How many sheets of the same composition

[jnantz]

only 2

[D. Bryant]

How many sheets of film of the same composition do you shoot at the same f/stop, same shutter speed. I shoot two sheets. Too many times I would discover spots where it is most difficult to get rid of (sky area). Now, of course, none of the negatives show any spots - Murphy's Law in reverse.
Just curious as to your shooting habits.

One of the reasons I like shooting smaller formats such as 4x5 or 5x7 is that it is relatively affordable to make dupe exposures for later development options and to bracket my compositions.

So at least 2.

Don Bryant

[John Bowen]

To me, film is not to be "saved" when I go on a trip. I just got back from Colorado. The expense to me was the time, food, and lodging in getting and staying there. The film and processing were the cheapest parts of the whole trip. I shot about 150 pieces of film so with processing I was around $550. Considering gas alone was more than that, I look at film as the least of my expenses when I travel. Do I take too many shots of a subject sometimes, yes, but I would rather have a couple of extra duplicates as insurance. Jim

Jim said it best, the cost of the film is the least expensive component of a photo trip (and that includes 8x10 & 7x17 TMY film). Almost always 2 exposures. Nothing worse then returning from a trip to find a speck of dust or two on your finest image..

Planning a trip to Acadia later this month. 6-8 days of photographing and I will take 400+ sheets of film, 30 8x10 holders, and 9 7x17 holders with me. On a trip like that, the last thing I want to do is run out of film!!

[bgh]

It depends. For my HABS/HAER work, always two of each composition--one set for archival processing that is delivered to the SHPO, NPS, or other appropriate agency, and a backup set either for my files or, if the worst happens, to replace the primary set in case of loss or damage.

On the rare occasion that I shoot for my own amusement, I use only one negative per view.

Bruce

[photographs42]

Like many here, I make two identical negatives. Lots of times I don’t make any, but if I feel the image is worthwhile, I make two. I seldom have dust or scratches anymore but there are so many other things that can go wrong, a backup negative is just good, cheap insurance. If you are strictly a hobbyist, the extra cost and effort might not be worth it, but I have some older negatives that cost me hours of extra work every time I print them.

The problem is, we never know which negatives are going to be the “keepers”. My most popular image is one that I thought would be good at the time I made the negative, (I wouldn’t have made it if I didn’t think so, but some I am more sure of) but I never would have guessed it would become my best seller. Unfortunately, even though I made two, there are some dust spots on both of them.

When it became obvious that I was going to spend half my life spotting these prints I resorted to a digital solution. I had the negative drum scanned, the spots retouched, and a new negative made. There was some trial and error involved and I ended up going to two different companies who each made more than a couple of negatives before I was satisfied with the results. I think I spent three or four hundred dollars before I got something I could use. Part of the problem was that I wanted a 5x7 B&W negative and they were set up to make 4x5 or 8x10 color negatives. Putting a 5x7 image on an 8x10 piece of film was no real trick but they were not calibrated to make B&W negatives and a color negative doesn’t print like Tri-X. While I was at it, I also took care of dodging and burning so the new negative prints without manipulation which is a plus. I have sold almost 400 prints from this negative to date, mostly 8x10 but many up to 24x30, so the effort paid off.

I have noticed that there are NEVER any blemishes on the negatives that I don’t choose to print.
Jerome

[Jim Noel]

One unless the lighting is so unusual as to make me undecided as to development.

[SamReeves]

I'm in the "two" crowd. One for B&W and one for color film.

[Alan Davenport]

One, usually. On the rare occasion that I get paranoid about the exposure or something else, I'll take a second frame.

[Eric Biggerstaff]

I shoot mostly 4X5 and 5X7 so film is pretty affordable, therefore I almost always expose 2 sheets as this gives me development options as well as a backup in case one is really messed up in development (or I damage it somehow). Also, I don't use Readyloads / Quickloads very often but when I do I usually save them for when I have a large portion of sky as it seems dust ALWAYS is in the sky! :-)

[QT Luong]

I'd add that it's much easier to keep track of things when I stay to the routine of 2. This way 1 image = 1 holder. The only real exceptions are when I am short of film or when I do several variants of the same image.