Exposure: Silver Negatives and Transparencies

[paparazzi mano]

Hi there,

I have a M and a F80 SLR.

My SLR can go about 1/2stop for both the f-stop as well as the shutter speed. But my old M3 can't.

I have been using my M3 with a old 35/1.4 for 2 years on TriX and have had good results.

My question is how important is 1/2 stop to both silver negatives and transparencies? I know this much negative expose for shadows and transparencies for highlights.

Thanks

 

[Roger Hicks]

For a silver neg, 1/2 stop UNDER is unlikely to be a problem and 1/2 stop OVER will often give better results anyway, so err (if you have to) on the side of overexposure. Actually the same is true for any negative: after all, clour negs are silver too.

With trannies, 1/3 stop was always reckoned (in the days when E6 was the professional standard) to be the minimum that made a significant difference, so use the 1/2 stops on your lens (or anyway, serttings between full stops) and you'll aways be within 1/6 stop.

Cheers,

R.