Begginer's talk

[januaryman]

The Zorki's probably good, the Jupiter SURELY is. I think the Fed 2/Industar 61 is a sure fire combo, as it's what started me. YMMV. Do NOT buy on ebay unless the seller has a very good rating AND has a return policy. Be forewarned. I got burned only once, and from that I learned. People on the forum have recommended specific sellers, and on that basis, I used alex-photo (I think that's how he spells it) Others may chime in and I hope they do. Always happy to learn of new reliable sellers.

 

[usagisakana]

The Zorki's probably good, the Jupiter SURELY is. I think the Fed 2/Industar 61 is a sure fire combo, as it's what started me. YMMV. Do NOT buy on ebay unless the seller has a very good rating AND has a return policy. Be forewarned. I got burned only once, and from that I learned. People on the forum have recommended specific sellers, and on that basis, I used alex-photo (I think that's how he spells it) Others may chime in and I hope they do. Always happy to learn of new reliable sellers.

The seller looks legit to me, he sells lots of cameras by looking through his listings, and has a 1000+ sales with all positive feedback. Sounds like I might be getting a zorki if things go my way 😀

 

[Permanent]

Hey, thanks for all the invaluable tips I got here🙂 It reeeally helps a lot. I got a film already and shot it. I was excited by doing it and the process got me. I mean, shooting with this camera is addicting:-o I enjoyed it. Things got worse when I tryed to unload a film, rewind it. The previous owner of the camera told me to simply turn the thingie with an arrow. That's what I did, but appearently you have to move down the shutter button with a slight turn to left, that enables you to rewind the film^^ Anyway, the film is spoiled. I'll be visiting a more advanced photo shop on weekend and will buy a new film^^

To conclude, I'm definitely sticking to this camera. I found a similiar one for 15euro but I doubt I need it so far..

Hopefully a cold winter is coming up with all those picteresque views for the shots🙂

 

[moretto]

moretto: what a beautiful place. where is it ? I'd love to go ther someday...

Glad You like it, Spiderman:
http://kulturna-dobra-pgz.posluh.hr/bakar/ebakar.htm

 

[vdonovan]

I would say don't necessarily get a light meter right away, but learn to read the light yourself and visualize your images.

When I first started out I didn't have a light meter on my camera. I got quite good at reading light and calculating my own exposures. Later I got a fully automatic digital camera that did all the work for me. I shot with that for a few years but now that I'm shooting film again I find that I have lost my old sense of light! It's frustrating but it's also a challenge for me to get it back.

Many folks in this forum (including me) swear by the "Sunny 16" rule, which says on a sunny day set your shutter speed to be the same (approximate) value as your film ISO. Then set your apeture to F16 and you're good. Stop down or open up depending on conditions. This is where you develop your intuition and sense of light.

This website is an excellent discussion of the rule and its variations:
http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm#Light%20Intensity%20Chart

Best of luck!

 

[Permanent]

Great link, thanks.

I'm just wondering about depth of field. Isn't it the same control for both?

 

[rbiemer]

Depth of Field is controlled by aperture setting, so if DOF is your primary concern, you can start with the basic "sunny 16" setting and then vary the shutter speed and apreture to suit either DOF or shutter speed. Wider f stops(smaller numbers) equate to less DOF and vice versa.
If you set the camera/lens to, for example, f16 at 1/500 as the basic setting(400 speed film), you can then vary that setting and still get similarly exposed negatives.
As you open the aperture, set the shutter speed faster--f 11 at 1/1000, f8 at 1/2000.. or the reverse; f22 at 1/250. You likely can see a difficulty here already: you run out of shutter speeds or fstops. This is why using 100 or 200 speed film in daylight with the FSU(and most mechanical shutters, actually) cameras makes pretty good sense: they don't have fast enough shutters to shoot wide open in daylight with 400 speed film.
It comes down to making choices; what do you want to get on the film and how do you want it to look.
Hope this is helpful!
Rob

 

[Permanent]

That actually is very helpful.

I was having that made up in my mind from the things I've read, but now I know it works for real🙂 Thanks

 

[Permanent]

My first shot. Somewhat familiar to a picture^^ Heh, it was just a random one, to see how it works and actually I failed like half of the film...