Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Before I print a contact sheet, I look at the negatives with a loupe and note the quality of the negative on the transparent sleeve using a black pen intended for overhead projector slides. Later, when reviewing the contact sheet I only have to judge pictorial quality which makes reviewing much easier than if you have to determine sharpness and contrast at the same time. I use a black pen because what you write in red or green does not copy well onto the contact sheet. I jot dowm two figures for each negative, using a scale from 1 to 5. The first figure indicates how sharp the negative is, and the second figure indicates if the negative has a full tonal range (shadow details but not burnt out highlights). Sometimes I use two or more figures for sharpness, e.g. when there are several persons in the picture and not all of them sharp. I find it much easier to judge sharpness from the negative than from the contacts sheet, and tonal range is also easier to determine from the negative as doging and burning-in may turn up more detail than is shown on the contact strip. At least on my contact sheets which are only good when all pictures have been made in very similar cirumstances. BTW my loupe is a 6x Schneider ASPH, but I used an old slide projector lens for a long time until I dropped it. It worked very well. Also the folding type loupes are quite good, and inexpensive. But now, after reading one of the postings, I am going to get a pair of glasses focusing at 3 inches.... Chris - -- Christer Almqvist D-20255 Hamburg, Germany and/or F-50590 Regnéville-sur-Mer, France