The Paper tab in Matcher is much like the Analysis tab for a Paper document. Please refer to that section for the analysis parameter details. Additional information or differences will be covered here.
There is one additional option of the Paper tab that is not present when loading the Paper document directly. The "Lock Film DR=ES" option will overwrite the film's DR value with the ES value of the selected curve. If this option is not selected then film's DR value and the paper's ES value may not match.
When a Paper curve is selected, the selected Film curve's Negative Density Zones will be shown at the bottom of the graph. These are the zones that appear on the right side of the Film graph when a Film curve is selected. These zones represent the density range of the negative necessary to produce a print that is matched to the current ES value of the selected Paper curve. The Negative Density Zones are divided as the selected Film curve dictates (see Negative Density Zone in the Film tab section) and are labeled as Zones 2 through 8. In addition a gradient is shown to give some visual reference to the range of negative density. This gradient is not meant to accurately convey the negative density, it is simply to be taken as a visual reminder of how negative density is translated into print exposure values.
Along the right side of the paper graph are the Print Zones and the Reference curve Zones. The division of the Print Zones, 2 through 8, depends entirely on the contour of the selected paper curve when matched to a particular Film curve. You'll will see (via the gray dashed lines) the Negative Density Zones extended up to the Paper curve and then extended over to the Print Zones. Here you can see how negative density is translated into print density. There is also a marker that shows where the 18% gray density lies, which is near the middle of the normal Zone V range. Again the gradient shown is not meant to accurately convey the density of the print but instead serves as a visual reminder of how subject luminance is translated into negative density.
It’s sometimes useful to identify the densities of the various zones but because zones are really regions that span a range of densities, determining the median density would require some bothersome calculation if the program didn’t do it for you. With the paper tab active and a single paper curve selected, move the mouse cursor onto the print zone column and a floating window will appear defining the zone density boundaries and the median density.
The lines that connect the Print Zones to the Reference Zones allow you to visually see how the current match compares to a reference standard. Zones are shown to be either compressed or expanded, and possible shifted toward lighter or darker values. More information on how to interpret matches can be found in the Matcher overview.
While working with Matcher documents you typically are comparing your newly created matches to a reference standard. Plotter contains two reference standard, one for non-flared matches and one for flared matches. These reference standards represent a typical film matched to a typical paper and serve as a basis for all comparisons. You should choose the appropriate reference standard based on your use of flare in the Film's analysis parameters.
You can set the default for new documents via the Options dialog. In addition you can select which reference curve to display by using either the "Use Default Reference Curve" or "Use Default Reference Curve (Flared)" option. Whichever one is selected will have a check mark next to it in the menu as well as being noted on the graph itself. The selected reference curve is saved in the Matcher document.
In addition to using one of the two reference standards you can load your own custom reference curve. These custom reference curves are based on Matcher documents. Whenever a Matcher document is saved, the currently selected Film and Paper curves is saved as a reference curve for loading into other Matcher documents as either a reference curve or a comparison curve (See the Compare Tab section).
To use a saved Matcher document as the new reference curve, select the "Load Reference Curve..." option from the Match menu. You will be prompted to select a saved Matcher document. If that saved Matcher document was saved with a Film and Paper curve selected, it will be loaded as the new reference curve. This allows you to set you own reference standard based on your own materials if you wish.
When using a custom reference curve it is embedded in the Matcher document it was loaded into and thus is no longer linked to the external Matcher document it was loaded from. Any changes to that external Matcher document will not be reflected in your new Matcher document.
You may also set your default reference curve to be a custom reference curve via the program Options. Any custom selected reference curve is cached and not linked to the external Matcher document it was loaded from. Any changes to that external Matcher document will not be reflected in your new Matcher documents.
Note: While this feature makes it possible to quickly compare matches between documents, using the Compare tab is a much better option for this.