Kodachrome 64 and Sunny 16

[Krzys]

Who dares it?

I almost always shoot with the Sunny 16 rule in mind but with f/8 as a starting point. Sometimes I use an incidence meter if I have suddenly entered lower light, but rarely. I shoot B&W with lots of latitude and very rarely have a badly exposed photo.

Should I try my luck with my precious two rolls of K64 ex2012? Who shoots this film with no meter these days?

No I don't care for how shooting meterless is stoopid or any arguments or comments of that nature.

From a pdf regarding the film,

1/125
bright f/16
bright with shadows f/11
soft shadows f/8
no shadows f/5.6
shade f/4

 

[Lilserenity]

Personally on a sunny day, f/8 1/60th every time with Kodachrome. If it is an utterly sweltering day with no clouds, f/11 1/60th.

You really do not want to underexpose Kodachrome, especially if you will be scanning.

Kodachrome needs to be exposed very carefully, 2/3rd a stop out can make or break a photo. Exposed right it is marvellous. I usually manually meter in my head for colour neg/b&w too, but Kodachrome will need at least one reading to get you on your way. But f/8 1/60th on a sunny day with a few clouds here and there works magic for me.

Vicky

 

[Axel]

Do it. It will work well.
Did the same with Elitechrome 100 last summer:



Here is my german thread about guessing exposure (with this film):
http://www.aphog.de/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=9896&start=0

Regards, Axel

 

[35mmdelux]

Kodachrome and E-6 in general you want to shoot spot on. Trannies are not nearly as forgiving as B&W or color film.

 

[Krzys]

As I know. I am looking for advice from those who do shoot it without a meter. I don't care about the danger of reality.

 

[KM-25]

Sunny 16 works fairly well, I rate mine at 80.

I shoot Kodachrome daily / full time, you never want to overexpose it, it looks washed out. Kodachrome has a maximum saturation threshold of around 1/3rd stop, so try to be dead on, expose for the highlights.

My walk out the door on a sunny day setting is 1/250th at F/8 and 1/3rd, works every time.

 

[KM-25]

Personally on a sunny day, f/8 1/60th every time with Kodachrome.

That's nearly two stops over exposed, I think this is a typo, yes?

 

[Dwig]

Keep in mind that the "Sunny 16 Rule" applies to middle latitudes in the summer.

If you are very far north (Canada, England, northern Europe, ...) and/or its winter, some adjustment is likely necessary. It could easily be a full stop or slightly more. The Sunny 16 Rule evolved in the US, where ASA was the standard film rating system and which is significantly further south than the bulk of Europe.

Also, in this day and age we must, unfortunately, specify that it applies to shooting in open country far from large modern cities. Air pollution in some cities can reduce the light by nearly a stop. Back when I lived in Dallas, TX I found that about 1/2 stop correction was necessary, and Dallas is not a particularly polluted city suffering primarily from automobile exhaust.

 

[charjohncarter]

That's nearly two stops over exposed, I think this is a typo, yes?

I agree.......

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

I agree too.


My rule for non metered sunny Kodachrome 64 is 1/250 f/5.6 using a warming filter. That makes clean, well exposed skin, and an easy to scan slide.


For incident metering (Sekonic) I use ASA 25 (with warming filter always, with or without direct sun).


But if you have no skin, you might prefer to really saturate under direct sun (that's what's best with K. in my opinion), so you might close a stop, and that's exactly what KM-25 and charjohncarter said.


So, for sunny, non darkened skin (without warming filter) f/5.6 ½ is fine, and for punchy landscapes, depending on how much blocked shadows your scene can hold, you can go to f/8 or f/8 ½.


The film requires precise exposure. I've wasted lots of frames trusting my intuition, and the same with autoexposure at 64 and 80. If there's no direct sun, I always meter it incident.


Cheers,


Juan

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

KM, your avatar is great!

 

[Lilserenity]

Nope, f/8 1/60th works a treat for me. It might be something about English weather on sunny days but I find underexposed shots if I venture beyond this, sometimes on a very bright day I can do f/11 1/60th (or conversely f/8 1/125th) but it has to be a belter of a day. This is a case of your mileage may vary.

(This for the record was 1/60th f/8 : http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilserenity/3523342666/in/set-72157618590943732/)

(It may also be interesting to note I always expose Velvia 50 at 32, not 40 like many people do)

 

[Axel]

Nope, f/8 1/60th works a treat for me. It might be something about English weather on sunny days...

I agree. f/5,6 1/125 often worked for me as a sunny setup with
Kodachrome64.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

Yes, for sensitive slide film, the best is testing in situ and during the same period of the year... The geographical differences, from half a stop to sometimes a stop and a half, are less problematic with negatives, of course, but with high contrast slide film it's easy to waste a whole roll of film... English and spanish direct suns are not the same light... They also differ in character... Those amazing sunset shots posted by Vicky a few months ago (Ektar 100) are a dream, so unforgettable, and perfectly exposed... Yet I haven't seen that light in person.

Cheers,

Juan

(Now I'm not sure if those were Ektar or K64: irrelevant, as they were beautiful)

 

[shadowfox]

I agree. f/5,6 1/125 often worked for me as a sunny setup with
Kodachrome64.

That setting will blow a Kodachrome 64 highlights on a bright sunny day in Texas where I live 🙂

My starting out setting with Sunny-16 is f/11 and the closest shutter speed to ASA.

If you're going to do it on a K-64, bracket the exposure to cover for over or under estimation.