M3 + Kr64

[dave lackey]

Brian,

Just wondering what your recommendation(s) would be for my shooting my last roll of KR64 this Thanksgiving with the M3. I am finishing one roll with my Nikon AF camera shooting the grandsons right now but am reserving the last roll for the granddaughters as we take a gifted Polar Express train excursion on Thanksgiving weekend.

Having never shot slides before with the M3+Summarit, I am anxious to see how it does. However, should I rely on the Sunny 16/Soligor light meter or should I use a D40 to preview the shot first since slides are unforgiving when it comes to exposure? The D40 only has a max aperture of 3.5 and a minimum 200 iso setting, so I would have to do some calculations on the fly...not easy.

I suspect I will be shooting daylight (10-12 noon) outside the train and then inside the car with kids moving, scenery moving, vibrations inside the train car, etc. so it seems that my exposure will be critical with KR64.

Looking forward to your recommendations and anyone else's!

 

[DonaldJ.]

just bring a light meter and you will be fine, meter whenever the light changes or you think it does and you will have no problem.

 

[Lilserenity]

Well with the D40 as a light meter at ISO 200 I would take 2 stops off e.g. if the D40 says at f/4 1/250th, I'd shoot that at 1/60th.

Use a light meter with KR64 whatever you do. Looks awful overexposed (IMHO), saturated and un-scannable underexposed (although you might just be able to project it 1/3rd stop underexposed)

 

[dave lackey]

Hi, Don... sound logical. I have this meter with no option to obtain another at the moment:

It seems to work fine outside but with the mixed lighting of the interior of a train car and movement, I am wondering how to handle it.

 

[chris00nj]

For KR64, I normally set my meter ISO to 80 when shooting outdoors, and 41 when using flash bounced off a ceiling.

Compare your Soligor to your D40 meter in different locations to similar to what you will experience: outside, and inside next to a big window. If your Soligor matches your D40, then just take the Soigor.

Exposure is quite critical, but it's not like your photo goes completely white or black if you are a 1/2 stop off. Don't fret so much about the exposure that you don't enjoy the experience.

Our own Roger & Frances Hicks have a nice page on slide film exposure.

 

[dave lackey]

Well with the D40 as a light meter at ISO 200 I would take 2 stops off e.g. if the D40 says at f/4 1/250th, I'd shoot that at 1/60th.

Use a light meter with KR64 whatever you do. Looks awful overexposed (IMHO), saturated and un-scannable underexposed (although you might just be able to project it 1/3rd stop underexposed)

Okay, been practicing with the D40 inside and outside on 200... Outside, the Soligor light meter is a good match with the D40 meter set to matrix. Center-weight gives a slight underexposure. Inside, I was surprised to see how well they correlated, as long as I meter with the 18-55 zoom lens at closer to a 35 mm focal length.

So, maybe the ol' selenium meter will work all right after all!

 

[former member]

The ISO 80 sounds like what I remember- underexpose Kodachrome by 1/3rd~1/4th stop. I used my Weston Master 615 to meter my last roll of K64, shot in the Nikon SP.

I'll find out soon how it worked out.

The last roll I shot was in a Nikon F Photomic "Bullseye", using the incident metering disk. That was a while ago. Just felt like using a camera made the same year I was, and had to grab an older Nikon.

 

[Eric L]

I traveled with an M3 with a dual range Summicron and a Summaron with goggles and Kodachrome 64 through Asia this past summer. Definitely use a light meter. I had a VC Meter II and quite often just metered off my hand. I rated it at 64 and was happy with the results. While there were definitely some 'boo boos', it's not as if slide film is a scary beast that will ruin your picture completely if you're off by a hair/shade. Just enjoy the last bit of time we have with Kodachrome. One more roll for me to go.

 

[Beemermark]

Remember slide film is the opposite of negative film, when in doubt it's better to under expose.

 

[dave lackey]

Thanks for all the comments. Brian, I have been setting the meter to 80 and checking the results on the D40 and I am happy with the resulting images. So, now I can ditch the D40 and go with just the meter and the M3 and feel confident!😀

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Just hurry up to send the film to Dwayne's and have it developed. The last day they run it will be December 30th, but you want your film arriving there a bit earlier.

Take care!

 

[dave lackey]

Dwayne's sent my slides back and the meter worked very well! The slides are awesome.

Dwayne's did a terrible job on scanning, though. Maybe I can find a decent scanner sometime. But, until then, here are a few decent scans:

 

[Santafecino]

The top one is VERY charming. Farewell, Kodachrome.

 

[former member]

Dave- I like the bottom one as well. My last roll came out well enough- with the Nikon SP and handheld Weston meter.

The leaves were still on the trees, and got some good Kodachrome Fall pictures.

1935 CZJ 5cm f2 Sonnar, wide-open, shimmed for S-Mount:

 

[dave lackey]

Thanks, guys...

Brian, I am always amazed at the images you post from your hand-made lenses.

Weird thing today. After shooting my KR64 on the train excursion and being blown away with the slides (the scans from Dwayne's were awful), I just got back a color film roll for the rest of the trip and THEY were awful, not just the scans either.😱

Danged Kodachrome got me spoiled. Soooo.... time to start shooting my Velvia rolls and get that feeling back.😛

 

[dave lackey]

Just a quick observation regarding the M3 w/ Summarit and Kodachrome. Compare the Canon Rebel digital file with the M3 Kr63 file (mediocre scan from Dwayne's):


M3 w/ Summarit KR64:

Canon Rebel Digital Image:

And it is said that digital is indistinguishable from film.😛

 

[aldobonnard]

M3 + K64 is not the right tool for casual snaps imho...

 

[dave lackey]

Really? YMMV but I have received many favorable comments from all of my KR64 "snaps" but the digital photo shown below is treated as mere detritus of the day's experience.

So, you really do not like the KR64 photo? Cool.😛

 

[Brad Bireley]

Dave,
There is more "warmth" with kodachrome. I like them much more then the digital.

Brad

 

[MartinP]

Looks like the digital shot was with straight-on flash and a small aperture, while the Kodachrome was natural light and a wide aperture . . . You would find more comparable results simply by turning of the flash on the digital camera and making a few pictures that way, even on a Program setting you can usually use exposure compensation if necessary. I do prefer the film shot though !