[Leica] Exposure and Development

[jsmith342 at cox.net (Jeffery Smith)]

I made a rather sobering discovery a few weeks ago. I was using a Nikon RF 
which, of course, has no meter. So I used a Gossen digital light meter and  
used ambient readings rather than reflective readings. The exposure in most 
of the frames was right on the money, much better than my usual TTL 
reflected light frames. This made me want to use a handheld meter and blow 
off the in-camera meter.

Last night, I watched "War Photographer" again, and saw (for the first time, 
although I've watched it several times) Nachtwey pulling out a Gossen 
digital meter and taking readings of ambient light while using a Canon 
auto-everything SLR. So, I'm going to brave it with a Leica M3 or M4 and 
ambient light readings for a few weeks to see if I need to be doing this all 
of the time it is feasible.
--
Jeffery

---- Lottermoser George <imagist3@mac.com> wrote: 
> Under exposure and overdevelopment do not properly describe fine  
> photographic technique.
> 
> Ideally we want to expose properly to provide desired shadow detail  
> while developing properly to control highlight separation for any  
> particular scene's contrast range.
> 
> While this is very applicable to sheet film, and to some degree 120  
> rolls, where you use an entire roll for one condition, it becomes  
> tricky when you've exposed a 36 exposure roll of 35mm film in 5 or 6  
> different contrasted scenes.
> 
> So. You want to find the ISO rating : development combination which  
> will best suit the full range of contrast situations that your roll  
> will find itself exposed to. Once you've hit that ideal compromise.  
> You really don't want to 'over expose' or 'under develop' (or 'under  
> expose' and 'over develop') unless you're trying to save an important  
> frame or group of frames.
> 
> The terms:
> 'over exposure' implies too light and blown highlights
> 'under exposure' implies too dark and lost shadows
> 'over development' implies blown highlights
> 'under development' implies lost shadows.
> In all cases these terms also imply poor technique, and lack of  
> control and/or understanding of what's going on with your materials  
> and chemistry.
> 
> Regards,
> George Lottermoser
> george@imagist.com
> 
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