21-135 Apo All Good
Established
Timor,
Are you starting-out with a properly functioning meter that you have "nulled"? Reason that I ask is that a two-stop deviation towards over-exposure indicated to me that something is wrong. Either in setting the meter or interpreting it's reading, especially if the two-stop variation is consistent.
Exposure isn't all that tricky outside, which is why "Sunny-16" works quite well for average subjects. Only where you WANT to change "average" do you have to worry about "blowing-out" the highlights. At the proper exposure whites are white, blacks are black, and you still have SOME shadow detail.
My suggestion is two write down what your meter gives you at Sunny-16, and remember how it is biased. Then adjust your exposure accordingly.
Taking for granted that your shutter & aperture is working correctly, your film is developed for the correct time, and you shoot a test roll at Sunny-16: you should have some detail in the shadows and not blown-out highlights. Note that my best results with Tri-X were always obtained by slight over-exposure by using a 1/250th sec. shutter speed instead of 1/400th.
With practice, using a spot meter, one can find within a scene things that closely resemble a reflectance of 18%, i.e.: a fire hydrant lit by the same quality & quantity of light as the building your photographing. Knowing how to spot objects within a scene that represent the different zones of exposure and adjust to reach that zone will help you understand how to better "expose for the shadows & develop for the highlights", even if it's just a stop or stop & 1/2.
Ansel liked to use several Hasselblad backs. Each one was for a different zone, and marked as such, so he could develop them properly and separately. Several subjects on the same roll of film would therefore print similarly, since they were exposed in the same zone & developed at the same time. The use of several cameras instead of multiple backs would enable a 35mm format photographer to do the exact same thing.....
On my Minolta 3F meter, I measure full Sunny-16 in a cloudless sky with the dome of the meter fully illuminated by the Sun's rays between 11:00am and 1:00 pm. Slight adjustment of one or two tenths of a stop are normal upon changing the battery. Easiest way to set the meter is to set ISO for 125 and shutter to 1/125, then make your adjustment to get F16.0. Works great every time!
Hope this helps you some.
Dave
Are you starting-out with a properly functioning meter that you have "nulled"? Reason that I ask is that a two-stop deviation towards over-exposure indicated to me that something is wrong. Either in setting the meter or interpreting it's reading, especially if the two-stop variation is consistent.
Exposure isn't all that tricky outside, which is why "Sunny-16" works quite well for average subjects. Only where you WANT to change "average" do you have to worry about "blowing-out" the highlights. At the proper exposure whites are white, blacks are black, and you still have SOME shadow detail.
My suggestion is two write down what your meter gives you at Sunny-16, and remember how it is biased. Then adjust your exposure accordingly.
Taking for granted that your shutter & aperture is working correctly, your film is developed for the correct time, and you shoot a test roll at Sunny-16: you should have some detail in the shadows and not blown-out highlights. Note that my best results with Tri-X were always obtained by slight over-exposure by using a 1/250th sec. shutter speed instead of 1/400th.
With practice, using a spot meter, one can find within a scene things that closely resemble a reflectance of 18%, i.e.: a fire hydrant lit by the same quality & quantity of light as the building your photographing. Knowing how to spot objects within a scene that represent the different zones of exposure and adjust to reach that zone will help you understand how to better "expose for the shadows & develop for the highlights", even if it's just a stop or stop & 1/2.
Ansel liked to use several Hasselblad backs. Each one was for a different zone, and marked as such, so he could develop them properly and separately. Several subjects on the same roll of film would therefore print similarly, since they were exposed in the same zone & developed at the same time. The use of several cameras instead of multiple backs would enable a 35mm format photographer to do the exact same thing.....
On my Minolta 3F meter, I measure full Sunny-16 in a cloudless sky with the dome of the meter fully illuminated by the Sun's rays between 11:00am and 1:00 pm. Slight adjustment of one or two tenths of a stop are normal upon changing the battery. Easiest way to set the meter is to set ISO for 125 and shutter to 1/125, then make your adjustment to get F16.0. Works great every time!
Hope this helps you some.
Dave
