How do I calibrate my photographic process

Where do I start. I want to get a better grip on my whole photographic
process. How do I go about calibrating my camera, development and printing
process?

With limited funds (under $1000) it really can't be done. Even in Kodak's
hayday when B&W was King, they spent millions trying to calibrate the process.
Same with major US company industrial photography labs that no longer exist.
Again big bucks were spent calibrating the process. It ended up cheaper to
outsource photography rather then let the lab be a drain on fund.

Even Ansel Adams who spent weeks on just one image, spent most of the family
money making his high quality images. Only later in his elder years did he get
the money back.

Larry

A step wedge is a good piece of equipment, but most suitable
for large format film testing opposed to 35mm although
the wedge can be made to work with the Zone system and 35mm, its a good
piece of equipment if you want to calibrate film and paper....but you
can use the wedge to just calibrate your paper and process.

In article eWlWc.186458$M95.151149@pd7tw1no,
"Alan Smithee" wrote:

I'm mostly planning on black and white, do I need a step wedge? What are
they for. Thx.

--
LF Website @ http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,
is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918

"Hemi4268" wrote in message
...
Where do I start. I want to get a better grip on my whole photographic
process. How do I go about calibrating my camera, development and
printing
process?

With limited funds (under $1000) it really can't be done.
[... snip misunderstanding ....]

There's got to be a _complete_ misunderstanding here, Hemi. He only wants to
know how to determine his base film speed, and some rules-of-thumb for
printing. He doesn't want to re-engineer the universe of photography.

"jjs" wrote in message
...

"Hemi4268" wrote in message
...
Where do I start. I want to get a better grip on my whole photographic
process. How do I go about calibrating my camera, development and
printing
process?

With limited funds (under $1000) it really can't be done.
[... snip misunderstanding ....]

There's got to be a _complete_ misunderstanding here, Hemi. He only wants
to
know how to determine his base film speed, and some rules-of-thumb for
printing. He doesn't want to re-engineer the universe of photography.

What I want to know is where is it most important to control the process.
i.e. Camera, Film Developing, Printing. Which practices can I use as a means
of eliminating errors from the whole process. Calibrating the shutter speed
and aperture on my camera for example. Is this easy or hard? Is it worth
doing even? How about processing my negs. This seems to me the area with the
most room for error. If my thermometer is out a bit I could be plus or minus
10 to 20 per cent. But how would I even know? What tells me this. A test
image of some sort on the neg perhaps. That's why I was wondering about the
step wedges.

There's got to be a _complete_ misunderstanding here

I don't think so. The big misunderstanding is people can actually think they
can control the whole photo process without spending money. By money I mean
thousands of dollars.

Chemistry is the big cost issue. It's almost impossible to control this unless
your using 5 gal vats and doing daily tests.

Film speed is another issue. Most films are with 20% of actually published
speed but not exact. Trying to do exact testing on film speeds can also be
expensive.

Usually the best cheap way to do calibrating is to pick one subject using the
same type of light with the same type of film and process it in the same type
of chemistry.

That why lots of photographers specialize in something, anything. Like dogs
dressed up as people, babies in flowers. It's all one type of lighting, one
type of film, one type of development and so on.

If you think your going to control this process by yourself cheaply so you can
do cars one day, a wedding the next, then food photography at the end of the
week, your only going to be disapointed.

Larry

"Alan Smithee" wrote in message
news:tErWc.199364$gE.111291@pd7tw3no...

What I want to know is where is it most important to control the process.
i.e. Camera, Film Developing, Printing. Which practices can I use as a
means
of eliminating errors from the whole process. Calibrating the shutter
speed
and aperture on my camera for example. Is this easy or hard? Is it worth
doing even? How about processing my negs. This seems to me the area with
the
most room for error. If my thermometer is out a bit I could be plus or
minus
10 to 20 per cent. But how would I even know? What tells me this. A test
image of some sort on the neg perhaps. That's why I was wondering about
the
step wedges.

I will answer here briefly, and I'm sure others will too, but the book I
suggested is invaluable. It's very well written and illustrated; a real
pleasure to read so please get it. You may never need another B&W book nor
ask another basic question. (But don't be afraid to ask for clarification.)

