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Terence Falk
30-Jul-2010, 07:46
Hi-
I remember seeing a little notebook that held pages for recording zone system information for each shot. It may have been red. Are these still available?
thanks

Michael Jones
30-Jul-2010, 07:52
Hi-
I remember seeing a little notebook that held pages for recording zone system information for each shot. It may have been red. Are these still available?
thanks

Only on the used market to my knowledge.

Mike

kev curry
30-Jul-2010, 08:04
Jason Brunner does an ''Exposure Record'' booklet... http://www.jasonbrunner.com/coolstuff.html Theres no picture or description but I'm sure he would happily fill you in if you shot him an email. Sorry if thats no help.

Jim Noel
30-Jul-2010, 08:17
Two of my three were printed by Morgan and Morgan. I am not sure the company is even still in business. One is pocket size and the other is 5x8 inches, both with red covers. The third, an earlier one, has no publisher indicated and is black pocket size.

jim kitchen
30-Jul-2010, 09:27
Dear Terence,

If you are interested, attached is a PDF file that I use, developed from several sources to assist me with my negative's exposure, and my negative's development process. Although it is not a small document, it is a document that you can print as required and stored in an 8X11 binder.

Some folks might find that this document contains too much information, or may consider this to be too time-consuming, but this document provides me with historical notes, and a solid decision making process. Completing the document's information after the exposure, disassociates me from any panic mode I may encounter, prior to exposing the negative. I also attached an example. If you have questions, please email me directly, and I shall try to clarify what this example is trying to tell you.

I carry several documents in a small binder within my film holder's backpack, and I simply place the finished document with each stored negative.

I hope this helps... :)

jim k

Steve Gledhill
30-Jul-2010, 09:34
But Jim, there are no clouds in your example :(

Terence Falk
30-Jul-2010, 10:00
thanks Jim, for the pdf files with your pages. They are great. I appreciate your help.
-Terry

Andrew O'Neill
30-Jul-2010, 10:20
Go to an art store and pick up yourself a small hardcover sketchbook for a few dollars. I use a small one that will fit in my pocket. Of friend of mine had a rubber stamp made up and stamps all the pages with it. That makes things easier but a pencil is fine. Inside the booklet I record date, location, film holder #, film/format, SBR, EI, Filter and compensation (if used), reciprocity bellows extension if applicable, exposure, development. If time permits, I do a quick sketch of the subject showing areas that I took readings from and where they fall on the tonal scale.
Sometimes things are moving way too quickly and it is very difficult to keep a full record. There have been times where I've only had time to just indicate the most important info such as holder #, film, and development.
I've got many of these records in a drawer and I know that someday in the future when I am an old geezer in a retirement home, they'll help pass the time while waiting in the dinner line...

Mark Sampson
30-Jul-2010, 10:22
You are probably thinking of the Zone VI exposure record notebook- mine is a small red binder. (I should use it more often.) Perhaps Calumet still sells it; worth a phone call anyway. I also have an almost-unused 1964 "Ansel Adams Exposure Record" published by Morgan & Morgan that I bought at a garage sale. Same idea, just a bit more complex.

jim kitchen
30-Jul-2010, 10:45
But Jim, there are no clouds in your example :(

Ha ha... :)

jim k

BrianShaw
30-Jul-2010, 11:18
Maybe if the record book were printed on red paper the clouds would be more visible!

Heroique
30-Jul-2010, 11:21
Maybe if the record book were printed on red paper the clouds would be more visible!

Perhaps Jim’s cloudless chart needed a little bit more agitation for contrast. :p

What a fantastic field tool.

Especially for detail-driven, zone-system photographers.

Brian Ellis
30-Jul-2010, 11:24
I used to meticulously record all that stuff by hand in a little notebook. Then I started using Phil Davis' expo/dev program in a pocket computer and it automatically recorded everything and I'd write it all out by hand when I had the time. After doing all that for about four years it finally dawned on me that I never once had occasion to actually use any of the information. So I quit recording anything except my planned development (normal, plus, or minus) and enjoyed photography a lot more.

