B&W Reversal

[Patrick Barry]

One more post and I'll be done~ :P

 

For our film we're shooting B&W Reversal (16mm) and planning an HD master as a final output. I had heard that reversal likes to be a little overexposed. Is that correct? I've shot reversal before but its been a while.

 

Thanks!

[Charles MacDonald]

One more post and I'll be done~ :P

 

For our film we're shooting B&W Reversal (16mm) and planning an HD master as a final output. I had heard that reversal likes to be a little overexposed.

 

too much exposure and you end up with clear film for your highlights. B&W reversal has very little latitude.

[Satsuki Murashige]

I had heard that reversal likes to be a little overexposed. Is that correct?

Common wisdom says the opposite - reversal should be slightly underexposed (around 1/3 stop) for more density and to protect the highlights. Reversal behaves a lot like video - once the highlights blow out, they are gone. No detail left, just clear film. Basically, you should try your best to nail your exposures perfectly and keep all important detail within the tonal range of the film, like -2 to +1. Otherwise, you will lose detail in the shadows and highlights.

[Paul Korver]

Hi Patrick,

I'm aware of the common knowledge of slightly overexposing neg and slightly underexposing reversal. But I have to say that I have a ton of experience shooting Tri-X 7266 16mm (one of my favorite stocks) and I really prefer the contrast I get when I overexpose by 1/2 stop. Yes I might be loosing a bit in the highlights but it just looks "right" to me with that stock... very contrasty. When the exposure is slightly under I find the image very flat. I would never shoot Tri-X if I wanted to preserve all the highlight/shadow detail btw. That's part of the beauty to me of B/W reversal.

 

Good luck!

 

-Paul

[Patrick Barry]

Thanks all for your replies! We're getting a few test rolls and I'll see how it comes out. I guess I was thinking of negative the whole time regarding the slight overexposure.