R9 EXPOSURE CHECKING QUESTION

[ian moore]

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I recently took a series of photographs of a grey card to test the exposure setting of my Leica R9. I put the grey card in even light,zoomed in,out of focus,and took a series of exposures.First exposure was at the camera's recommended settings (designed to give a midtone),then I underexposed by -1 EV,then -2 EV,then -3 EV,then +1 EV,etc.

 

I had the negative film developed and the series of tones seemed correct. At -3.5 EV the negative had very slight density,slightly above the film base,as it should be.

 

Then I scanned the initial first exposure which should represent 18% density ie midtone. The camera should be set to expose at a midtone of approximately 18%,right?

 

When I scanned it,using a Nikon 5000 ED,the histogram showed the three channels near the right edge (approx. 235 for each channel).

 

I would have expected an average of128 or so (ignoring noise and grain) for each channel. My monitor is calibrated and profiled,gamma set at 2.2 etc.

 

Am I missing something?

 

As usual,thanks for all help.

 

Ian Moore

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When I scanned it,using a Nikon 5000 ED,the histogram showed the three channels near the right edge (approx. 235 for each channel).

 

At a guess, I would presume that the scanner was set to AE and that it was spreading the exposure and contrast as much as possible over the gamut.