Great combination of apps you are using! I would say you're far more organized than many out there! You're a true craftsman of photography! Thank you for sharing!
Well I can tell you this... I have, for the most part worked in organized chaos for my entire life. This is just one attempt to get a grip:) Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!
Hi there. Yes that arch photo from the train station is also my favorite. I just wat to comment on your remark concerning the zone system. The zone system consists of only 11 zones (zone 0-10) you seem to have a miss understanding regarding this, zone 10 is paper white, the whites you can get, therefore there is no need for a zone 14 or so, you see. You seem to be mixed up by Exposure Values (EV), these can rank higher than 10 zones. Your notes look verry cood and complete, you can find all the relevant things back, good job 👍🏼 Further more you do a good job and I like your cannel, please keep making good images with your lovely Linhof 😁 Oh just this more, never forget to also bring on your pencil & notebook, your phone battery can dy out or it could be lost...and all the good things might be lost...
Thanks! I am mostly referring to highlight values that I need to either print down in the darkroom or bring down with development. I realize the final print values will be on a scale from zero to ten However the neg can record much higher densities and I need a way to record that in the field and make a decision on if I will print down, change development, etc. I refer to it in zones since it is easy to visualize I. One stop increments. If that is “not correct” please forgive me, that is just how I think of things. If I recorded one thing in zones and the referred to it in an EV value it would be very confusing. Indeed a paper and pencil still good to have 👍👍👍 Cheers!
@@Distphoto Bert, check out Bruce Barnbaum's The Art of Photography Chapter 9, for a long discussion of extending the Zone system beyond 10. As Matt noted, it depends on whether you are thinking in terms of the paper print, or the negative. Negatives have more dynamic range than paper, so whatever the arbitrary numbers one assigns for 'total black' and 'total white' on a print (it didn't have to be 0 and 10, it could have been 0 and 100, or whatever), negatives should be able to go beyond those. Cheers!
hello matthew...i wanted to write to you for a long time, but only now i get the chance. i just want to say thank you. i have been watching your youtube videos for a long time and i think it's so great that you share your knowledge about analog photography and the darkroom with us. besides, i really like the way you do it. you are so likeable. i really hope you continue for a long time. i wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year. stay healthy. best regards from berlin (germany). gerrit
Very helpful, thanks. Definitely will try it. I'm currently using a little notebook and a pencil but placing the zones in the picture is very beneficial which I cannot do right now.
Yeah... the location across the river was pretty sketch. My Master Technika was the first LF camera I ever owned, I still have it but the ground glass is broken and I don't know where to have it repaired. I've had the Reciprocity Timer and Viewfinder app for years but I never got in the groove of using them. The GoodNotes app will come in handy. That was a good find. Now to train my mind to be better organized...
I think I have always struggled taking notes in general but hoping this will stick! My mind is a whole nother battle…. Contact Austin at LAFLEX - www.laflexcamera.com. He did a great job with my Linhof! The camera baffles me with how much fun it can be. Happy New Year!
Great workflow Matt. I didn’t know that the reciprocity timer app had all of that functionality. I used to have so much trouble juggling notebooks and pens that I stopped taking notes all together. I think you just provided me with a decent solution.
I would always bring pens on snowy cold days… that doesn’t work real well either 😂. Gonna try to stick to this. I do hate taking notes. But hate not knowing a bit more.
I’ve seen a reasonable number of Arch photos. I have never before seen one from the east shore through the arch of the Eads Bridge. That’s a great composition! Also, I’ve never seen a towboat back downstream through a bridge and then do a 180 in front of the Arch. With the river so low, I’d think the safe channel would be too narrow for that 180. Guess the pilot knows the river better than me!
It was a very cool view. Lots of drift wood piled up made it pretty difficult to walk but was worth it! I did not even notice the boats. (other than to be annoyed when they got in my shot 🤣) I will have to re- watch that part... Was to focused on getting the shot. In hind sight I really wish I had done something with those massive Pilons as well. they were in massive. I am assuming those are for tying up ships or something but have no idea.
@@Distphoto The pylons have a name, but it escapes me at the moment. Yes, they are for tying up barges and also to prevent barges from crashing into shore installations. Eads bridge is quite historic. there is a Wikipedia article you might want to read. I've never read whether Saarinen was inspired by the steel arches of Eads bridge when he designed the Gateway Arch. Your photo ties ties these two historic uses of steel arches together.
Great Video! I have been researching how / best methods of documenting data for 4x5 photos, and organizing negatives and coordinating to holders and notes. Thinking about notching film holders... I use Reciprocity Timer and love it, but was not aware that I could enter zones in image. I have also used Mark II viewfinder but find it somewhat daunting/difficult. I looked at Viewfinder that you referenced and feel it is easy and more customer friendly. I have also downloaded GoodNotes and feel it is a huge help in organization. Thank you so much for a great video and look forward to your Workshops and more. Thank you! Chamonix 45F-2 and RB67
Thanks Matt for a fun and helpful video, and for some very nice images. I use Viewfinder, but didn't realize it could take snapshots of the screen (doh, it has a button right in the middle of the menu bar). I take dictation notes in the field, just using iTalk which came with the phone though I'm sure there are better ones. Then I transcribe everything onto a spreadsheet when I get home (or months later, whatever). I wouldn't want to be writing notes physically if it can be avoided, even with medium format there's a lot of gear to keep track of and not lose on site, plus in bad weather it's easier to talk into my phone. I will check out Reciprocity Failure though, even though I don't use the zone system formally (really it only makes sense if you are managing your development as well as your exposure, and I don't do enough large format to be worth it, and for roll film it's generally less useful of course). Cheers and Joyeux Noel from Montreal!
