About which ISO to use...

Juan Valdenebro

Juan Valdenebro

Truth is beauty
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Little by little and without planning it, my considerations on which B&W film ISO to choose, have changed radically...

When I was a boy, it was “400”, because that was what an unknown store seller said was good for everything...


Years later, when I was a student and knew more about photography, it was 100 when there was direct sun, 400 for less light, and 3200 for even less light... And lower ISO for less grain...


Here's how it is for me now:


Today I went out with six cameras. The two smallest ones were in my pockets. An Oly XA for direct sun with ISO400 prefocused for f/8, and an Oly Wide100 for shadows with ISO3200 so the camera has to use a fast shutter speed and a small aperture...


The other four cameras were a manual SLR and a RF for direct sun, and two RF's for shadows: the SLR for direct sun with ISO400 at 1/500 f/11, and the sun RF with a 1.4 lens and ISO100 with ND8 for shooting at 1.4 only... The first shadows RF, with the 28 3.5 and ISO3200 for f/11, and the second shadows RF with ISO400 for selective focus and fast speeds at f/1.4.


This way I don't have to change lenses, and I can have, immediately, narrow or huge depth of field both under direct sun or in soft light... All the time I had 2 cameras hanging (one from each shoulder) depending on if I was under the sun or in the shadows, and the other two cameras in a small bag, and the smallest ones inside my pockets... It was comfortable, and so very fast...


So it looks like finally, some time ago, the main thing I think of when I decide ISO, is depth of field...


Anyone doing it in similar ways, or any comment?


Cheers,

Juan
 
6 cameras at a time and all set differently for sun, shadow, shallow depth of field ... :eek: are you not afraid to get confused when choosing "the correct" camera for the shot ? :confused:

I brought two cameras with me last Saturday, a 120 TLR and a Leica and already felt "over-equipped" ....:eek:
 
Honestly it's very easy: If I'm under the sun, I have two cameras hanging, and if I'm doing shadows, I have other two... I just choose huge or narrow depth of field... It's amazingly fast... Bessas with small lenses, and compacts in my pockets, weigh just nothing...

Without different films and cameras there's no way to be fast at using f/11 and f/1,4 both under the sun and in the shadows... Today I shot in front of a sleeping man: less than a meter away, and I was able to compose him alone, and with different backgrounds, including sea, and sea with people, and at f/11 and f/1.4, even doing +1 of every shot because he was a dark skinned man, and all was done in less than 30 seconds, with two cameras...

I think anyone could feel the advantages after doing it: more and better shots.

Edit: A trick... Sometimes there are places or people that feel nervous if you hang a camera from your neck... Then I found some people get nervous even if you have no camera hanging but a compact in your hand, and even if your hand is down: they see it as a dangerous weapon for them... Well, it's happened several times before, and today I checked it again: If I carry a camera from my neck with the cap on, people don't care about the compact firing in my hand... :)

Cheers,

Juan
 
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more and better does not come to mind when thinking 6 cameras...

one of the nice things about my rd1 is the ability to set the iso as needed, making changes when walking out into the sun from a dark interior. tho to be honest, i mostly use 200 outdoors and 400 indoors.
 
I am with Gabor on this one. Carrying 6 cameras is way too much for me. I prefer to travel easy - one body and one lens most of the time. The most I carry is two bodies and two lens - usually when I am shooting different formats. In this case, it is just a TLR and either a RF or SLR.
 
You wouldn't believe how easy it is... You're basically feeling you wouldn't know which camera to use, but it never happens that way: as soon as you're used to have the two (not six) options so near and easy, you just decide more or less DOF for this one, take up one of the two cameras, and shoot. I have never shot this fast...

Cheers,

Juan
 
maddoc said:
6 cameras at a time and all set differently for sun, shadow, shallow depth of field ... :eek: are you not afraid to get confused when choosing "the correct" camera for the shot ? :confused:

I brought two cameras with me last Saturday, a 120 TLR and a Leica and already felt "over-equipped" ....:eek:
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Hey, if he can control 6 cameras at once more power to him. I tried just two and couldn't handle it. I still think it is a good way but now I'm not as fine tuned as I used to be. Mas poder a ti, Juan.
 
back alley said:
more and better does not come to mind when thinking 6 cameras...

one of the nice things about my rd1 is the ability to set the iso as needed, making changes when walking out into the sun from a dark interior. tho to be honest, i mostly use 200 outdoors and 400 indoors.
Click to expand...

