This time of the year (when the sun raise at 9 am and sets at 2 pm) I become a photo-book-junkie. I have just bought Tim Rudman's two books but I'm also curious about Ctein's "Postexposure". There seem to be two versions, one that is dated year 2000. Does anyone know the differences between the books (1990-something and 2000), were there chapters added only or were there also chapters removed?

/Peter

-- Peter Olsson (peter.olsson@lulebo.se), November 13, 2000

Answers

IIRC there is updated info and some info added. Anything missing was replaced by new info.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), November 13, 2000.

In connection with my research on the permanence of RC material, I have recently been in contact with Ctein, and I asked him to comment on the differences between the first and second editions of Post Exposure. I considered removing the advertising bit at the beginning, but I thought that maybe some of you would want to know about the introduction offer, so I left it in. Anyway, here it comes in Ctein's own words:

POST EXPOSURE, SECOND EDITION

It's out! To celebrate the publication and to encourage folks to "upgrade," I'm offering a special sale price good on orders postmarked by Dec 31, 2000. The list price (and my normal price) for the book is $32.95. I'm knocking 20% off of that; adding in US/Canada first class postage and handling, let's call it an even $31 U.S. instead of the usual $37.95 for US and Canadian buyers (overseas folks should inquire before sending an order, as their shipping costs will be higher). As before, this gets you a signed and inscribed-to-you copy of the book plus free 'technical support' .

To order, send a check made out to "Ctein" drawn on US funds for $31 to:

Ctein 42 Skyline Drive Daly City CA 94015

Be sure to include your name, address and email address on a separate piece of paper.

What's New About The Second Edition?

The second edition is not only revised and updated but expanded. Physically, there are 16 more pages; the book now runs 178 numbered pages, plus the color signature.

But...

Through careful redesign of the layout and consolidating some chapters, I managed to add almost 24 pages of new material including about two dozen additional photographs and 10 additional diagrams.

I did this without removing anything from the first edition except references to some products that are no longer available (like the digi-thermo). Two short chapters were eliminated and their sections incorporated into other chapters, and I rearranged chapters for better logical flow, but nothing's missing from the content.

Half of the new material consists of my extensive and definitive tests on the differences in B&W and color print quality produced by condenser and diffusion enlargers. I've expanded the sections how to do split-filter printing and how to use Sistan. I've added to "Tricks of the Trade" with a section on dodging and burning masks, a section called "Gotchas" describing some common (and frequently overlooked) pitfalls, and I've provided more complete information on how to keep good records and how to make masks.

Those are the big changes. There are lots of minor ones-- a corrected explanation of color crossover, an update on the RC permanence problem, more complete explanations of metering and exposure errors, and literally hundreds of minor changes and error corrections (I now believe there's nothing worse for an author's ego than to go through a book line by line and see just how many mistakes got into print the first time).

-- Thomas Wollstein (thomas_wollstein@web.de), November 15, 2000.