Slide film metering

[nbagno]

I’ve stocked up a ton of slide film both expired and current and have been trying to learn how to meter it correctly. Using my Sekonic spot meter I’ve been spot metering the darkest area that I want to retain detail as well as the brightest and averaging. I’ve read that I want to make sure to stay within +2/-2 on both the highlights and shadows. (roughly)

Let’s say my highlights come in at +2.3EV and the shadows at -2.3EV. In this situation, I would need to both brighten up the shadows and darken the highlights, correct? Would this method be correct:? Lighten up my shadows .3EV by exposure compensation and then darken the highlights with my ND grad .3EV + the .3EV from the shadow exposure compensation? Or do I leave the shadows where they are and just bring down the highlights?

[Pere Casals]

+2.3 Ev may be risky...

First is that mechanical shutters are not exact with factory tolerance of +/-30%. This means that 1/30 can be 1/20 or 1/40 and this is a full stop, this is in a brand new shutter.

So to shot LF slides first is checking shutters with a shutter tester.

For metering, let me suggest a "calibration test", then:

1) Load a "modern" SLR (Nikon F80, F5) with a roll of the slide you are to use. Select spot meter.

2) Find a contrasty scene, select a base exposure. Use SLR spot meter (and the Sekonik) and anotate what over/under exposure you have in each area of your scene: Clouds sky, water, rocks, forest, skin. I do that with smartphone or tablet, I take a shot of the scene wioth it and I edit it with and draw a symbols (points slashes) on the image to indicate what over/under exposure had every area.

3) Then make a bracketing (anotate what shot number is what frame of the bracketing), say from -3 to +3 stops, this is 7 shots for each scene. So with a single 35mm roll you may test 5 scenes.

4) Then knowing the under/over exposure of every area (base + bracketing) you will see how different subjects (sky, water, forest ) look at every level of under/overexposure.

IMHO It is a (painful) crime to not expose well an slide, slides have to be nailed, so maximum care sholuld be taking. Imagine a burnt 8x10 velvia... painful.

Of course graded ND, Pol, etc may be needed with velvia to not burn the sky, but you should test on your own to learn what is +2EV or +3EV with Sky or Clouds. Or how your scanner reads shadows...

Regards

[nbagno]

+2.3 Ev may be risky...

First is that mechanical shutters are not exact with factory tolerance of +/-30%. This means that 1/30 can be 1/20 or 1/40 and this is a full stop, this is in a brand new shutter.

So to shot LF slides first is checking shutters with a shutter tester.

For metering, let me suggest a "calibration test", then:

1) Load a "modern" SLR (Nikon F80, F5) with a roll of the slide you are to use. Select spot meter.

2) Find a contrasty scene, select a base exposure. Use SLR spot meter (and the Sekonik) and anotate what over/under exposure you have in each area of your scene: Clouds sky, water, rocks, forest, skin. I do that with smartphone or tablet, I take a shot of the scene wioth it and I edit it with and draw a symbols (points slashes) on the image to indicate what over/under exposure had every area.

3) Then make a bracketing (anotate what shot number is what frame of the bracketing), say from -3 to +3 stops, this is 7 shots for each scene. So with a single 35mm roll you may test 5 scenes.

4) Then knowing the under/over exposure of every area (base + bracketing) you will see how different subjects (sky, water, forest ) look at every level of under/overexposure.

IMHO It is a (painful) crime to not expose well an slide, slides have to be nailed, so maximum care sholuld be taking. Imagine a burnt 8x10 velvia... painful.

Of course graded ND, Pol, etc may be needed with velvia to not burn the sky, but you should test on your own to learn what is +2EV or +3EV with Sky or Clouds. Or how your scanner reads shadows...

Regards

I have a shutter tester and started testing on my crown graphic. Slow speeds were fine, fast speeds were way off... Thanks for the reply.

[BrianShaw]

Another approach for finding a "baseline" quickly would be to take an incident reading. You'd be surprised how often that alone will yield a
correct" exposure, assuming a "normal" scene". No matter the scene type, it gives a place to start and the exposure can be adjusted up or down accordingly.

[Leigh]

Another approach for finding a "baseline" quickly would be to take an incident reading. You'd be surprised how often that alone will yield a correct" exposure, assuming a "normal" scene".

Absolutely true.

That's what the film manufacturers did.
They had a whole lot more time, equipment, and budget than you do.

- Leigh

[Pere Casals]

Absolutely true.

That's what the film manufacturers did.
They had a whole lot more time, equipment, and budget than you do.

- Leigh

My view is that (with slides) indirect metering is very consitent in some particular conditions, like flowers in the shadow, but it is not as good under challenging conditions, for example if we have a landscape with sun relatively low we will need to know if clouds and sky are to be overexposed and by what amount, and what graded ND filter we have to add to preserve color and detail in the sky, in those conditions spot metering is important.

[nbagno]

My view is that (with slides) indirect metering is very consitent in some particular conditions, like flowers in the shadow, but it is not as good under challenging conditions, for example if we have a landscape with sun relatively low we will need to know if clouds and sky are to be overexposed and by what amount, and what graded ND filter we have to add to preserve color and detail in the sky, in those conditions spot metering is important.

This is exactly what I was dealing with this weekend and which prompted my question. I had some pink clouds that I wanted to retain and a dark foreground. Averaging, both were close to outside the 2.5 stops. So I thought I could bump up the shadows by shutter but compensate for that with the ND.

[Pere Casals]

This is exactly what I was dealing with this weekend and which prompted my question. I had some pink clouds that I wanted to retain and a dark foreground. Averaging, both were close to outside the 2.5 stops. So I thought I could bump up the shadows by shutter but compensate for that with the ND.

This is, you should know how every kind of suject looks at +3, +2, +1, 0 , -1 , -2 , -3. How clouds, water or grass looks at what exposure shift, then you decide.

Think that exposure meters are more or less sensitive to green or to blue (for example) because particular spectral sensitivity. For example Blue may read lower than Green and sky it may look less overexposed than it will be.

Because that, testing with real subjects and anotating well the conditions of the bracketing is what will give you a precise criterion to control the result. Slides are amazing, IMHO the most amazing result one can obtain with a camera today, top notch, but a mistake with LF slides is painful, very painful. So checking shutters and accurate metering is a key factor.

[Leigh]

This is exactly what I was dealing with this weekend and which prompted my question. I had some pink clouds that I wanted to retain and a dark foreground. Averaging, both were close to outside the 2.5 stops. So I thought I could bump up the shadows by shutter but compensate for that with the ND.

The ND filter will darken everything in view, including the shadows.

You control shadow detail with exposure.
You have to have enough photons hitting the film to form a latent image.

You control highlight detail with development.
Development only changes highlights (dense areas in the negative).

That technique is only 100+ years old.

- Leigh

[biedron]

The ND filter will darken everything in view, including the shadows.

True for plain NDs, but the OP was referring to graduated NDs