some firsts...for me

[back alley]

first shots with the canon 35/2.
first fuji acros 100
first time rodinal user
first time scanning film i developed
first time developing 35mm film (in a very long time)

joe

 

[back alley]

that 4th shot looks unnatural to me. (especially the background)
what did i do wrong?

i really need to take a course in photo shop.

joe

 

[rover]

looks like you blew out some highlights on #4, but nice job all around. i really like the lens, the film, the developing, the scans....

play with the histogram on #4 making sure not to block off either end of the chart and play with the mid point to see if that will help you get what you want.

 

[rover]

How is the the Canon 35/2 to shoot? Does it handle well, fingers can find the rings without a problem? Is it really short?

 

[peter_n]

Too many variables at once... 😉 How do you like the Acros 100?

 

[back alley]

what scares me is i did play with the histgram for # 4.

but i'm working in the dark here, having no training at all with ps. i just look at the scan and move some sliders till i like the look.

but thanks for the positives.
i like the lens also and while the pics are no great art they show some of the potential of what the 35/2 can do.
that being said, i'm glad i'm keeping the 35/2.8, it's a completely different lens with a whole 'nother look to the photos taken with it.

joe

 

[back alley]

How is the the Canon 35/2 to shoot? Does it handle well, fingers can find the rings without a problem? Is it really short?

i like the size on the camera but it's too small for my not very big hands.
the 35/2.8 is also small but has the infinity lock to grab onto.

it did get easier to use as the roll went on so i'm confident i'll get used to it.

joe

 

[back alley]

Too many variables at once... 😉 How do you like the Acros 100?

yes, no doubt!

i think i like the film but i really blew it with the exposures.

the first half i shot without a meter cause the metrastar died on me and i didn't have a backup with me.
then i took a few shots thinking it was the p with tri-x in it and i was shooting that at 1600.
the shots with a meter and at the right speed turned out well but the film needs a fair shake next time out.

joe

 

[rover]

That is one of the things I miss about the 35 Ultron. It is about the size of a 50/2 Summicron, which is big for a 35, but not really big. It is sure handling though and easy to use. I think the right size. The ZI 35/2 is about the same size as the Ultron.

 

[Doug]

Hi Joe, congratulations on your many firsts! But I'd say there's something wrong with the tonality in all the pics, excepting that last one of the tables and stacked chairs. The first and fourth show what I mean very clearly; the tones below middle grey are poorly separated, dull. Maybe underexposed, sliding all the tones down the curve... and then tweaking the histogram brought the lightest tones up to white?

 

[taffer]

#1, 3 and 4 look like when I move the curves line in the 'wrong way', probably it's due to that.
Anyway I'd say the lens is doing well, can't wait to see some more results. And it's true, you had too many variables going on at the same time 🙂

 

[Kris]

Joe, how did you scan the negative? As a positive or negative?

No. 1, 3 and 4 has the mid tones value placed too low - kind of underexposed slide film. I tweaked your scans a bit to a level what I think is right. Try playing with curve adjustment in PS.

Luminous Landscape has excellent tutorial in Photoshop. There's another site that also has good tutorial but I can't remember the URL.

 

[Doug]

Now that's more like it, Kris!

 

[back alley]

i know i'm not doing the ps thing 'correctly', if for no other reason, i can see more info on the negs than the web shots.
i scanned these at full rsolution of 2720 on my canon 2710 scanner. settings were monochrome and negative.
i played mostly with the levels and a touch of contrast control.

i judge by eye and i know what i like but i have not been able to figure out how to get it.

i have 'looked over' some tutorials but my head starts to spin very quickly. that's why i prefer a course so i can watch and then mimic till it makes sense to me.

and thanks, i really appreciate the info. small steps for this old fella.
joe

 

[sockeyed]

I find that when I scan as B&W negative on my Minolta Duan Scan IV, the images are pretty lousy, but when I scan as a colour positive, convert to grayscale and invert in photoshop, I get much better results.

 

[back alley]

ben,
i've read this before but why would that work better than the 'standard' way of doing things?
i'm not discounting your experience, just trying to understand it.

joe

 

[sockdaddy]

in a nutshell, scanning in color yields better results because the range of possible colors is greater than the range of possible grays (which is really all B&W is). you're comparing something like millions of colors to 256 grays (or something like that), so when you scan in B&W you're actually throwing away a bunch of information/detail in your image b/c there isn't a value to represent it.

when you scan in color, you scan the widest possible range of tones from your image, which means that you keep more detail in the image. then, do all your cropping, cleaning, sharpening, etc. before you convert to B&W - which is a whole different story b/c there are many ways to do this conversion...

when you were playing with these initially, can you describe your efforts a little bit more - especially how you chose the levels and contrast?

and is your monitor calibrated?

 

[Kris]

Joe, my understanding is b&w and colour negs has non-clear film base. The scanner (or more appropriately, the software) has to "think" how to compensate this non-clear film base and invert the image. As you already knew, most computers aren't too smart which is why cameras gives the lousiest pics when set on green-mode.

By telling the scanner to scan as positive, it doesn't have to perform all these algorithms to compensate non-clear film base, inversion, etc.

My worthless tips:
1. Avoid using "Contrast" control. Use "Level" and "Curve" only.
2. Keep on trying/practising. Like everything else, there's a learning curve.
3. Scan as colour/b&w positive. With both flatbed and SD IV, I get more details when the setting is left at Colour Positive.

BTW, I really like that Coffee Table shot!

 

[back alley]

can you describe your efforts a little bit more - especially how you chose the levels and contrast?

not all that much to it, i opened levels and started to move the far right slider to the left and then moved to middle slider to the left.
i played with both sliders, back & forth till it looked closest to what i wanted.

kris,
i plan on keeping the practice sessions going, that how i've learned as much/little as i have so far. and thanks for the + about the pic.

joe

 

[Kris]

I'll let you know my post-processing steps later after I get back from work. It's going to be rather long so I can't do it right now. Hang in there Joe.