Re: [Leica] Some film questions

[Edward Meyers <aghalide@panix.com>]

Meters get fooled by snow. You must open your lens about
two f/stops to compensate. If you don't you underexpose
by about two stops. Ed

On Sun, 4 Jan 1998, Stephen Kobrin wrote:

> I went looking for the new Ektachrome 200 that several LUGers have raved
> about and all I could find in Philly is what I am told is a new
> "professional" Ektachrome at about $10 a roll.  Is this it, or is there a
> new version of the "consumer" Elite II 200 ASA??  The film sounds great and
> I would like to try it, but I do want to make sure I am buying the right
> version.  
> 
> On another tack, I just returned from a holiday trip to Vermont and while
> the 60+ degree weather here today makes it hard to believe, there was about
> 2 1/2 feet of snow on the ground in Stowe last week.  I took my M3
> cross-country skiing with Kodak's new TCN400 film (the XP-2 comparable).
> Even though I used a medium yellow filter and opened up two stops -- one
> for the filter and one for the snow -- I was disappointed with the lack of
> surface detail in most of the negatives.  Part of the problem was that the
> light was rather flat most days, but I do wonder if TCN400 (and XP-2)
> respond to filters differently.  I have had great luck with similar shots
> using conventional B&W film and a yellow filter.  Given the tremendous
> latitude of TCN400, I wonder if compensating for the filter factor is over
> compensation and thus washes out the white surface??  I should note that
> with the exception of the snow surface, most of the prints (and negatives)
> turned out beautifully, with a lack of grain, wonderful tones in the trees
> and the sharpness one would expect from my 40 year old Summicron.  I can
> pick out individual slender detailed tree trunks almost as far back a the
> eye could see into the woods.
> 
> Any ideas about filters and TCN400??  Again, it could be the flat lighting.
>  It snowed on and off which was great for skiing, but not so great for
> contrast and details.
> 
> Steve
> 
>