Re: [Leica] Black Cat

[Rob McElroy <idag@pce.net>]

Dear SonC,

Some Luggers offer simple solutions that work fine and some of us provide more detailed solutions with explanations.  Your simple explanation below,
while well-meaning, is unfortunately incorrect and the EXACT reason why I provide detailed explanations so people can understand the reasoning behind
what I say.

In your simple solution below, you failed to say whether your metering technique was an incident reading with a meter or just the camera taking a
reflected reading off the cat.  Most people reading it would assume you were talking about the camera's reflected light reading which would
unfortunately make your suggestion to "open up a little bit" entirely incorrect.  "Poor Paul" would end up with film that was about two stops over
exposed.  I won't explain why again.  I just hope you can go back, read the posts, and figure it out.

This thread has actually been quite interesting as to how people perceive and calculate exposures and also how well they read and understand the
messages after they are posted on the LUG.

No offense is intended to anyone here.  I just hate it when false information might lead to someone making a mistake.

Cheers,
Rob McElroy
Buffalo, NY


"SonC (Sonny Carter) ( : > D" wrote:

> Poor Paul, all he wanted to
> konw is the following:
>
> Paul Biba originally wrote:
> Does anybody have any ideas on
> the proper exposure
> compensation for taking
> pictures (color negs)  of a
> black cat?
>
> And off we go, into eloquent
> proof that one knows the zone
> system better than the other.
> Whew.
>
> I still say, if you are taking
> a color negative picture of
> your black cat, especially one
> with a healthy coat, catch her
> in a place with lots of nice
> soft light,  meter the
> critter, open up a little bit
> so you can see the expression
> on her face and the highlights
> on her fur, and snap the
> picture.
>
> OK, so the black won't be
> onyx. So what?
>
> The guy wanted to see a color
> picture of his cat.  Simple as
> that.
>
> Regards,
>
> SonC