David Meddings
26-Jul-2004, 23:21
Hi there,
I am returning to 4x5 photography after a long absence and will develop Tmax-100 sheets in small tanks with D-76/T-max fixer. I will scan my negs on an Epson 3200 flatbed scanner (capture with SilverFast as 16-bit grayscale) and then work with the images in Photoshop, printing eventually with the ultratone inkset for the Epson 2200.
I would like advice on doing some testing to determine my best exposure index and development times. I do not have access to a densitometer. The rough outlines of my plan are to make 9 exposures of the Kodak Color Separation Guide and Grey Scale (Q-13). I will make 3 exposures each at three different EI’s – say 50, 100 and 150. I will then develop each series of low, medium and high EI’s at 3 different development times, starting from some base time then adding or subtracting 30% development time. (My normal agitation pattern is 5 seconds every 30 seconds, where I lift my negative holder out tilt left, then right 45 degrees, and replace the negative holder back in the small tank).
On a different, but related, note I am interested in ensuring that my critical plane of focus really is at the ground glass, so I am interested in suggestions on what kind of other targets I should add to my test scene to evaluate this.
Back to my basic question of EI and development time testing, one of my problems is I am not sure what to look for in the resulting scans – if I understand correctly the other posts I’ve read I should be aiming for thin negatives and not care about contrast as I can add all the contrast I want in Photoshop. For me this means I should tend towards a higher EI (I used to use 65 when printing from my negs), and perhaps shorter development times. Another more specific question I have is whether I would be better advised developing longer in a 1:1 dilution of D-76, or shorter with full strength developer.
Any and all comments on a testing process/approach that will help me nail down EI and development times very gratefully appreciated.
David Meddings
Cross posted to digital black and white the print and photo.net
I am returning to 4x5 photography after a long absence and will develop Tmax-100 sheets in small tanks with D-76/T-max fixer. I will scan my negs on an Epson 3200 flatbed scanner (capture with SilverFast as 16-bit grayscale) and then work with the images in Photoshop, printing eventually with the ultratone inkset for the Epson 2200.
I would like advice on doing some testing to determine my best exposure index and development times. I do not have access to a densitometer. The rough outlines of my plan are to make 9 exposures of the Kodak Color Separation Guide and Grey Scale (Q-13). I will make 3 exposures each at three different EI’s – say 50, 100 and 150. I will then develop each series of low, medium and high EI’s at 3 different development times, starting from some base time then adding or subtracting 30% development time. (My normal agitation pattern is 5 seconds every 30 seconds, where I lift my negative holder out tilt left, then right 45 degrees, and replace the negative holder back in the small tank).
On a different, but related, note I am interested in ensuring that my critical plane of focus really is at the ground glass, so I am interested in suggestions on what kind of other targets I should add to my test scene to evaluate this.
Back to my basic question of EI and development time testing, one of my problems is I am not sure what to look for in the resulting scans – if I understand correctly the other posts I’ve read I should be aiming for thin negatives and not care about contrast as I can add all the contrast I want in Photoshop. For me this means I should tend towards a higher EI (I used to use 65 when printing from my negs), and perhaps shorter development times. Another more specific question I have is whether I would be better advised developing longer in a 1:1 dilution of D-76, or shorter with full strength developer.
Any and all comments on a testing process/approach that will help me nail down EI and development times very gratefully appreciated.
David Meddings
Cross posted to digital black and white the print and photo.net