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The Photographer's Logbook

Tim Gilbert

We can all agree on the importance of recording the technical info for each shot you take. We can all also admit that most of us don't do it. At least not consistently.

Frankly, part of the problem for me, was finding the right notebook. I've tried almost a dozen (not including the scraps of paper I found in my wife's van when I couldn't find my notebook.)  Most were too big, or too small or too hard to write in while standing on a hillside.

Sure, there have been "custom"  notebooks printed for photographers before. Most where intended for roll film shooters and many took way too much space for each frame. They often prompted me to record stuff I didn't even know I should know.

We felt that simpler was better.  Here's the inside of ours:

The idea is to record one film holder (two sheets) on each page. The backside is blank for additional notes, sketches, grocery lists, whatever. Now if you can write small, you can probably squeeze two film holders (four sheets) per page. However, with 50 pages in a book (that's two boxes of film), you really don't need to skimp.

It's 4" x 6", just big enough to hold easily and small enough to fit in most pockets. We chose the wire binding so you can flip it up like a reporter's notebook. (Note: this is not the cheap spiral wire that always catches when you flip the page.)

And yes, the cover is an 18% gray card. Well, it's pretty close. You'll want to test it and see how it compares to the one you've been using. (We tested four different gray cards, while they were all within 1/2 a stop of each other, no two were the same.)

We didn't want to leave the back cover blank so we included our Shutter Speed Compensation Chart and our Exposure Estimation Guide.

You can look inside here: Photographer's logbook (pdf)

You can buy one for $5: https://shop.stearmanpress.com/collections/photography/products/photographers-logbook

We're also giving one away with each box of sheet film! Just add the Photographer's Logbook to your order along with your favorite film; our fancy software will automatically calculate the discount.


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