P3D Re: high contrast

[CanterMike@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 98-10-02 16:27:36 EDT, Cghon writes:

<< I use Kodak's
 Royal Gold 200 for sunny scenes, usually at 1/100 @ f16 which is one
 shutter speed stop less than "sunny 16s" which I think is actually the
 exposure for beach or snowscenes.  The negatives are quite thin, with 
 little or no detail in the shadow areas, and the prints are OK in the
 sunny areas but almost totally black in the shadows.  Same film
 and same exposure in my Maxxum, with absolutely perfect results
 and good detail in highlight and shadow areas.  Is it the Realist or
 perhaps the lab?  >>

You've already answered some of this.  If its the *same* film processed by the
*same* lab at the *same time* it must be the camera.  I'd bet your shutter is
to fast or your, more rarely, the aperture scale is wrong.  The "sunny 16"
regular full sun (not sand or snow) exposure for this film would be 1/200 sec
@ f16.  (Sand & snow should be one stop less.)  You are already overexposing
by 1 stop.  If your negs are thin at one stop over then try two stops over, or
more.  It may be useful to try some exposure tests on a slide film as the
narrower lattitude will help reveal minor errors.  I would not be surprised if
the amount of error changes with each marked speed.  Its quite common to
underexpose at one speed and overexpose at another.

A professional examination (with a proper tester) would tell all.

Good luck.

M


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