Of the Camera, Film Developing and Printing - ranked in importance I'd say
exactly in the order you gave them but with one more item put right up front
of the Camera - Light Meter! If you mess up the exposure badly, no
adjustment in developing will make a good image. If you mess up the
developing badly, it is unlikely you can make up for it in the print.

Calibrating your shutter and aperture is probably not necessary. Most
modern shutters are "close enough" that you don't have to recalibrate.
Apertures are almost never incorrect. If you have a used or early shutter,
or especially a large shutter (for example Alphax #5) then it's probably
wrong, wrong, wrong. Almost all those old monsters are off.

What you might want to do is to find the practical film speed of your
favorite film when used with your particular light meter. The lightmeter had
best be a good one or you are wasting your time. Also learn to use that
meter properly. It's very important and not at all trivial.

Thermometers! A _good_ thermometer is important. I will let others
recommend. I have half a dozen that I got on sale years ago. They all agree.
An aside - in the Seventies one brand of inexpensive darkroom thermometer
was distributed to dealers on a display card. It turned out to be a bad deal
for the seller because one could see at a glance that very few of them
agreed with another.

I don't think you want a "step wedge" unless what you really mean is
something like Kodak's large test card that has the lineage of grey-tones
and colors. It is usefull, IMHO.

"Hemi4268" wrote in message
...
There's got to be a _complete_ misunderstanding here

I don't think so. The big misunderstanding is people can actually think
they
can control the whole photo process without spending money. By money I
mean
thousands of dollars.
[...]

Had a Bad Day or something? Lemmie ask - when you tune your car, do you
re-engineer the whole thing every time? Or do you have one perfectly known
tune and drive only for those conditions. I hope it's not tuned for the
1/8th mile, or you'd be a real grouch on a road trip.

Come on, the guy wants basic metrics, not a "Calibration". Not really. We
aren't shooting from a Blackbird anymore. We're retired. Remember?

"jjs" wrote in message ...
"Hemi4268" wrote in message
...
Where do I start. I want to get a better grip on my whole photographic
process. How do I go about calibrating my camera, development and
printing
process?

With limited funds (under $1000) it really can't be done.
[... snip misunderstanding ....]

There's got to be a _complete_ misunderstanding here, Hemi. He only wants to
know how to determine his base film speed, and some rules-of-thumb for
printing. He doesn't want to re-engineer the universe of photography.

That's essentially what I said. It's impossible, in principle, because
no two batches of film, water, paper, chemistry, etc., are identical,
and no shutter is 100% consistent, and even the sunlight varies from
moment to moment. All you can do is to determine your 'normal' paper
grade (#3 for 35mm, #2 for sheet film), and try to get most of your
negatives to print properly on that paper.

In article ,
"jjs" wrote:

"Hemi4268" wrote in message
...
There's got to be a _complete_ misunderstanding here

I don't think so. The big misunderstanding is people can actually think
they
can control the whole photo process without spending money. By money I
mean
thousands of dollars.
[...]

Had a Bad Day or something? Lemmie ask - when you tune your car, do you
re-engineer the whole thing every time? Or do you have one perfectly known
tune and drive only for those conditions. I hope it's not tuned for the
1/8th mile, or you'd be a real grouch on a road trip.

Come on, the guy wants basic metrics, not a "Calibration". Not really. We
aren't shooting from a Blackbird anymore. We're retired. Remember?

LOL

--
LF Website @ http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,
is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918

In article ,
"jjs" wrote:

"Hemi4268" wrote in message
...
There's got to be a _complete_ misunderstanding here

I don't think so. The big misunderstanding is people can actually think
they
can control the whole photo process without spending money. By money I
mean
thousands of dollars.
[...]

Had a Bad Day or something? Lemmie ask - when you tune your car, do you
re-engineer the whole thing every time? Or do you have one perfectly known
tune and drive only for those conditions. I hope it's not tuned for the
1/8th mile, or you'd be a real grouch on a road trip.

Come on, the guy wants basic metrics, not a "Calibration". Not really. We
aren't shooting from a Blackbird anymore. We're retired. Remember?

LOL

--
LF Website @ http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,
is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918