Colour Neg/Zone System?

[Stpephen Willlard]

Stephen,

I work exclusively with color negatives in combination with the Zone system. I have found that color negs can record a greater light range than b&w negs and can be subject up to n-4 contracted development to control contrast. I could not increase contrast by increasing development. Increased development just makes the overall negative from shadows to highlights thicker. Thus, I have never been able to n+1, n+2... development.

Crossover is not a problem. When it does occur, it can be corrected for by changing the color pack of the enlarger provided you can even see it on the print. Often, I can detect crossover with the densitometer, but it does not show up in the print.

My claims are restricted to Kodak PRO 100 which is no longer available. At n-3 and n-4, any reds in the shadow will turn to a murky purple or brown. In most cases, when doing landscapes, the shadows contain primarily green vegetation so there is no problem. There are no restrictions for n-1 and n-2; reds appear to hold up well in the shadows.

I can record between 10-11 stops with PRO 100.

To calibrate your film, use the ISO setting that produces a 0.1 density unit in the red above film fog at a Zone I placement.

Hope this helps.

[Jan erala]

Stephen, how do you develope your color negs to achieve n-3, n-4 ?

Some words about crossowers. Theoretically, a crossower cannot be corrected by filtering. The color in the shadows are opposite to those in the highlights. But it's possible to filter away one of the colors, this compromiss in case the color failures are not very strong.