[Leica] Exposures

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

>>>At the top end it sounds like you are giving twice the exposure
suggested by the 'sunny 16' rule. Is this because you prefer a denser
negative?<<<

Yes. And I typically underdevelop somewhat, as I prefer a "pulled"
negative. Although 1/200th at f/11 is proving to be a bit too much.


>>>The bottom end seems a bit optimistic, only five EVs down from the
top
end. Perhaps US offices and homes are brighter lit than their US
countparts. For the office I work in here in England, 1/60 at f1.4 is
about right (eight stops from the top end)<<<

Who was it recently who was writing about Fred Maroon? Fred said that
the interior of the White House was "always 1/60th at f/4." I've found
this works at my office, as a sort of "generic bright interior," so it
gives me a reference point for night shots and darker interiors.
Generally, just as focusing by feel works better for the farther
distances and less well for the closer ones, I'd venture to say that
guessing exposures is more useful outdoors than in. Although many
exposure meters underexpose indoors.

Again, these are just handy reference-points, not rules.


>>>Would I be right in thinking that those middle four EVs correspond to

the traditional classifications of light level which I learned as a
teenager - hazy sun, cloudy bright, cloudly dull, and very dull?<<<

Yup. Actually, most of the interesting work on exposure was done in the
1930s by C.E.K. Mees and Loyd Jones, and they came up (empirically!)
with a very exhaustive list of exposure conditions and the exposure
settings people most preferred in prints for various ASAs (as it was
then). Until at least a few years ago, this document could be obtained
from ANSI.


>>>How well do you find your system works with 'chrome?<<<

Well, I don't use chrome film, generally. I'm a black-and-white
photographer. But I wouldn't think I'd personally do very well with
chrome film!


>>>For the Xmas and New Year vacation, I'm going to take an LTM outfit
and a hand-held meter and see how I get on<<<

I think this must be catching!

As Brett Weston used to say, "Good Negs!"

- --Mike

P.S. My little boy recently pronounced his judgement on my choice of
film: "Daddy, there's a problem. Your camera is a bad camera. It only
takes grays. It doesn't get enough light, and it doesn't get enough
colors. You need to buy a new camera. You need to buy a colors camera!"

Recently, as his critical vocabulary has progressed (he's six), he's
taken to pointing out to me cases in which we need to see color to get
better information: for instance, then we could see that a bee's stripes
are yellow.