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Thread: Nighttime is the right time!

  1. #21

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    Quote Originally Posted by tuco View Post
    The lack of DR from your film may be due to your scanner. Typically, BW film can record measurable density differences way up in the 2.5 and 2.8 range. Your problem becomes reproducing it on the second generation image if you also want to include density around the base + fog too.
    For a start, I shot color film, not B&W.

    And the last scanner I owned was a Howtek D4000 drum scanner, which while not the best-ever drum scanner, was certainly better than all the other dedicated film scanners I used before it.

    While I embraced digital scanning and printing in the mid-to-late 90s, I resisted digital capture until 2005-6, when the economics of shooting 8x10 color transparencies left me no choice to pursue other options.

    My opinion is just that -- my opinion -- and my comments were not intended to be critical or disrectful of the opinions of others.

    As I wrote, I'm amazed at the nighttime photography others have done / are doing using film and I meant that in a positive, complimentary way.

    But it's not for me. Heck, medium-format digital isn't for me, either ... btdt a decade ago.

    For better and worse, my present outfit -- A7R | DIY FrankenKamera VII | various film-era, 35 mm format lenses -- has proved to be the best, all-around compromise for the type of photography I do and I've been using it (mostly happily) for more than seven years now.

    YMMV, of course, and that's just fine by me! You do your photography and I'll do my photography and we can both live happily ever after. 8^)
    JG

    More of my photos can be seen at my photo-blog here: https://audiidudii.aminus3.com/

  2. #22
    http://www.spiritsofsilver.com tgtaylor's Avatar
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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    This is an enlargement thru the window on the extreme left of the image above:


    It was probably taken with the 105mm lens and scanned with the now ancient Epson 3200. Tuco is correct about Acros for night photography which I have been using for years. Just received my first 3 rolls of 120 AcrosII which is supposed to be as good as the original.

    Thomas

  3. #23

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    The vast majority of low light/extreme high contrast subjects will easily fit on a wide variety of films. 12+ stops easy, and more on Acros or TMY-2 which have high highlight contrast and a short shoulder. Colour neg films like Portra also have a huge range.

    Recording all the information on the film isn’t the challenge. It’s the printing.

    Quote Originally Posted by Audii-Dudii View Post
    The longer exposures required due to reciprocity failure effects are certainly troubling enough, but the lack of dynamic range that can be recorded using film compared to what can be recorded by a top-of-the-line CMOS sensor is the real deal-killer for me.

    YMMV, of course!

  4. #24

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!


    Seattle Under A Full Moon by tuco, on Flickr

    Pentax 67, 67 M* 300/4 EDIF, Portra 400, Jobo C-41 Press Kit

  5. #25

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael R View Post
    The vast majority of low light/extreme high contrast subjects will easily fit on a wide variety of films. 12+ stops easy, and more on Acros or TMY-2 which have high highlight contrast and a short shoulder. Colour neg films like Portra also have a huge range.

    Recording all the information on the film isn’t the challenge. It’s the printing.
    To be fair, my film knowledge is now 15 years out of date, so it's entirely possible the capabilities of modern films are vastly different / better from those I was using up until 2005, when I switched to digital capture (hence the reason I appended my comment with "YMMV"!)

    That said, though, even the first-generation 4/3 and m4/3 cameras I initially used after switching to digital capture had noticeably greater exposure latitude than the 8x10 sheets of Fuji Provia and Astia (in their original formulations) that were my mainstays ... no ifs, ands or buts!

    No doubt some of the B&W and color negative films available back then behaved differently and quite possibly better than the reversal films I used, but I wasn't using any of those, thus stand by my comments about my personal experiences.

    As for modern film formulations, they may well perform better than the films of yesterday, but I have zero experience with them, so I wasn't commenting on the performance of those one way or the other.

    And while I am well and truly done with wet chemical photography of any type -- my last attempt at it involved directly exposing 8x10 sheets of Ilfochrome in the camera at ISOs ranging from 3 to 6! -- I have no issues whatsoever with those photographers who continue to work with and embrace film today.

