Puzzling test reults?

[Ken Lee]

Another factor to consider is the shutter, or rather the shutter speed. Do you know whether the shutter is fairly accurate ? Were all photos made at the same shutter speed ?

[Ken Lee]

As a fan of Zone System testing, and in the absence of any assistant, I use myself as a model. Skin tones can be very telling, when it comes to judging the speed of a film: perhaps more telling than a wall alone.



It may be helpful to include even more subjects whose tonal values are easy to immediately recognize, as being life-like or not. Above is one from a series of a photos made with a long cable release, when testing Kodak TMY and Pyrocat HD. Mid-day sunlight, gray socks, a dark-cloth in sun and shade, a porcelain tea-pot, plastic bottle, a pumpkin... and plenty of white paint !

[Michael Wainfeld]

Ken-You're right, shutter speed is probably the only variable not controlled: I have not checked it. My Pentax meter matches up to an F100 SLR. So I guess there really are no shortcuts .
Thanks-Mike

[Michael Wainfeld]

I repeated the test, (for the 3rd time) using Ken Lee's method. I was able to obtain a lovely model (my wife ), and shot a similar scene. The deck in my backyard, in bright sun, with an area of shade, a grey card, a black fleece, some plants, light wall in back. I exposed 9 negatives, ASA 160, 320 and 640 (Tri-X), and developed for 7, 9 and 11 min. The results were very consistant with the best contact print at ASA 320 for 9 min development-exactly box #s! I'll use these and see what happens.

[Ken Lee]

Excellent ! When push comes to shove, there's nothing like a straightforward "real-world" test - and encouraging to get results that accord with the norm.