Test target options

[LocalHero1953]

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I want a standard target for testing/comparing lenses, B&W film and developing/scanning processes: comparing grain, resolving power, contrast, tonal gradation, sharpness, flare etc. 

Do you use a paper target you have bought e.g. Thorlabs?

Do you print your own in the darkroom from a bought in negative?

Do you download and print a digital image intended for testing an inkjet printer, such as one from Northlight Images?

Are there targets that include colour for testing filter performance?

Do you just design your own in Photoshop?

Any advice and experience would be gratefully received!

Edited April 4, 2022 by LocalHero1953

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[pgk]

In the early days they used the double page spread of broadsheet newsprint. Still not a bad, semi real world target and cheap and easy enough to get.

[LocalHero1953]

Just now, pgk said:

In the early days they used the double page spread of broadsheet newsprint. Still not a bad, semi real world target and cheap and easy enough to get.

Thanks, Paul. I might try that - it would be a lot larger and so more suitable than a typical target. I'm not sure how durable it would be for comparing lenses bought several years apart! (Gradual yellowing....)

[250swb]

I think go out and shoot some film, you may as well get some photos while testing. I've recently been testing Adox CMS20 developed in 510 Pyro and if not for real world conditions I'd only have learned what happens in a lab, not when light changes, maybe some flare from different angles, high and low contrast ranges in the scene, etc. In fact I wouldn't even call it testing, just 'seeing what happens when I do this...'

[Ornello]

Paterson used to offer a test target. I own one, but have not used it in decades. You may be able to find one.

 

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