Thanks Mark! Never crossed my mind to dictate into my phone…. 🤷🏻♂️. I will have to give that a go. I do like the viewfinder app but still need to do a closer comparison of how accurate the focal lengths are but it seems like it is “close enough”. I hate writing notes in the field but hate being in the dark on what happened after even a bit more. Hence the video and quest for a manageable way. Cheers!!! Have a wonderful Holiday!
Great video Matt , I might have to upgrade to pro reciprocity app ! Also with you on the 45 love hate thing , it's lush when it all comes together but kinda kills my spontaneity at times
It is a work in progress... So far I really like the good notes app because it will sync in the cloud and it allows you to take nots on top of everything you put in it. Was trying Evernote too but could not write on everything. Good luck!
I shoot medium format but like you, I keep notes. However, I just use the Voice Recorder so my notes are freeform. I'd like to see the Viewfinder app though so when I'm just around town with my phone, I can check on possible compositions to return to later.
Awesome!, Just started using Siri and notes when I am out running . I have a Canonet or Holga with me usually and this has made it easy to keep track of film exposure, etc... Thanks!
Thank you. Not at all. I used a more normal concentrate of developer for the first two minutes - (this allows the shadows density to build more contrast) in this case Hc110 1-49 from concentrate Then moved to a more dilute developer for 8 minutes ( this will reduce the contrast and control the highlights bringing those high values and the arch back down where they will print friendlier :). - I used Hc110 10-49 from concentrate. The idea is to maximize the shadow density while still reducing the highlights densities. Other ways to do this are with limited agitation all the way to stand development, reducing development time overall and or using highly dilute developers I have preferred the two bath route with normal agitation as it does a good job and ensures even development. Especially with negs that have a lot of sky in them this is particularly important. Hope that makes sense!
I use Art of Foto app. I can takes photos at focal length, has reciprocity calculations, as well as bellows extention calculations. I also use an app called Milanote for my note taking. it’s used to do storyboarding, you can add photos and notes by typing or voice to text. Not sure you can add notes to the photo in the field. I have the free version so I have an explored it’s true potential. Question: the reviews on the Reciprocity Timer app are pretty terrible with lots of glitches. Have you run into those? Being able to add the zones to your photo is a pretty awesome feature.
Thanks I will check those out! Reciprocity timer in theory is great but yes It definitely has some issues. The only problem I am having right now is it not saving the zone placement to the app notes. If I export it it works but if I need to go back into the app in the notes part the zones are gone. The other prob I had was various things would not save. That has not been a prob recently but was very frustrating at the time. Currently I think it may be the best option but will keep looking and planning 👍
No the extended zones past 10 that your film can record. Film can go way past 11 stops of latitude and it would be nice to plot them for reduced dev or a game plan for printing 👍
There is a difference between exposure values (EV) and Zones. There are only Zones 0-10, you are modifying your development and placement of EV to a specific print zone.
I am still using the same workflow, though do typically use my physical viewfinder instead of the viewfinder app. Refining as I go. My only gripe is the Reciprocity app is buggier than I like and does crash and do weird things, but is still very usefull and am using it for all my large format and Goodnotes.
I like the video and your images are really nice. One thing that I noticed though is that you are not really using zones correctly. Zone 10 is pure white, so that would be your highlights right there. it really makes no sense to try and break down zones more than the standard 11 because it does not make a difference. you talking about getting into "zone 15,16 ect" and stuff is just kind of unecessary complicated nonsense. you are making more work for yourself than you need to without any real change or advantage compared to just using the standard 11 zone system.
Well. I appreciate your input and kind words on my images. However I quite frequently print from negatives that have a range of well over 14 stops of information. Negatives can handle a LOT more info than that. The trick is to get it to print onto the paper in the range you are describing - particularly in zones 3-8 👍 The real power of the zone system is to make this highlights way up out range printable by developing the sheet of film accordingly. If I do not know where it falls how would I develop it properly? For example in the arch at the train station I placed the shadows at zone 4 and the highlights in the sky were up around zone 15 in spots. Now because I have tested my film I know that using a compensating developer and rating tri x T ei 125 those highlights will come down to about zone 9 or a density of about 1.4 measured by my densitomer which then were printed down to zone 8 pushing the shadow to zone 3 where I intended them to print. None of that would have been predictable without placing the highlights at zone 15. I could have recorded it as an Ev value but zones seems to make more sense and much easier to visualize, test for and calculate.
