I am doing film tests to determine true speed by testing for zone I and to determine and control contrast by testing for Zone VIII. I have, however, come across a few threads by very knowledgeable contributors who have thrown a shadow of doubt over my conceptions. John Hicks writes that for Delta 3200 "The EI 1200 spec is "true" speed, .10 DU above fb&f" but that "the "sweet spot" is EI 2000; tonal rendition is very nice and the grain isn't horrible." Similarly, regarding prints, Conrad Hoffman writes that "Personally, I find trying to reach absolute maximum black requires denser negatives that compromise tones, sharpness, or grain, in other areas of the print, but it's certainly determined by what effect you're after :-)" (Hope you don't mind my citing your names?!)(posted 8840 days ago)I was always under the impresstion that determining Zone I at something like .1 density above fb+f would give the most complete tonal rendition and could thus be considered true speed. However, how can this compromise tones, sharpness, or grain?