Bob wrote

> Speaking of conundrums, can anybody resolve this one ? If you do a a
> series of time exposures say 2secs , 3 secs ,4secs then the 2second
> exposure is logically one less stop than the 4 second exposure
> (reciprocity ignored ), and the three second exposure is a half stop
> between the two.If you want to increase the 4 sec exposure by half a stop
> , then it should be 6 secs . However , by the same logic , if I want to
> increase the exposure of the 3 sec exposure by a half stop , I end up
> with an exposure of 4.5 seconds . Similarly , if I do the same with my 6
> second exposure I end up with 9seconds , but one stop over 4 secs is 8
> seconds !
> 
I get this one all the time in the darkroom (yes... i occasionally use this
primitive technique.... please bear with me...). If I change the grade of
paper I am using, I often have to change the exposure for purely aesthetic
reasons (the 'weight' of the image changes as the contrast changes). Often
these changes are in the order of 1/4 - 1/3 of a stop.... and I have gone as
far to make a spreadsheet for my Psion to do the working out for me because
1/4 stop up is not the same as 1/4 stop down... though for practical
purposes it is almost as good as.

Halving and doubling it may be, but linear it aint. Probably a natural log
(if memory about film density curves and DIN numbers serves).

Giles Stokoe

photographer/photojournalist. See some images at http://www.stokoe.co.uk

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