Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Erwin wrote: <snip> Now for the boat scene. If the greycard reading is EV9, then the zone V is also 9. The boat then (at 7) will be in Zone III (that is darkish). The water at 10 is zone VI, that is a lighter shade of grey. I do not see ANY highlights here. They would be in Zone VIII or even IX, that is EV's 11 or 12. In the scene presented there is no highlight measured and so none to compensate for. If you are measuring a brightness range from 7 to 10 with the greycard to 9, you have a very lowcontrast picture. A good transparancy should take 4 stops (EV 6 to 10) in the detailed shadows and highlights with the greycard reading at 8.5. Overall contrast is higher of course. <snip> Erwin. Thanks for your thoughtful analysis. You're absolutely right about the particulars of this scene, ie the lack of a true highlight that would challenge the range of the film. It made for a good discussion, no? I think the mistake I've been making with my spotmeter is not paying enough attention to the overall contrast range of the scene as you've described and not placing my mid tone intelligently. Or to put it another way, I've searched for something I could read as a mid tone and exposed for that without regard for the overall range of the scene. Same thing. What I got out of this discussion is pay attention to the top of the range and don't let the highlights get blown out. Cheers Kevin Hoffberg