BHuij
TPF Noob!
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2013
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Utah
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos NOT OK to edit
Hey everyone!
I have kind of an odd question. First a little background:
A couple of years ago, I got really into shooting and developing B&W 35mm film as a hobby, when I found an old film loader of my dad's that still had a whole bunch of Ilford PanF+ in it. I use HC-110 to develop. I have a Nikon CoolScan 4000, and I use Vuescan on my Mac to scan my 35mm frames.
I never did get into analog printing so much. The main reason I shoot B&W film at all (at least 35mm) is because I think it's kind of fun, I enjoy the process of metering, shooting, and developing without instant feedback on how I did, and although I know my CoolScan isn't getting everything off of the film, there's still a sort of "look" to film that digital doesn't give me.
Recently I've been working to get a small photography business off the ground, just as some extra income on the side doing something I love. The grand majority of my shooting is digital, of course, especially where clients are concerned. But there are clients now and then who like the idea of being shot on film for various reasons.
I'm fairly happy with my shooting/developing/scanning/printing process where it's at, but the more I read, the more I think that improvement in my methodology is in order. I have always used the zone system to expose. Since I always intend to scan and print digitally, I have never needed to worry about altering development times to achieve different levels of contrast. I've always just shot to make sure I get everything in the frame that's vital exposed with enough detail to pull out and optimize in Lightroom later, before printing digitally. But recently, I was reading some Ken Rockwell on film, and after all his testing, he seems to be convinced that he can't get more than about 7 zones out of film. I have little intention of altering development times from what I read on the massive dev chart, and I've been pretty happy with my results.
In your experience, how many zones are you getting out of your B&W films without playing around with pushing and pulling? I shoot mostly Ilford FP4+, and Ilford Delta 100, for the record.
I guess the real question I'm asking is: What differences in metering and exposing should I be worried about shooting B&W film with the intention to develop normally, scan, and then print digitally, as compared to shooting with my 5D Mk II? Obviously I would like to minimize editing in Lightroom to the extent possible without necessitating push- or pull-processing.
I have kind of an odd question. First a little background:
A couple of years ago, I got really into shooting and developing B&W 35mm film as a hobby, when I found an old film loader of my dad's that still had a whole bunch of Ilford PanF+ in it. I use HC-110 to develop. I have a Nikon CoolScan 4000, and I use Vuescan on my Mac to scan my 35mm frames.
I never did get into analog printing so much. The main reason I shoot B&W film at all (at least 35mm) is because I think it's kind of fun, I enjoy the process of metering, shooting, and developing without instant feedback on how I did, and although I know my CoolScan isn't getting everything off of the film, there's still a sort of "look" to film that digital doesn't give me.
Recently I've been working to get a small photography business off the ground, just as some extra income on the side doing something I love. The grand majority of my shooting is digital, of course, especially where clients are concerned. But there are clients now and then who like the idea of being shot on film for various reasons.
I'm fairly happy with my shooting/developing/scanning/printing process where it's at, but the more I read, the more I think that improvement in my methodology is in order. I have always used the zone system to expose. Since I always intend to scan and print digitally, I have never needed to worry about altering development times to achieve different levels of contrast. I've always just shot to make sure I get everything in the frame that's vital exposed with enough detail to pull out and optimize in Lightroom later, before printing digitally. But recently, I was reading some Ken Rockwell on film, and after all his testing, he seems to be convinced that he can't get more than about 7 zones out of film. I have little intention of altering development times from what I read on the massive dev chart, and I've been pretty happy with my results.
In your experience, how many zones are you getting out of your B&W films without playing around with pushing and pulling? I shoot mostly Ilford FP4+, and Ilford Delta 100, for the record.
I guess the real question I'm asking is: What differences in metering and exposing should I be worried about shooting B&W film with the intention to develop normally, scan, and then print digitally, as compared to shooting with my 5D Mk II? Obviously I would like to minimize editing in Lightroom to the extent possible without necessitating push- or pull-processing.