Hi back alley,

Not 6 cameras, but 2.

If I can't be seen with cameras, I use one Oly if on sun or the other Oly if on shadows.

If I can be seen with cameras, I use two for sun, or two for shadows. It's an A-B thing depending on the DOF I prefer for any given scene.

Easy, fast, and lots of great shots are coming... Being ready is for me 95% of this game...

Cheers,

Juan
 
charjohncarter said:
Hey, if he can control 6 cameras at once more power to him. I tried just two and couldn't handle it. I still think it is a good way but now I'm not as fine tuned as I used to be. Mas poder a ti, Juan.
Click to expand...

Thanks, charjohncarter... I carry six near me, but have visible and use just one or two at a time... I'm having more fun than ever...

Cheers,

Juan
 
back alley said:
more and better does not come to mind when thinking 6 cameras...

one of the nice things about my rd1 is the ability to set the iso as needed, making changes when walking out into the sun from a dark interior. tho to be honest, i mostly use 200 outdoors and 400 indoors.
Click to expand...

By the way, when I worked with digital equipment, getting the best out of them was a PITA... Not just the ISO, but more important, the tone and contrast have to be changed depending on the scene's light...

With several film cameras I carry more, no doubt, but all I have to do when different scenes in different kinds of light pop, is just aim and shoot. Not only a lot faster, but also keeps me in a mood of composing instead of using menus... I was there, and in the most serious way too...

Cheers,

Juan
 
I usually only carry one camera. Seems to work for me. On vacations I have 2 or 3 - 2 35mm (one as a back up) and 1 MF - all film. As far as on RD1s - all you have to do to change ISO is to turn one dial - fast and simple. I cant see how it would be easy to shoot the way you did it. But whatever works. Plus with some films you could push film if needed - I have shot some film at ISO 200, 400 and 800 on the same roll and didnt see much problem after processing. Having a nice fast lens helps too.
 
Hello Juan, if you have comfort with six cameras its OK, every one hang a number of cameras as they wish, and its fantastic you have ability to use too many at same time.

About iso... I use 100 for every thing but I use a 1.4 or 1.9 lenses and these lenses let me use in any scene iso 100, but if I will go a night party, indoor at night or an artistic scene I use 400-1600 or 3200 iso, but is my way.

I recommend you iso 100 or 200, because it has low noise and if you have a open f lens it works, but I hear many comments of photographers that 400 iso is ideal for many scenes, but it depends of speed and f of your cameras, my robot royal and canonet is just 500 speed and 16f stop, so if I use more than 400 is very risky, but it depends of scene, if I use a high iso I need to underexpose my film and I have a great effect but I prefer use my f. When I hang 2 cameras I use Robot Royal and Canonet or Robot Royal and Canon Ftb or Robot Royal and Nikon, but my choose is not for iso, is for lenses, because my robot stop at 75mm and with Ftb or Nikon go to 120 or 150mm.

I think you could find very entertainment use just one or two cameras, with your favourite lenses and start to test just one or two iso in different scenes. Try it as excercise for test DOF, I think you will find the iso that has equilibrium of DOF you wish in different scenes.

Buena suerte amigo.
 
Krosya said:
I usually only carry one camera. Seems to work for me. On vacations I have 2 or 3 - 2 35mm (one as a back up) and 1 MF - all film. As far as on RD1s - all you have to do to change ISO is to turn one dial - fast and simple. I cant see how it would be easy to shoot the way you did it. But whatever works. Plus with some films you could push film if needed - I have shot some film at ISO 200, 400 and 800 on the same roll and didnt see much problem after processing. Having a nice fast lens helps too.
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Hi Krosya,

Digital workflow from camera to final file is a PITA even for Ken Rockwell...:p

You're right, whatever works.

Cheers,

Juan
 
israel_alanis said:
Hello Juan, if you have comfort with six cameras its OK, every one hang a number of cameras as they wish, and its fantastic you have ability to use too many at same time.

About iso... I use 100 for every thing but I use a 1.4 or 1.9 lenses and these lenses let me use in any scene iso 100, but if I will go a night party, indoor at night or an artistic scene I use 400-1600 or 3200 iso, but is my way.

