Help me get good low-light exposures....

If you can get a reading fairly close to a light source you can use guide numbers just as you would with manual flash. If the subject is 5 feet from a lamp and the exposure for ISO 400 is 1/30 @ f/2.8 it would be f2 at 7 feet, f/1.4 @ 10 feet, etc. In this case the guide number would be 14 at 1/30. (10 X 1.4). If you change shutter speeds then change f-stops by the same amount.
 
Dont know how a Calcu-Light meters in such extremely dark situations, I mean I know it is sensitive but how does the metering work in practice... With a Digiflash I have noticed it is pretty much useless to meter even though I get a reading because it doesnt really tell much about the subject (often faces) that I want to expose correct. So I'd need a really sensitive spot meter.

In practice, guessing with some prior knowledge and using maximum exposure you can get handheld works just fine.

What Roger said about latitude upwards is true, especially with color negatives. B&W negs also can take some underexposure, but I'd say color negs really dont like underexposure "at all".

Slide film will actually behave quite nicely when theres not much light available, because it won't block the shadows as easily as color neg. Also the shadows will not get grainy with slide film.
 
I would just get a better meter, something like the Gossen Digisix (very portable) or the Sekonic equivalent. This assumes you know how to use a meter properly & work w/its limitations.
 
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payasam said:
Those are pretty good pictures, Stewart, given your claim that you spoil many frames. [edit] I'd prefer 1/8 sec. with a normal or a wide, but then I use ASA 100 film almost exclusively.
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One below 1/FL, f2 or 2.8, 400asa I would quote the EV but I can't find my glasses to check the meter 🙄

I can tell when I've moved so I keep going until I know I've nailed it, trouble is one only gets one go at the good stuff


 
furcafe said:
I would just get a better meter, something like the Gossen Digisix (very portable) or the Sekonic equivalent. This assumes you know how to use a meter properly & work w/its limitations.
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I do have a Digiflash and I think its great. Still, at about 3-4 EV (400+ ASA) it is pretty much useless when you want to measure the main subject carefully... or maybe not useless, but it does not really help much at all. All it tells you is "expose as much as you can" 😉.

The case is this especially with color negative film, which benefits or at least somewhat perfectly tolerates one or two stops overexposure, while it does not like underexposure. Color negs will be a drag to get right when they are not exposed enough, but "over"exposed ones come out just fine.
 
Svitantti said:
Dont know how a Calcu-Light meters in such extremely dark situations, I mean I know it is sensitive but how does the metering work in practice...
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It is both reflected and incident and there is a also gizmo that turns it into a spot meter. I have the gizmo somewhere but I've never used it. You take the reading which shows up as a red LED readout then dial it in on a wheel very similar to a Weston V. You do need enough light to read the f stop/exposure combos but the dials are well designed and very legible. The meter is reliable and reads down to -7EV at ISO100.
 
To add to what Peter said, the numbers shown on the Calcul. XP LED are in thirds of EV. So, after getting used to it, you don't need to read the aperture/speed combination scale anymore and just interpret the numbers.

The fact that they are LEDs helps when it's dark 🙂

But I agree to what others said. Just go as fast as you can. With 400/800 ASA, you are either on, or 1-2 stops to high, which can be fixed with negative film afterwards. Here is the "Ultimate Exposure Computer" mentioned in an earlier post in somehow compressed format:

476908753_szZwH-L.jpg


Cheers,

Roland.
 
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Young chaps should not be pessimistic. It's against the rules. Stewart, if you already need glasses, I suggest you hang them around your neck. They can be a damn nuisance that way, but at least you know where the fellows are.

That's a useful table, Roland. I'll have to see how it compares with my experience: and maybe keep a print-out in my Leica bag.

For what it's worth, I've got decent results with a Zorki 1 at slowest speed (1/20 sec.) and a Jupiter 3 at f/2, and even with an Industar 61 L/D 55/2.8 wide open. Film ASA 400 colour neg. Different parts of the image usually differ so widely in brightness that something always comes out right.
 
I do shoot a lot in low-light, so I think I know what you're dealing with. Yes, the Digisix/Digiflash is difficult to aim for reflected readings compared to a spotmeter or the semi-spot meter built into an M6/M7/MP. What I suggest in that circumstance is to meter analogously, i.e., take a reading in light that's close to what is falling on your main subject. Over time, especially if you shoot in a lot of the same types of venues/environments, you will start to develop your own exposure database--the meter is still useful but will function mostly to supplement & finetune your database.

Svitantti said:
I do have a Digiflash and I think its great. Still, at about 3-4 EV (400+ ASA) it is pretty much useless when you want to measure the main subject carefully... or maybe not useless, but it does not really help much at all. All it tells you is "expose as much as you can" 😉.

The case is this especially with color negative film, which benefits or at least somewhat perfectly tolerates one or two stops overexposure, while it does not like underexposure. Color negs will be a drag to get right when they are not exposed enough, but "over"exposed ones come out just fine.
Click to expand...
 
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