At what stage the Film is "more forgiving" ?

[BlakeKS]

When the say film is more forgiving, at what stage ?
When they are developing it in the lab is the last chance to fix it?
Or even when they develop and send me an scanned TIFF file ?

[jp]

Compared to digital, negative film handles overexposure in bright spots better. It doesn't "blow out" where there are reflections or sunshine or white surfaces... Doesn't need HDR.
You'd want to develop it yourself to best integrate exposure and development options. It's not correcting it, but simply more skillful usage of film.

[Bruce Watson]

When the say film is more forgiving, at what stage?

More forgiving than what? What are you comparing to?

In my experience, I've found that film is not forgiving at all. If you want to extract maximum performance from film, you must expose it accurately and precisely, develop it with excellent repeatability (temperature, agitation, time), etc. Getting the most out of film means getting the most out of the photographer, which takes time, patience, and practice. Lots and lots of practice.

This is why Archer and Adams created the Zone System. And it's why I don't think there's anything much forgiving about the whole film process.

[DrTang]

for instance..contrast can be tamed or increased by the combination of exposure and development (developer choice and time) - because of the chemical physical process involved ( the ratios of exhaustion of developer in areas of greater exposure can be predicted and used for instance)

in digital..after the image hits the pixels.... that is the contrast ratio and I don't now about you but ..at least lowering the contrast of a digital image seems a lot like darkroom 'flashing' - kind of a half assed proposition..raising the contrast works out a bit better..in B&W anyway although in a kind of straight line way..not in a subtle filmic way

[Ted R]

Simplifying things so that generalizations can be made.......

There are two sorts of film, negative and positive (transparency or "slide"). Negative may be black and white or color. Positive is mostly color.

Positive color is NOT forgiving, it is VERY sensitive to under and over exposure.

Negative color is slightly more forgiving than positive color.

Negative black and white is slightly more forgiving than negative color.


The processing of negative black and white film permits significant adjustment of the final result. The processing of color films does not permit so much adjustment.

Negative films are used to make prints. The printing process permits adjustment of the final result.


Summarizing:

Negative black and white films have three stages at which adjustment is possible: exposure: processing: printing

Negative color films have two stages at which adjustment is possible: exposure: printing

Positive color films have one stage at which adjustment is possible: exposure.


Compared to film only the more advanced digital cameras are able to compete with the high image quality of good quality film. Inexpensive digital cameras are inferior because noisier, less contrast range, color errors. However for "snapshot" photography digital cameras have some significant advantages.

[Pere Casals]

Simplifying things so that generalizations can be made.......




May be regular negative color film it is more forgiving to overexposure than regular BW process, if a N- compression not used, or POTA.

Also it should be pointed that color slides are forgiving to underexposure, reaching even 3.6 density, a drum scanner may be needed to recover such shadows.

[Alan Gales]

You hear this a lot on YouTube channels when they are comparing film to digital. Like jp says, they are talking about digital clipping the highlights.

[Pere Casals]

this is... it is quite easy to make a film having amazing highlight latitude, just including in the emulsion a share of very small silver halide crystals with no speed enhancing addings. That share can even be under the main layer in BW films, in the shadow of the main layer. It is quite easy than an emulsion component has very low speed, as my DIY dry plates shows :)

in fact fim is able even to record detailed (initial phase) nuke exposions, with the very simple POTA developer, recording even 20 stops DR, IIRC.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Tumbler_Snapper_rope_tricks.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_trick_effect#/media/File:Tumbler_Snapper_rope_tricks.jpg

[rob4x5]

Negative film has a much higher dynamic range than reversal film, in fact several stops of exposure above what is possible with reversal film is possible with negative film before loss of highlights occur. Loss of highlights often seen in prints is due to the inherent deficiencies of print materials, not the film. Higher dynamic range is one reason why negative film is used in the motion picture industry instead of reversal film.

The dynamic range of negative film and raw files of digital cameras is comparable. The problem with digital is that when raw files are converted to a compressed format, such as jpeg, the dynamic range shrinks considerably, and then is more comparable to the dynamic range of reversal film.

[Dan O'Farrell]

When the say film is more forgiving, at what stage ?
When they are developing it in the lab is the last chance to fix it?
Or even when they develop and send me an scanned TIFF file ?

Oh Boy !!
A new troll !!

"The(y) say film is more forgiving......."...
Maybe what you heard is that film USERS are more forgiving.

We accept new forum members who enjoy photography with film, paper and chemistry. That is our interest.

A picture of what you witnessed is .... just that, and nothing other.

The last chance to "fix it" is just before you squeeze the shutter; exposure, timing and framing should have been done before that.

If by "fix it" you mean to adjust framing, or to crop it, then of course that is something that you can, and may choose to, do in the darkroom.

What, in your original message, are you wanting to "forgive"? And, what are you hoping that the lab, or your computer, can "Fix"?

[MAubrey]

Oh Boy !!
A new troll !!

A single post a troll does not make.

Maybe we can assume that people are asking questions in good faith before we call them names?

[Tin Can]

this is... it is quite easy to make a film having amazing highlight latitude, just including in the emulsion a share of very small silver halide crystals with no speed enhancing addings. That share can even be under the main layer in BW films, in the shadow of the main layer. It is quite easy than an emulsion component has very low speed, as my DIY dry plates shows :)

in fact fim is able even to record detailed (initial phase) nuke exposions, with the very simple POTA developer, recording even 20 stops DR, IIRC.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Tumbler_Snapper_rope_tricks.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_trick_effect#/media/File:Tumbler_Snapper_rope_tricks.jpg

That is the most horrible image I have seen yet. I may have forgotten on purpose my early research on this evil incarnate.

I will not sleep well tonight.

[Bob Salomon]

When the say film is more forgiving, at what stage ?
When they are developing it in the lab is the last chance to fix it?
Or even when they develop and send me an scanned TIFF file ?

Who says?

[Tin Can]

Who says?

Them

[Bob Salomon]

Them

That’s what I thought. But I never believe just them!

[Pere Casals]

That is the most horrible image I have seen yet.

yes... there are more painful images, but you are pretty right, this is an evil incarnate.