eli griggs
Well-known
how/why?
What do you feel is the best use of the method, films and camera type and what can you share from your experiences?
Cheers
What do you feel is the best use of the method, films and camera type and what can you share from your experiences?
Cheers
keithwms
Established
I've done it now and then with transparency films but had more use for it with pinhole as a way to effectively increase the speed of slow ortho film or papers, and tame the contrast. After preflash the sensitivity of ortho plus can be as high as ISO 30-40 (woohoo!), and likewise paper gets a boost up to 8-15 or so, as I recall without loking in my notes. To me that speed boost was always more important than whatever minor change I saw in contrast. Opinions vary.
Also, sometimes when wet printing, if it looks like contrast grade adjustments aren't doing the trick and split grade neither, sometimes I preflash the paper in a last ditch attempt to tame the contrast. Kind of a last resort. Recently I have learned some other methods and am working more on those.
For most film preflashes you want to go three stops faster than exposure or so, lens defocused on a featureless subject like a piece of paper.... or you can get one of the fancy plastic diffuser things you fit over your lens. I used a white plastic filter cover once and that seemed fine. However, I am pretty economical with my film so unfortunately I can't offer any shots with/without preflash. There must be some rigorous examples online though.
I have one and only one complaint about the mamiya 6, which is my favourite camera all-round. My complaint is that it has no double exposure capability and hence I can't preflash when using my favourite film, velvia 100. If I did it I'd have to preflash the whole roll and then reroll it
It's a serious enough issue with velvia that I have considered <gasp> moving to another camera body... but I still can't bring myself to it.
ed: corrected spelling here and there.
Also, sometimes when wet printing, if it looks like contrast grade adjustments aren't doing the trick and split grade neither, sometimes I preflash the paper in a last ditch attempt to tame the contrast. Kind of a last resort. Recently I have learned some other methods and am working more on those.
For most film preflashes you want to go three stops faster than exposure or so, lens defocused on a featureless subject like a piece of paper.... or you can get one of the fancy plastic diffuser things you fit over your lens. I used a white plastic filter cover once and that seemed fine. However, I am pretty economical with my film so unfortunately I can't offer any shots with/without preflash. There must be some rigorous examples online though.
I have one and only one complaint about the mamiya 6, which is my favourite camera all-round. My complaint is that it has no double exposure capability and hence I can't preflash when using my favourite film, velvia 100. If I did it I'd have to preflash the whole roll and then reroll it
It's a serious enough issue with velvia that I have considered <gasp> moving to another camera body... but I still can't bring myself to it.ed: corrected spelling here and there.
Last edited:
pvdhaar
Peter
I've used pre-exposure at times when I shot star constellations. I used a grey card, 400ISO colour print film and a flash set at -3EV. I put the camera on T, hold the card in front of the lens at ca. 50cm and strobe the flash. Then I pull the card away and the actual exposure starts. Of course, the biggest problem is providing even illumination on the grey card, so that the pre-exposure is even across the frame. This is best achieved by keeping the flash far removed from the card and at its widest zoom setting. Result is reduced contrast, and increased visibility of very faint objects that are impossible to see with the naked eye.
payasam
a.k.a. Mukul Dube
Used it a couple of times in the 1980s when copying slides on ordinary (not duping) slide film. Contrast is otherwise far too great.