More Joy of Velvia

Chris Dodkin

Chris Dodkin

West Coast Correspondent
Another roll of Fujifilm Velvia through the Fuji 6x9 - used zone metering again as this seems to provide very accurate exposures for the slide film.

Took the time to break out the tripod this time - which given the slow speed of the film, is a good idea!

Stopped down the excellent Fuji lens as well - mostly to f/22 and f/32

Shots scanned on the lab's Noritsu scanner at 'enhanced' resolution - approx a 200Mb file in Photoshop

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Birdhouse

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Agave after Rain

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Jungle Trail

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Sun God

I tried a couple of incident metered shots, both of which underexposed by at least a stop - so I need to look at what I did wrong there. I had this issue last year with the Fuji 6x9 shooting on the beach, so I'm clearly not hitting the exposure sweet-spot unless I use spot/zone.

I need to shoot a test set and calibrate the meter to the camera most likely.

Picked up some 35mm B&W today as well - Ilford HP5, Kodak Plus-X 125, and T-MAX 100 - will hope to test these films in a 35mm camera from EBAY next week.
 
I love that you're shooting film, Chris. Leave some for me would you?;)

200 mb! Holy shite!

I'm sure my screen doesn't do your images justice. Really like the Sun God, by the way!
 
Thanks Brian - it's fun and challenging, and there's still plenty of Velvia to go around

Was going for max detail with Sun God - all that lovely texture on the wall
 
Incident metering works great for portraits, or anything else that involves mostly mid-tones. Reflected is generally more accurate when there is a considerable variance of light values within the scene. The results should be nearly as good as through-the-lens metering of any camera within the past three or four decades, all of which basically depend upon averages, but have in-camera data-bases to identify abnormalities and cope with them if possible. Extreme situations can only be handled by sophisticated spot-meters that map values to the films curve or the specific sensor and engine. If perfect results are actually needed, bracket like crazy and fine tune in Photoshop.

The problem has always been that that camera and film—or digital sensor—sees differently from the human eye. It may be possible in time to develop firmware that does work with a sensor to emulate the dynamic range of the optic nerve and brain.

However, unless it can interface with our perceptions and feelings, it will still require Photoshop. We may not live long enough to see this. It has been said that artificial intelligence is no match for human ignorance. At least for the immediate future, shooters will still have to fine tune the results of what they shoot—be it analogue or digital.
 
I was taking some photographs last week and the cameras metering done an OK job, the snow was not white, not grey but it I was not 100% happy with the exposure. I switched to a modified version of zone metering where depending on the scene I choose the lightest areas that are not completely washed out with light where some detail could be seen or an area of shadow that is not so dark you cannot see any details. In my case, as it was close to dusk I choose the brightest patch of snow and spot metered it. With the exposure compensation dialed in at +1.7 (-1.7 for shadow areas) and using the AE lock I recomposed the the image and took the photograph. The results were far better. Strictly speaking you should compensate by 2 full stops but I usually find that digital cameras don't have enough dynamic range. Despite this I still find that I tweak the exposure in PP and I would guess that it would be no different in the darkroom.
 
That pathway through to the steps is lovely! Stunning sence of depth to the image ... Really does the camera and film justice that shot does I think! Lovely .. All this faffing to get exposure right though ... Ill stick with my negative film I think :)
 
Thanks Rob - much appreciated - and in return, your recent shots with the T90, and Hamish's XP2 photos, were what inspired me to go shoot some more film :)


Thanks Larry - My recent experience matches your excellent description - I now feel much better about the money I spent on a spot meter, given that my Fuji 6x9 is meter less, I've at least given myself the best shot at getting exposures right. Even with human error! :D


Paul - it was a struggle for me to get my head around the idea that a camera was 'wrong' - I assumed that it 'knew' what the exposure should be - as Larry described. These days I'm all over the exposure comp dial - I figure the camera gets you close, and the rest is up to the photographer. I'm using 2 stops as the delta for the zone highlight, and finding that's ok with the X-Pro1 and the film exposure - as long as I pick the right spot to meter of course!


Thanks Hamish - the DOF with the lens stopped down is quite something - I'd seen others on Flickr comment on this feature of the GSW690II, so figured I'd give it a go. f/32 was uncharted territory for me, but it's got that depth for sure. I'm almost tempted to hunt down the longer focal length version of the camera on EBAY - although I'm not sure how a 90mm focal length would work - I don't shoot that focal length very often...
 
me and Allan were taling about you today and your almost God-like use of B&W :) such a tone the likes i've never seen
 
Steady on chaps! :o

If it hadn't been for Lesley and Pete introducing me to NIK software (I think they are secretly on commission from old NIK) - I wouldn't be knocking out the B&W stuff anything like this.

So for anyone who's wondering if they should invest in NIK SilverFX - then I'd say absobloominlutely :D
 
Chris,

I keep coming back and looking at these photographs. What keeps coming to me is the richness they display - and that's just on a monitor. I bet they print beautifully. The film really does it stuff, as does the camera, but I think the photographer might have been involved.

I agree NIK is great, but again, the user has to know how to apply it.
 
Chris smells! (Sorry, just trying to readress the balance a bit... ;))

- - - Updated - - -

... Is yours a 690 w of some sort is it (I can't remember :/) ...
The 90mm on MF is equiv of about 40mm I think ... 40mm is a great focal length ... Just wider than normal, not as wide as 35mm ... It frames easy!
 
Thanks everyone, and especially Hamish! :D

Yep, mine's the 'wide' model, the GSW690II - wasn't even thinking that 90mm on MF was a different equiv focal length compared to 35mm DOH! :o

I'll keep an eye on EBAY for a bargain - although current pricing seems higher than when I bought mine

Regarding use of tools like NIK - I can recommend people to the excellent NIK training videos online - I learned what ever I know from them, and it's the fastest way to learn.

And of course Velvia is just an amazing place to start for any image - a little OTT, but in a good way :)
 
Those Nik videos are excellent. They are also generous, in the a we that they go beyond the Nik products. Those people love photography. I just hope the Google purchase doesn't destroy that.
 
Beth Anthony said:
wonderful as always. but i couldn't find the exif data.
Click to expand...

Must be a fault on the memory card Beth - I'll re-boot the Fuji and see if that fixes it ;)
 
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