With my Fuji GS645S in hand, I resumed monochrome film testing.\u00a0 Lomography makes several monochrome films, and I chose Lady Gray to try out.<\/p>\n
The following is a conversation I had with another film photographer: She’s right!\u00a0 But I hadn’t expected it to be so mid-tone-y.\u00a0 I intentionally sought mixed lighting conditions (where Plus-X would have succeeded) to see its characteristics. While each roll had some high contrast images, two out of three rolls were dominated by unexpectedly under-exposed-looking images.\u00a0 My photos of reflections (admittedly challenging, but I’ve had great success with this subject) were mostly flat and dim.\u00a0 The black areas showed more spots than usual.\u00a0 I’m happy to own exposure errors (surely the NE face of SFMoMA was just mis-metered to be so gray?), but the same camera and meter (and caffeinated photographer) had very different results with other films.\u00a0 It seems to have a narrower exposure range for success.\u00a0 So I believe this film wants more light generally than I was giving it.<\/p>\n I’ll share a sample of the three rolls here, including those with the best contrast AND a three or so that lack bright whites and dark blacks.<\/p>\n
\nMe: Lady Gray is too gray for me.
\nHer: …It’s… right there in the name!<\/em><\/p>\n