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Re: [OM] Re: slide vs neg D

Subject: Re: [OM] Re: slide vs neg D
From: Gregg Iverson <giverson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 06 Nov 2000 22:15:13 -0500
Sorry if I was unclear. I was trying to be brief and get through all the 100 plus messages. I once did lots of reading of Kodak literature on how to take professional quality chromes. In one of the pieces of literature I read the amount 3 stops vs 7 stops for b&w. I recently read that modern negative (print) color film also has the wide latitude of about 7 stops.

During the printing process, chromes were physically separated into their respective monochrome negatives using filters. In addition, masks were produced that decreased the contrast range before the printing process began. Chromes still have a 'punch' to them that is hard if not difficult to match with negative film. If the print film was as good as the slide film it would make since to use it and then make the separations, using the wider latitude as needed in the print medium. Now, it seems many publishers are turning directly to digital. It is easier and cheaper to digitally manipulate and then make separations of a photo with a computer than to do it in the darkroom.

Gregg

Winsor wrote:
I wrote:
 >Slide film does not have as much latitude as print or b&w film.  It cannot
reproduce in the same frame an exposure range from bright to dark that is
more than about 3 aperture stops or a magnitude of 8 from darkest to
lightest.

There is no question that color slide film does not have the same latitude as b&w, but I really question the 3 stop range. You can use the shadow/highlight buttons on the OM4 to see that there is a larger range from black to white. There is no caution in the OM4 manual that this only suitable for b&w.

If you want to test your own slide film/camera combination for yourself, you can do a series of photographs at one stop intervals. It is worth doing for your own education. If you do it with subject matter you can observe what happens with highlight and shadow detail at controlled over and under exposure. If you also try it with a neutral evenly lit featureless subject such as a white wall, you can create your own gray scale. You can also get instructive results from photographing the gray card, gray scale and color control patches from one of the books like the Kodak Color Dataguide. I think that your gray scale will be more like 5 1/2 stops from black to white.

As for reproduction, I do not know much about the inner workings of the professional printing industry. However, if you thumb through the stunning travel and color photography books in any Barnes and Noble bookstore or your local well stocked camera store in which there is any discussion of equipment and materials used in taking the pictures they almost all use some sort of color reversal film. It seems to me that if these professional photographers could improve the quality or saleability of their photos by using color negative film they probably would. Apparently the latitude of film is not a huge problem except in the mass market where accuracy of exposure is chancey at best and processor correction is needed.

Winsor
--
Winsor Crosby
Long Beach, California, USA
mailto:wincros@xxxxxxxxxxx



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