I have read a lot of discussion on this, and I think a lot of you are
missing some pretty important points.
The zone system is a very good way of understanding the way film behaves.
And you have to evaluate it in terms of the beginning and terminal media.
In the case of B&W or color negatives, its how you record images on film and
then print them on paper. With slides, it starts and ends with the slide
(you could argue that the projector and screen are part of the chain). If
you are using B&W sheet film, you can expand or contract the develoment of
the film to get images of any brightness range to fit on the paper. But its
the film and the paper!
If your image has a brightness range that exceeds what your media can do,
then you have decide if you are going to lose highlight or shadow detail.
The zone system gives you the power to be in control. Obviously you have
the most control with B&W sheet film, but you can use it with any media:
slides, color negative and print, or even digital.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stan McQueen" <stan@smcqueen.com>
To: <djmerchant@comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, May 10, 2002 5:50 PM
Subject: [filmscanners] Real-World Scene Brightness Range
At 04:33 PM 5/10/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> > > Are you claiming most real life scenes don't
> > > have 10 stops of density range ...
> >
> > Yes, if you eliminate light sources and specular highlights,
particularly
> > the former.
> >
> > > ... or that film doesn't have 10 stops of
> > > density range?
> >
> > Film has the range, but most scenes do not use it all. Ten stops means
a
> > shadow at f/1.0 next to a bright spot at f/32. That's quite rare.
>
>Anthony, I have no idea where you take pictures, or how for that matter,
but
>your "experiences" and mine seem to never coincide. I know that what I
take
>pictures of, getting 10 stops in a scene is hardly rare.
>
>Do not confuse the density range of the scene, with the density range that
>scene gets represented as on film. They are two entirely different things.
>
>Austin
Can you give us an example of the type of scene that might have a 10 stop
range of brightness? How do you measure the brightness range? I take a lot
of photos in mountains and deserts, metering with a handheld 1 degree
spotmeter and I don't recall ever seeing more than 6-7 stops, so I'm
curious what type of scenes you have in mind.
Stan
================================
Photography by Stan McQueen
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