How can I tell a good negative from a 'not so good'...(B&amp

jdmartin8 · Jan 9, 2005

Much like the next post in line here, I predominantly shoot black and white, and I think I would like to develop my own film (35mm), and then pick and choose which negatives to print.

My question is: What do I use to view the negatives, to determine the good ones from the junk? I don't have an enlarger, nor do I have any of the other dark room equipment.

I'm new to all of this, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks...

Jim

ferny · Jan 9, 2005

I'm newer to this than you, so excuse me if I'm wrong. :mrgreen:

I think you use a thing called a focus finder or a focus scope. It allows you to get a very close view of the negative so you can tell if it is in focus or not.

aggiezach · Jan 9, 2005

I think you're thinking of a grain focuser. That is used when you are using an enlarger. To view a negative, you'll need a light source (preferable a light box that is daylight balanced) and a Loupe. You can get a pretty decent loupe for a good price. Check the sponsors of this site FreeStyle and Adorama

Zach

sbalsama · Jan 9, 2005

Those are for grain focusing during printing, Ferny. I don't think they're used any other time, though I could be wrong. People come up with the funniest uses for items...

Usually, jd, I just hold up all my negatives and look at them one by one. If it's blocky and contrasty (or under/over exposed far too much), those are junk (depending on your intention for the shot). Overexposures are easier to work with, I think. The other thing I look for is sharpness, which if you have good eyes could be done with just a pair of eyes and a good light. That's pretty much how I decide which negatives to print, besides the obvious "oh this shot looks pretty" composition choice.

sbalsama · Jan 9, 2005

You beat me

aggiezach · Jan 9, 2005

sbalsama said:
You beat me

That happens to me quite often!

Zach

ferny · Jan 9, 2005

I thought they were used with an enlarger, but also thought they could be used with negs. It's nice to know the truth now.

ferny · Jan 9, 2005

I just found this. Haven't read it yet. Haven't got that far.

http://photography.about.com/library/weekly/aa052101a.htm

ksmattfish · Jan 9, 2005

Besides just holding them up to a light source, you can use a loupe and a lightbox (or even a loupe and the window). There are also many varieties of slide viewers available from dirt cheap to expensive. With medium and large format negs it's pretty easy to just hold it up to the window and see what you've got.

It's hard to write or talk about what a well exposed neg looks like. Not too dense, not too thin. Start printing your own, it's those negs that are easy to print. :wink:

If you know another photographer who does a pretty good job, maybe you could ask to see their negs.

The best way to evaluate whether I want to print a neg is a contact sheet, IMHO. I'm still lazy, and don't contact print everything, although I know I should. A neg scanner helps some, but scans rarely shine like an actual print.

A grain magnifier is used for focusing during printing. It sits on the easel or the sheet of paper used for focusing, and allows you to focus on the grain rather than the image itself.

terri · Jan 10, 2005

I'll toss this in, as well: you WILL develop an "eye" for evaluating your negatives the more you work with them. There have been a couple I've had that I thought would make dandy prints, only to struggle in the darkroom later and see that it was over- or under-exposed.

I bracket a lot when I shoot, which kind of makes negative evaluation harder (for a beginner like me), though I know ultimately the reward will be being eventually able to zoom in on the one good negative from the spread.