Digital BW, The Print

Thanks Pete. So let me call this back to see if I understand what has worked for you. I set my meter at asa 200 for tmax 400 film. Then I don't use my normal practice of looking for a medium grey zone to use my spot meter, I look for shadows. So lets say my shadow reads f8 at 1/250. Then I set the camera for f4 at 1/250. This would be 3 stops over exposed, but would be perfect in your experience to get the best scan for latter printing. Is this correct? (one stop for the asa change on the meter, and two stops for adjusting the aperture from the meter.) Is this correct? And thanks again for sharing your expertise. 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Pete Bergstrom <petebergstrom@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Russ,
> 
> Don't take the following as pedantic, but you shouldn't be underexposing
> the film as there is a point at which you'll lose information that you
> might actually want for your prints.
> 
> If I understand what you wrote about underexposing your film (rating it at
> 500), I think you have it backwards. I personally wouldn't set the film ISO
> rating at a higher value than the manufacturer unless your processing lab
> recommends it and their results bear out the practice. I haven't used T-Max
> film in quite a while, but I always found it effective to derate the ISO by
> about half (100 to 50, 400 to 200-320), again, to make sure the shadows got
> enough exposure to register on the film.
> 
> Whatever the ISO number you finally opt to use for your meter, choose an
> exposure that will preserve the parts of the scene you most want to keep.
> For negative film, especially B&W, make sure your shadows get enough
> exposure on the film (for example, I like to meter dark shadows and then
> give it 2 stops less exposure just to make sure there's something there on
> the film - underexposing might mean something like 4-5 stops less exposure
> than the meter indicates which might result in blank film areas). Since
> you're having the film processed at a "normal" rating, your highlights will
> fall "where they may" - sometimes they'll be perfect for the desired image
> contrast and sometimes they'll be too flat or too harsh. You can do a lot
> with digital processing to tame this, of course, as long as you have enough
> local contrast in the negative to support your intent.
> 
> With this film, you'll probably have little trouble scanning negatives that
> have gotten pretty dense in the highlights, although in extreme cases you
> may be forced to have multiple scans performed and then assemble a
> composite yourself (think HDR techniques).
> 
> Bear in mind that this set of guidelines works opposite to what you'd want
> to do with color transparency film, which has a whole different set of
> challenges and rewards.
> 
> Pete
> 
> On Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 12:27 AM, russmeadseattle <russmead@...>wrote:
> 
> > Ii am pulling out old film cameras to shoot black and white film to scan,
> > then to digitally print. I will primarily be shooting medium format. I live
> > in then land of no sun,Seattle Wa  so use tmax 400 rather than a 100 Asa
> > film. I will be using a good lab to develop the film withou any push or
> > pull. They provide a low level scan with developing for a reasonable price.
> > I will have them do a high Rez drum scan when I have a print made. My golal
> > is to have 20 by 20 prints. Ok, my question... In reading this site it
> > seems like I need to under expose the film. Is this correct? And if so by
> > how much? And just to make sure I get this right I would set the light
> > meter for say 500 Asa for tmax 400 (not set the meter for Asa 300)
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> >
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