    (As a related aside, lest you think I'm all aboard the high-technology train, as ao many photographers are these days, I actually prefer to use vintage, film-era lenses instead of new, modern designs, precisely because they imbue my photos with a smoother, rounded, more film-like character than the harsh, clinical, sterile qualities I find to be a byproduct of working with lenses from, say, the Sigma Art and Zeiss Otus families. These lenses are brilliant in their own way, to be sure, but they don't render my photos the way I want them to look, thus are of absolutely no use to me despite their much-vaunted technical superiority. <shrug>

    And -- once again, just be absolutely clear -- my comments reflect my personal experience of using film for more than 30 years and nothing beyond that should be read into them. Because -- as I noted previously -- YMMV! 8^)
    JG

    More of my photos can be seen at my photo-blog here: https://audiidudii.aminus3.com/

  6. #26

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    Oh - you were using slide films. They have significantly shorter exposure scales than negative films so I’m not surprised you found them unsuitable for night photography.

    In any case, don’t get me wrong I’m not anti-digital or anything like that. In fact I’m starting to get into certain aspects of digital because I think it might be a potentially powerful tool for helping in the darkroom when it comes to very high contrast subject matter.

    When it comes to digital cameras/capture, I don’t know a whole lot about the latest sensors but regardless, you more or less have unlimited latitude because you can always stack a few exposures to cover whatever luminance range the scene has.

    Quote Originally Posted by Audii-Dudii View Post
    To be fair, my film knowledge is now 15 years out of date, so it's entirely possible the capabilities of modern films are vastly different / better from those I was using up until 2005, when I switched to digital capture (hence the reason I appended my comment with "YMMV"!)

    That said, though, even the first-generation 4/3 and m4/3 cameras I initially used after switching to digital capture had noticeably greater exposure latitude than the 8x10 sheets of Fuji Provia and Astia (in their original formulations) that were my mainstays ... no ifs, ands or buts!

    No doubt some of the B&W and color negative films available back then behaved differently and quite possibly better than the reversal films I used, but I wasn't using any of those, thus stand by my comments about my personal experiences.

    As for modern film formulations, they may well perform better than the films of yesterday, but I have zero experience with them, so I wasn't commenting on the performance of those one way or the other.

    And while I am well and truly done with wet chemical photography of any type -- my last attempt at it involved directly exposing 8x10 sheets of Ilfochrome in the camera at ISOs ranging from 3 to 6! -- I have no issues whatsoever with those photographers who continue to work with and embrace film today.

    (As a related aside, lest you think I'm all aboard the high-technology train, as ao many photographers are these days, I actually prefer to use vintage, film-era lenses instead of new, modern designs, precisely because they imbue my photos with a smoother, rounded, more film-like character than the harsh, clinical, sterile qualities I find to be a byproduct of working with lenses from, say, the Sigma Art and Zeiss Otus families. These lenses are brilliant in their own way, to be sure, but they don't render my photos the way I want them to look, thus are of absolutely no use to me despite their much-vaunted technical superiority. <shrug>

    And -- once again, just be absolutely clear -- my comments reflect my personal experience of using film for more than 30 years and nothing beyond that should be read into them. Because -- as I noted previously -- YMMV! 8^)

  7. #27

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    Quote Originally Posted by Michael R View Post
    When it comes to digital cameras/capture, I don’t know a whole lot about the latest sensors but regardless, you more or less have unlimited latitude because you can always stack a few exposures to cover whatever luminance range the scene has.
    You should look into how astrophotographers cope with long exposures and high contrast ranges, as many of the techniques they use -- such as median-blending multiple, identical exposures to reduce noise / improve the SNR -- can be readily adapted to nighttime, terrestrial photography.

    Personally, I've never had great luck with using various HDR techniques, but median-blending, in particular, has become an essential tool when post-processing my nighttime photos.

    And as ever, YMMV!
    JG

    More of my photos can be seen at my photo-blog here: https://audiidudii.aminus3.com/

  8. #28

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    I was up early this morning and took these three photos on my 4:15 to 5:15 am outing / walk with Miss Abby around my neighborhood:







    All three photos were taken with my A7R | FrankenKamera VII combo, this time using a vintage, Nikon 24-50/f3.3 - 4.5 lens that I purchased last week for just under $65, delivered.

    It was initially my intention to use this lens primarily for IR photography with my full-spectrum, Samsung NX500 body, but as the above photos show, it performs quite well for visible-light photography when used with my A7R and its 24x36 sensor, too!

    In fact, I think it performs remarkably well considering its very modest price and/or pedigree...
    JG

    More of my photos can be seen at my photo-blog here: https://audiidudii.aminus3.com/

  9. #29

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    Delta 3200 @ EI 1600


    Funko by tuco, on Flickr




    Espresso by tuco, on Flickr

  10. #30

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    Re: Nighttime is the right time!

    One of those four girls doesn't seem to be having as much fun as the others.


    County Fair by tuco, on Flickr

    Df, 35/1.8 G

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