremely dense to the point at which you cannot easily see an image on the neg to be completely overexposed. Under exposure is the biggest issue with negs as you'll end up with little to no image / blank sheet of film with nothing on it.

Do you not have your own scanner? If not try placing the neg on your light table and photographing it with a digital camera and inverting to see if there is detail and tone if your not happy evaluating the neg directly. Perhaps post that here along with this scan so we can see any issues.

Tristan Campbell
http://www.tristancampbell.co.uk

Meekyman
Posts: 37
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2012 7:38 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Re: Exposure or scanning question

Post by Meekyman » Fri Jan 25, 2013 9:53 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Tristan,

Thanks for replying.

No, I don't have my own scanner....I'm new to all this and not going to invest in a scanner and all that learning until I am convinced that large format is the way for me to go. I really just wanted to see how the negs turned out. I'm happy with my slides. I also fear that scannign myself will bring massive headaches and a massive learning curve.

I'll look at the negatives again on a light table and try taking a photo with my digital camera as you suggest. I can't post at the moment as bit rushed with life and off for a weekend of photography, so some time on my return I will.

Cheers

Graham

Post Reply