I will admit that perfection is an adjective that is challenged in the world of analog photography. Shutters are inherently off a bit between lenses, developing temperature can change slightly and light can experience subtle changes during the exposure process. But here are just a few of the issues that I feel continue to dominate the inducement of operator error and troublesome negatives. Not only have I seen these consistently demonstrated among many photographers, I have been down this road myself early in my process. Fortunately I worked through these issues and learned from them.
Developing multiple negatives in a single developing drum or single use tank expecting to use multi contrast filters as the "fix" may be an assumed step forward in sheet film processing efficiency but realistically IMHO it is easily two steps backwards in the results category. I contend each negative needs to be processed individually and with the highest precision possible. I use an infrared monocle to deal with optimizing this subset of challenges. Secondly, adoration of the spot meter as the holy grail of determining a correct exposure unfortunately falls victim to the error of the spot meter to flare and the necessity of reading an area at least three times the size of the "spot" means the meter can also be a contributing factor to challenged results. Using the eyes to "see" the scene tonally as well as an incident meter in valuing the range of tonality of a photographic scene is highly advisable.
At the end of the day while absolute perfection may not be unattainable, I can assure you the proximity to this lofty goal of producing marvelous trouble fee negatives is not only possible but with a sufficient level of attention to details can easily be attained 95% of the time. I contend that if we are going to drag big cameras around, purchase expensive sheet film and make the commitment to put ourselves in the field to make photographs, we should not accept anything less than as close to perfection as humanly possible. But at the end of the day the choice is yours.
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