I recommend you iso 100 or 200, because it has low noise and if you have a open f lens it works, but I hear many comments of photographers that 400 iso is ideal for many scenes, but it depends of speed and f of your cameras, my robot royal and canonet is just 500 speed and 16f stop, so if I use more than 400 is very risky, but it depends of scene, if I use a high iso I need to underexpose my film and I have a great effect but I prefer use my f. When I hang 2 cameras I use Robot Royal and Canonet or Robot Royal and Canon Ftb or Robot Royal and Nikon, but my choose is not for iso, is for lenses, because my robot stop at 75mm and with Ftb or Nikon go to 120 or 150mm.

I think you could find very entertainment use just one or two cameras, with your favourite lenses and start to test just one or two iso in different scenes. Try it as excercise for test DOF, I think you will find the iso that has equilibrium of DOF you wish in different scenes.

Buena suerte amigo.
Click to expand...

Hi Israel,

Yes, I have enjoyed one camera/lens, and also two cameras, for 25 years... And also for many years I've used ISO100 film, including today... Today I shot with just one camera for a couple of times, and with two cameras some other times...Thanks for your kind words!

Cheers,

Juan
 
When I walk about, I usually have one camera on me and a couple of other lenses in a small bag.

When I am doing more serious walkarounds in India, I had a FM3A with a 40f2 pancake lens, a 28 and 135 in a waist bag. I also have an Oly XA with me. When I have colour film in the Fm, I have B&W in the Oly... I usually put in a roll of 400 film if I am not sure what I will be shooting on the street. I only use 100 film when it's bright and I am pretty sure that I won't be walking into a barber shop again :p

I am pretty happy with the above setup.

There was a couple of days in India when I had a FM3A on one shoulder and a Hassy 500CM on the other shoulder. I struggle a bit and the cameras kept on hitting each other. It's probably the way I work...
 
Juan Valdenebro said:
Little by little and without planning it, my considerations on which B&W film ISO to choose, have changed radically...

When I was a boy, it was “400”, because that was what an unknown store seller said was good for everything...


Years later, when I was a student and knew more about photography, it was 100 when there was direct sun, 400 for less light, and 3200 for even less light... And lower ISO for less grain...


Here's how it is for me now:


Today I went out with six cameras. The two smallest ones were in my pockets. An Oly XA for direct sun with ISO400 prefocused for f/8, and an Oly Wide100 for shadows with ISO3200 so the camera has to use a fast shutter speed and a small aperture...


The other four cameras were a manual SLR and a RF for direct sun, and two RF's for shadows: the SLR for direct sun with ISO400 at 1/500 f/11, and the sun RF with a 1.4 lens and ISO100 with ND8 for shooting at 1.4 only... The first shadows RF, with the 28 3.5 and ISO3200 for f/11, and the second shadows RF with ISO400 for selective focus and fast speeds at f/1.4.


This way I don't have to change lenses, and I can have, immediately, narrow or huge depth of field both under direct sun or in soft light... All the time I had 2 cameras hanging (one from each shoulder) depending on if I was under the sun or in the shadows, and the other two cameras in a small bag, and the smallest ones inside my pockets... It was comfortable, and so very fast...


So it looks like finally, some time ago, the main thing I think of when I decide ISO, is depth of field...


Anyone doing it in similar ways, or any comment?


Cheers,

Juan
Click to expand...
You use a wheel barrow or what?:cool:
 
Juan, is this you? ;-)

six-shooter-IMG_2426.jpg
 
Take 1 hasselblad, some A12 film backs and swap between ISO and colour/b&w on the fly *grin*. If only I could afford a few more lenses :D

Generally I take 1 camera with me and work out in advance what I want to do and take appropraite film. Generally 125 and 400 iso B&W for now (pushing where needed). My film shooting is now limited to MF now, except for a few roles of 35mm film I need to use up, so carrying more than 1 body is a bit of a pain in the back. A soon to be purchased 5d mk1 will take over my 35mm duties. I do plan on carrying a TLR and the 5d at the same time, once I find a suitable bag.
 
Well, pardon me if it was said already, but you might cause the highest pain in the parts where the sun does not come for the generation(s ) which will come after you and might want to have a look on your work and reconstruct your workflow from possible contact sheets.
 
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