From: bjs@RUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Barry Sherman)
Newsgroups: rec.photo
Subject: Re: technical info (was Popular Photography, then Nikon magazine)
Date: 1 Oct 92 19:07:40 GMT
Reply-To: bjs@RUTS.ccc.amdahl.com (Barry Sherman)
Followup-To: rec.photo
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

Dave Bernard writes:

>To deal with your first question... I've long wondered how they get the
>exposure information on photos they print- do these photographers really
>wander around with notepads?  I doubt it; I think they often make it up for 
>printing, because the magazine seems to think that readers see this info
>as vital.  

Actually, there are a significant number who *do* wander around with note
pads.  I've found my notes absolutely invaluable at times when I want to
figure out what went wrong.  And it's nice when people ask "How long an
exposure did it take to turn that surf into fog?" to be able to tell them
because I checked my notes before I displayed the print.

Not only do I wander around with a notepad, it's a custom designed notepad 
filled with "Zone System" notepages - space to record the film used, exposure 
index, filter used, film holder number, date, location, several meter readings 
(in EV) of various portions of the scene, Zone placement and falls (sometimes 
several iterations when deciding which filter to use), basic exposure derived 
from these meterings, bellows extension correction and reciprocity departure
correction.

I'll admit that occasionally I fail to record my notes.  Maybe I run out
of pages in the notepad or things are happening too fast or maybe I just
feel lazy.  I don't believe in being a mindless slave to any system, no
matter how good.  But usually I do make notes.  After all, if I've spent
10-30 minutes making a negative, what's another 1 minute to record the 
information?  I even had a system of recording notes when I used 35mm
and used it, if anything, more than I do now with large format.

Of the great photographers, not all take notes.  I understand that John
Sexton does but Ansel Adams, apparently, had this incredible memory such
that he could remember shutter speed and f-stop and the thought processes
by which he arrived at them for images that he had made 50 years previously.
In truth I somewhat mistrust that his memory could have been *that* accurate,
but there's no way to tell one way or the other so I accept the story.  Anyway,
I asked Ray McSavaney if he took notes and he confessed, somewhat sheepishly,
that he *really* ought to, but lacked the self-discipline.  Everyone has
their own way to the destination.  Ray's work is so good that I'd never
presume to question his techniques.

>Similarly, I wonder how many published photographers really use
>Nikons, etc.  Could it be that they "enhance" medium-priced brands, because
>they think it makes their photo somehow more "professional?"  Just a thought.

I couldn't comment on other photographers.  But I've noticed that in my 
camera club, out of ~15 active photographers, there is myself who uses Canon 
for 35mm, one guy who uses Olympus and, I believe, all the rest use Nikon.
BTW, those Nikons are all older, non-AF models with the FM and FM2 
predominating.  I'm the only person in the club, I believe, who has an
AF camera.  But I atone for it my doing almost everything with the 
totally manual view camera now.  ;-)  

Gee, ya know, I've had my Pentax Spotmeter for 1.5 years now and I'm still on 
the same $1.50 battery.  I wonder how many $12 lithium batteries I'd have 
bought for the EOS were I still using it much.  :-)

Barry

--


|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Barry Sherman, Amdahl Corp.       | "Any fool can face a crisis - it's     | 
| bjs@ruts.ccc.amdahl.com           |  this day-to-day living that wears you |
|                                   |  out." - Anton Chekhov                 |
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| Amdahl, being a corporation, is a legal fiction.  Therefore it is incapable|
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