Which measuring device should I choose and is banning the test strip a illusion?

[wietsedejong]

Dear APUG users,

I use my darkroom now for sometime and I'm the proud owner of a Durst DA900 enlarger and use Ilford filters.(I print 6x8 and 35mm)
Mainly I print on Ilford delux VC paper or on Ilford FB warmtone VC paper and plan on trying the new Ilford art 300.

I use a old Philips pdt 022 as a measuring indication before i make test strips but is getting old and unreliable.

Now my question:

Which timer/meter would you advise my to buy or get and what are your experiences with the different types?
and second is banning the test strip an illusion?

Thank for your advice and support.

[Nicholas Lindan]

...is banning the test strip an illusion?

Darkroom Automation never made that particular claim, but: Test strips will always be with us and f-stop timers are wizards at making test strips. The results of the test strips - in stops relative to a base exposure - fit right into the timer's dodging and burning schemes.

Adding a meter or metering facility lets you reduce the number of test strips so that the test strips you do make are very targeted to fine-tuning the image.

Metering's advantages are:

• Quickly arrive at a base exposure and paper contrast;
• Base that contrast on measurement of the focus point of the image - facial highlights and shadows for a portrait, midtones and deep shadows for a low-key subject, midtones and highlights for a high-key subject, etc., etc.;
• Accurately determine the dodges and burns needed to get from a first work print to a well-tuned final print, and do so in minimum time.

A meter may not be all that useful if your images are made under well controlled conditions, you use well known materials and processes, and you can accurately guess the exposure and contrast by looking at the image on the easel. But then you probably don't need to make many test strips or test prints anyway.

A meter makes a great deal of sense if you take pictures of a wide range of subjects, under very variable (and often very rushed (many of your best images are over/under/exposed/developed)) conditions, use a wide variety of materials and are sick of making test strips. With the rising price of paper a meter can pay for itself quickly by reducing waste.

A meter is not a magic bullet, no more than an exposure meter is guarantee of perfect negatives. You will still find yourself making test strips and prints, just as you find yourself bracketing a metered shot. But you will need fewer test prints to get to your final print, just as an exposure meter greatly reduces the need to bracket to get a good negative. These days nobody few would think to go in the field without an exposure meter, in the future the idea of printing without a darkroom meter will seem just as quaint.

Modern offerings have nothing in common with the past. Darkroom meters have a bad reputation to live down, and rightly so. Everyone has an old Analite or Spot-O-Matic they have played around with and ultimately relegated to the odd-bits-box. The technology to make a meter with the required accuracy - 1/100th of a stop - at a reasonable consumer price has only come available in the past 10 years or so. 1/100th of a stop may seem like overkill, but if you are setting print exposure to 1/10th of a stop you do need to measure to a much higher resolution. 1/10th of a stop may also seem like overkill but it is a 2 second adjustment to a 25 second exposure - something we have all made, especially with higher contrast grades of printing paper.

A darkroom meter has a learning curve. Like all bits of electronics it slavishly does what it is told. And there's the rub: you have to know what tone to assign to each metered area. If you are an experienced printer you likely already have this bit of pre-visualization skill. The zone-strip, described in the Darkroom Automation application note, can be a great help with pre-visualization in the darkroom.

I wish I could advise you to get a Darkroom Automation system, but I am afraid, if you want a meter/timer system, I will have to refer you to the competition - RH Designs (change all decimal stops in the missive above to twelfths). DA does not make a timer for the European market. The DA stand-alone meter is available world-wide.

[ath]

I consider the Zonemaster II as one of my best investions. When it is calibrated properly there is no need for teststrips for general purpose or quick prints (like family snapshots). But when you want to produce a fine tuned print you will need some adjustments going from there. It will not banish all but many if not most test strips (depending on your demands).

Two things are important: calibrate carefully and learn to meter.

Another (more fully automatic but also fine tunable) option is the Heiland splitgrade, but I have no experience with this.

[MattKing]

I wish I could advise you to get a Darkroom Automation system, but I am afraid, if you want a meter/timer system, I will have to refer you to the competition - RH Designs (change all decimal stops in the missive above to twelfths). DA does not make a timer for the European market. The DA stand-alone meter is available world-wide.

A perfect example of what I like about APUG.

[ath]

A perfect example of what I like about APUG.

+1

[jordanstarr]

+1

+2

[canonman]

Great Nicholas! Never heard of the darkroom automation before - great devices! I have the RH-Analyser Pro - just love it!

[mhulsman]

Wietse,

If you like your pdt022, I have got one for you. alsmost new in a box.
For free if you want to pick up.
Live near to Utrecht.

Mike

[wietsedejong]

The enlarging meter form darkroom automations seems like a nifty little thing.
(Especially when your buying and converting euro's, RH products have to be paid in Pounds)
(That roughly 75 euro against 219 euro for the RH zone II)

[hadeer]

I am using the RHDesign combination of the Stopclock and Zonemaster II with much satisfaction. For run of the mill prints there is no need to make teststrips, for serious printing however it still is necessary. The catch is the time you have to invest in learning how to take readings and the calibration for each paper. Once done it is a big saver of time and paper though. I wouldn't like to miss it.