[rollei_list] Re: Old film

Marv,

Unless you understand the Zone System, the spotmeter is f*#&ing useless!

Which "western" meter are you talking about?  What is wrong with eastern
meters?

Jerry

Marvin Wallace wrote:

> I think that most photographers would not be using the leading 1950's film
> meter but the easiy available and resonbly priced western meter (which I
> began with) and find that compared to my modern Sekonic spot meter its
> rubbish.
> The point being that I am talking about spot meters; I don't think they even
> existed in the 50's.
> The idea is not to compare the exposure so much from each meter, but to
> understand that the spot meter will read a 1-5% area for you, and thus
> render your exposure very accurately within the available lighting
> situation.
> I will say that I do not have much experience with colour film but am
> predisposed to B&W photography.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:rollei_list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard Knoppow
> Sent: 31 May 2005 08:06
> To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Old film
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Marvin Wallace" <Marvin0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 5:34 PM
> Subject: [rollei_list] Re: Old film
>
> > An interesting distinction here between the photographer
> > and the collecter.
> > A Rollei a 1960's Planar will give equal or better results
> > than the modern
> > equivalent; old film is not as good as modern film; older
> > b/w papers are
> > sometimes better because of the higher silver content.
> > And ask for old light meters ! A modern light meter will
> > give a more
> > accurate measurement of light; so that the lighting
> > conditions can be more
> > accurately translated to film (modern film) which records
> > better.
> > I am always surprised that people use old meters the
> > modern equivalents are
> > much better.
> > An analogy regarding the use of light meters would be, the
> > USA making a
> > Space Rocket and then using a compass as the guidance
> > system.
> > Marvin.
> >
>    Part of the reason is cost. Modern exposure meters are
> quite expensive. Older meters can be cheap. Also, the
> difference in "accuracy" is not that great. A good older
> meter will usually agree with a more modern one as far as a
> simple reading. Also, exposure is to some extent relative,
> no matter how sophisticated the meter the photographer must
> still understand what he/she is reading and the relation to
> what the film is recording.
>   Modern films are better than the older ones in a couple of
> ways, particularly having finer grain and better
> resolution/sharpness. However, as far as tone rendition, I
> am not sure there has been much change. Its easy to find 60
> or 70 or more year old negatives that make very good prints.
>   Paper is another problem. I am not at all sure that modern
> papers are as good as those of the past but, of course,
> since one can not directly compare, its impossible to know.
> >From published data modern papers are certainly capable of
> higher Dmax than those of, say, 1950, but Dmax is not the
> alpha and omega of paper performance.
>    Speaking of papers I have just been testing Freestyle's
> Arista Edu, which at a guess is Kentmere. Its on a somewhat
> light weight base but otherwise seems to be nice paper and
> is relatively cheap. It curls more than either Kodak or
> Agfa.
>
> ---
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles, CA, USA
> dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
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