Film testing and silliness

[Don Wallace]

I just spent another frustrating hour in the back yard trying to do some zone system testing. The recommendation that one shoot outdoors on a day when the light is very even was definitely written by someone from the southwest of the US. I live in Canada where for about 5 months of the year, you can die from the cold, and where the rest of the time, if you don't like the light, just wait a few minutes. :p


Anyway, after getting totally annoyed and PO'd, AGAIN, I had to sit down and laugh at myself for being so stupid, AGAIN. I looked over my notes for the last 2 or 3 years and whenever I do testing, it is always the same thing - I start out with brave optimism about being careful and precise, and wind up frustrated, and then chuckling at myself over a beer. Even if I do manage to get the tests done properly, I think "is it really worth it?" Well, I finally got a darkroom built, and if I can get that done, then I can design a little setup where I can just click on some lights and get even illumination, even at 3 AM in January.

If anyone has made such a setup and can help me avoid some mistakes, I would be happy to hear from you. Rheostats? Photofloods? Tungsten? I am all ears. :D

[Ole Tjugen]

I did all the tests once, then decided it wasn't worth it.

Did it again a year later in my "home studio", and decided that all I'd found out was that Mortenson was right - and his method gives far better portraits than anything "Zoney".

and I know exactly what you mean with the light - in the winter we don't really have any; in the summer it changes between metering and exposure.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

I just spent another frustrating hour in the back yard trying to do some zone system testing. The recommendation that one shoot outdoors on a day when the light is very even was definitely written by someone from the southwest of the US. I live in Canada where for about 5 months of the year, you can die from the cold, and where the rest of the time, if you don't like the light, just wait a few minutes. :p


Anyway, after getting totally annoyed and PO'd, AGAIN, I had to sit down and laugh at myself for being so stupid, AGAIN. I looked over my notes for the last 2 or 3 years and whenever I do testing, it is always the same thing - I start out with brave optimism about being careful and precise, and wind up frustrated, and then chuckling at myself over a beer. Even if I do manage to get the tests done properly, I think "is it really worth it?" Well, I finally got a darkroom built, and if I can get that done, then I can design a little setup where I can just click on some lights and get even illumination, even at 3 AM in January.

If anyone has made such a setup and can help me avoid some mistakes, I would be happy to hear from you. Rheostats? Photofloods? Tungsten? I am all ears. :D

Gordon Hutchins in his book "the book of Pyro" Has instructions on how to make a "zone" board. You might want to take a gander. Of ocurse the simplest and most complete method is the BTZS way of testing.

[Don Wallace]

Gordon Hutchins in his book "the book of Pyro" Has instructions on how to make a "zone" board. You might want to take a gander. Of ocurse the simplest and most complete method is the BTZS way of testing.

What is the BTZS method? Does it involved even illumination on some kind of board?

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

BTZS stands for Beyond the zone system and was created by Phil Davis. It involves a step wedge and exposures controled by your enlarger or (as in my case) a sensitometer.

You might want to check out their site before making a desicion. www.btzs.org

While the BTZS is very accurate and gives a lot of information, it requires some learning curve, if all you want is a quick and dirty way to get a ball park EI, do the zone board.

[Ron Marshall]

Build a zone board and test indoors.

Or alternatively:

http://www.rogerandfrances.com/

[Brian Ellis]

The easiest way IMHO is to just let The View Camera Store do it for you. They use the BTZS method. You tell them what film you use, they'll send you five or six sheets that they've exposed, you develop them for the times they tell you using your normal development methods, return the sheets to The View Camera Store and in a few days you'll get back all the zone system information you need and then some. Costs about $30 and I used to spend more than that on film when I tried to test the traditional way.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I live in Canada where for about 5 months of the year, you can die from the cold,

Not so in the balmy Lower Mainland.

As Jorge suggested, the Zone Board as outlined in The Book of Pyro. It's very effective and you can test at anytime of day, indoors, regardless of the weather. It also cuts waaaaay back on the amount of film required.

[Dan Schmidt]

If your light conditions are changing rapidly than the precise testing you did before may not help you.

Do you ever think about developing by inspection (DBI)? much more fun

http://http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/devinsp.html

1. expose for the shadows.
2. develop for the highlights by inspection
3. if not enough shadow detail: drop film speed for next outing

[Don Wallace]

I checked on the web for Hutchins' Zone Board with no luck. Would any of you have a quick explanation?

[phil sweeney]

Hi Don,

The zone board is described in the Book Of Pyro By Gordon Hutchings. Basically it is a coffee can with photoflood atop a black board. It is practical with fast lenses only IMHO.

[Michael Kadillak]

Gordon Hutchins in his book "the book of Pyro" Has instructions on how to make a "zone" board. You might want to take a gander. Of ocurse the simplest and most complete method is the BTZS way of testing.

Jorge is spot on here.

I struggled for years with Zone System testing and came to the conclusion that there must be some reason that I was having so much trouble with it. Was in a book store and just happened to read a section in the Phil Davis BTZS book and got interested in it as it made considerable sense. A few months later I saw Sandy King use this system in the field and that was the end of the confusion. I dropped the spot meter and use the incident 90% off the time and my negatives are simply marvelous and consistent. Something I only dreamed about with the Zone system. At the end of the day it is good to understand both systems as they should both arrive at the end point when used at the correct time but I now look into the scene for the metering information and "feel" the tonalities as opposed to endless spot metering iterations that consumed me and took all of the fun out of shooting in the field. I can now make an accurate BTZS exposure exposure and development objective in about two minutes. I use a metrolux under a 6x7 Leitz enlarger and do all of my own testing and density readings and purchased the plotting software and it works likek a champ.

The name of the game is efficiency in getting your exposures dialed in so you can concentrate on the composition and BTZS works for me.

Cheers!

[Jim Noel]

If you want a simple test which provides you with EI and development time using only nine sheets of film and can be done indoors, send me a pm and I will send it to you.