When you're first learning exposure or the zone system keeping track of everything is probably useful but after a while I think it just becomes one of those obsessive/compulsive habits that large format photographers seem to enjoy so much.

jim kitchen
30-Jul-2010, 12:01
When you're first learning exposure or the zone system keeping track of everything is probably useful but after a while I think it just becomes one of those obsessive/compulsive habits that large format photographers seem to enjoy so much...

Dear Brian,

Your are probably correct, since I have more than 1400 of these documents beside my stored negatives... :)

As I mentioned earlier, I fill these documents after the image is captured, and usually after I set my base exposure for the shadows. This document relieves me of any decision making process specific to normal, minus, or plus development, since this thought process is taken care of upon the document's review at home, and at my leisure. The document is reviewed based upon the exposure value range, and the important highlights dictate what development dilution, and development time I assign to the negative, since I set the base exposure to the important shadow detail. My review process short circuits any exposure calculations required other than asking myself which shadow value within the scene is most important to me, and setting my shadow detail exposure based upon that meter reading value.

Hopefully, my son might find them useful, down the road a wee bit, when and if he is so inclined.

jim k

J. E. Brown
30-Jul-2010, 12:28
disassociates me from any panic mode I may encounter

I live this panic mode a lot. :) I find if I don't write down what was happening at the time and the decisions I made when I exposed the negative, I begin second guessing myself when developing the negatives or even printing.

I think it is important to do what you find successful. I am fairly detail oriented and like things tidy and informative. Will I ever actually use all that data that I record? Maybe not, but it helps me sleep at night. I am still in the hunt for that perfect field sheet that encompasses the most useful and concise information for my work flow and I find it very helpful to read what other people use. Thanks for sharing your forms.

Regards,

JB

Lachlan 717
30-Jul-2010, 14:30
I use "Photo Tracks" on my iPhone. I suggested the following changes to the original, and the Designer was kind/good enough to implement them:

It let's you take a shot of the scene and drop Zone markers onto the image. Quick, easy and as good a record of the shot as I have found.

By the way, I have no affiliation to the product apart from using it.

Photomagica
30-Jul-2010, 20:00
The note pages that I use are attached. I print them on a photocopier, then chop the sheet into fours and staple them into books of 30 to 50 sheets each. I use sheets of file folder material for the covers.

This makes a book that is really handy in the field and when it is full, I simply pop out the staples and drop the sheets into a card file box.

These cards tell me the essentials:
What frame # they go with.
How to develop the film.
What holder/side they go with - so I can track down a light leak.
Enough exposure data and notes so I can keep learning.

Feel free to use or do up something similar that fits your particular needs.
Bill

DanK
30-Jul-2010, 20:27
I used to meticulously record all that stuff by hand in a little notebook.

I used to do the same...and kept separate notebooks for exposure, developing, and printing...

Which gradually evolved to one small page...I was tired of half filled notebooks scattered about....I now use an oilfield tally book (fits in my back pocket) and put everything on one sheet...from exposure to print...most is scribbled in 'Dan' so I doubt it would be of use to anyone else...the rest I can't even read...

(I did save copies of both the .pdf's posted though....both are excellent - Thank You)

Dan

Jan Pietrzak
30-Jul-2010, 20:48
Ok,

I have tried it all Olympus Pearl-corders, note books, (did any one find the one I left in.... on a rock. All sorts of things. The only thing that works for me is a post-a-note on my film holders with + - on it. ok n+1, n-2 you get the point. All the rest is just extra stuff that I will never use.

I shoot 2 on a holder, so I can do some development correction if needed. But for the most part that has not been the case. I just try to get the work done, and making notes is not for me.

If you are starting out with the big camera it can be of some help, But you soon learn that moving grasses need to be stopped at 125th or better moving grass is good at 30th, 15th, 8th of a second. It all becomes a choice.

Just my 2cents or 3

We are having a good storm in Santa Fe and I think it is time to get the camera out on the back Portal and do some work

Jan Pietrzak

j.e.simmons
31-Jul-2010, 03:48
The 1980s version of Adams' "The Negative" gives his forms and specifically gives permission to copy them for your own use.

Calumet used to sell the Zone VI notebooks, but I don't see them on their website anymore.
juan