Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/07/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]C-41 materials are remarkably tolerant to gross exposure errors. You can get a printable image (akin to surveilance videos) at three stop underexposure and the same at as much as five stops overexposure. For good image quality the latitude is probably minus 2 to plus 3 stops. As you underexpose the shadows become very muddy and the overall image becomes flat and "grainy". As you overexpose colors at first become more saturated and grain effects get smaller. However, as you reach the limits of overexposure contrast starts to drop precipitously and colors start to lose saturation. Other effects include muddy colors and strange color shifts. As to metering and the image you want, you just have to use the tools that you have and test the materials that you want to use. As a very general rule, C-41 color materials generally benefit from a one stop overexposure with little loss of hightlight detail. It may be that for your work, a lot of detail in the hightlights and very little detail in the shadows fits the bill. YMMV Don don.dory@gmail.com On 7/31/05, G Medina <leicamshooter@yahoo.com> wrote: > Hello everyone, > > I hear a lot in photography literature that with > negative c-41 colour film, one should meter for the > shadows, since the film has a two stop latitude for > overexpousure, but little tolerance for under > exposure. Overexposure is suppose to give more > contrasty saturated images, but I find that I tend to > get more saturated images when I treat negative colour > film like transparency film. I meter for the > highlights, and let the shadows fall where they may. > Does anyone experience this? Thanks for your replies. > > G Medina > > > > ____________________________________________________ > Start your day with Yahoo! - make it your home page > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >