Richard G
Veteran
Mode problems cause errors in photography, often the same error repeatedly. One of the great things about film photography is that there many fewer mode problems. With a meterless mechanical camera e.g. Leica RF the mode issues are: 1. Is there film in the camera? 2. Is the lens cap off? and 3. Has the film been advanced the next frame? With a Hasselblad there is also number 4. Has the dark slide been removed?
Yes there are more too. With a slow speed equipped Barnack there is mode problem number 5: Has the slow speed dial been adjusted back to 1/25s? If not you can find yourself hand-holding 1s unexpectedly after selecting 1-25s on the main shutter speed dial.
What you don’t need to worry about is the battery being flat, the lens being coded wrong as with a digital M, the ISO setting being left on 3200 instead of base ISO and many other problems of full featured digitals.
There are so many options with many modern digitals that you can turn it on and have no LCD sign of life, Macro being the current setting etc etc. It is possible to turn on the camera (or is it already on and asleep?) and find it behaving in an unfamiliar fashion or in a familiar setting that takes time to set to what is currently wanted. A solution to that is to set up some function option which quickly returns the operations to your standard simple preference.
What about two different manual cameras loaded with two different ISO films and with the one hand-held meter in use? Following repeated errors thinking I could just compensate two stops when switching between Tri-X and Ektar, rather than change the ISO setting for one shot with the other camera, I now accept that I just have to change the ISO setting each time and not think that I will remember to make the mental compensation. Having accepted it, I now do it, and my errors have gone from 10-50% to 0%. Simple. I get so absorbed in other aspects of preparing the shot, the framing, especially with a tripod and manual focus with a magnifier, that I will often forget that I need to add two stops as the Hasselblad has Ektar and not Tri-X. On my Gossen DigiPro F it takes about ten quick button presses of two different buttons to go from ISO 400 to 100, starting from shutter speed priority and getting back there; and 12 button presses from aperture priority. Tedious, but doable. Whenever I think I can avoid doing it, I will be walking along and later realising that I just exposed Ektar with an ISO 400 meter reading.
Life is full of these sorts of things. Algorithms to avoid them can help. I have three meters, but one I much prefer. I do have manual camera bags with a separate meter in each for each system. But when I have two different systems out at the same time I am not going to carry or use two meters. The battery powered Sekonics I think allow two camera ISO settings to be programmed in, and probably the Gossen Digisky also. Maybe I will get the DigiSky as I quite like the layout of Gossen meters. Smarter photographers will assure me I should get a Sekonic.
Yes there are more too. With a slow speed equipped Barnack there is mode problem number 5: Has the slow speed dial been adjusted back to 1/25s? If not you can find yourself hand-holding 1s unexpectedly after selecting 1-25s on the main shutter speed dial.
What you don’t need to worry about is the battery being flat, the lens being coded wrong as with a digital M, the ISO setting being left on 3200 instead of base ISO and many other problems of full featured digitals.
There are so many options with many modern digitals that you can turn it on and have no LCD sign of life, Macro being the current setting etc etc. It is possible to turn on the camera (or is it already on and asleep?) and find it behaving in an unfamiliar fashion or in a familiar setting that takes time to set to what is currently wanted. A solution to that is to set up some function option which quickly returns the operations to your standard simple preference.
What about two different manual cameras loaded with two different ISO films and with the one hand-held meter in use? Following repeated errors thinking I could just compensate two stops when switching between Tri-X and Ektar, rather than change the ISO setting for one shot with the other camera, I now accept that I just have to change the ISO setting each time and not think that I will remember to make the mental compensation. Having accepted it, I now do it, and my errors have gone from 10-50% to 0%. Simple. I get so absorbed in other aspects of preparing the shot, the framing, especially with a tripod and manual focus with a magnifier, that I will often forget that I need to add two stops as the Hasselblad has Ektar and not Tri-X. On my Gossen DigiPro F it takes about ten quick button presses of two different buttons to go from ISO 400 to 100, starting from shutter speed priority and getting back there; and 12 button presses from aperture priority. Tedious, but doable. Whenever I think I can avoid doing it, I will be walking along and later realising that I just exposed Ektar with an ISO 400 meter reading.
Life is full of these sorts of things. Algorithms to avoid them can help. I have three meters, but one I much prefer. I do have manual camera bags with a separate meter in each for each system. But when I have two different systems out at the same time I am not going to carry or use two meters. The battery powered Sekonics I think allow two camera ISO settings to be programmed in, and probably the Gossen Digisky also. Maybe I will get the DigiSky as I quite like the layout of Gossen meters. Smarter photographers will assure me I should get a Sekonic.
ptpdprinter
Veteran
Do people frequently shoot both color and black and white at the same time? In four decades of shooting, I've never done this, so for me, it a hypothetical problem that you might discuss in a forum but never actually experience. I've heard this routinely cited as a reason for getting two bodies. If you want two bodies, buy two bodies. Why the rationalization?
Richard G
Veteran
It just comes about. Mostly I’m out with one camera. Recently I had the end of a roll of Portra 400 in one Hasselblad back and the end of Tri-X in the other. No metering problem. But when Ektar replaced Portra then I had the problem above. I find colour photography more difficult than black and white. Some shots demand colour. In some the colour is incidental or downright distracting. I am currently on holiday with Ektar 35mm in my IIIf and Tri-X 120 roll film in the other camera still. I have had both with me on walks a couple of times. I don’t usually set out to have both colour and black and white with me at the same time, but sometimes it is deliberate and mostly it just happens. My last European trip was all digital, X100 for colour and Monochrom black and white. It was a great combination actually.
Jockos
Well-known
I have two M3s and a Gossen.
One has 100 iso and the other 400 iso film, to differentiate them, I have different colored grips (black vulcanite and brown leather).
I set my Gossen to 100, NEVER change it, and if I use the brown camera (400 iso) I simply take EV + 2 - works every time!
Richard G
Veteran
I thought I could do this but I can’t. Maybe it’s because I’m using different systems mostly when I do this switching between different ISO films. A Rollei with Rolleinars and tripod mounting plate and cable release or Hasselblad and different backs and dark slides and tripods versus a simple Leica RF. Anyway, your example is inspiring.
Richard G
Veteran
Meter last with the MF gear. That might do it.
Rob-F
Likes Leicas
Forgetting the dark slide is my number one mistake. I have no other Hasselblad problems. Well, one other: one time I took a walk with my Hasselblad outfit and left the meter in another bag, back in the car.
Nothing has ever gone wrong when shooting with my Nikon FE2, or Leica M2 or M4P. Metered Leicas, the battery dies once in a while.
Good article, Richard!
Nothing has ever gone wrong when shooting with my Nikon FE2, or Leica M2 or M4P. Metered Leicas, the battery dies once in a while.
Good article, Richard!
rodt16s
Well-known
Often with two different films I'll use a Sekonic L-608, it has two ISO options, just flick between the two whenever needed..
I colour code cameras with different softies
I colour code cameras with different softies
charjohncarter
Veteran
Nobody said photography was easy. The last time it was easy for me was when I was fifteen and I left my Brownie Hawkeye Flash behind for an adjustable camera. The BHF was really a really true automatic camera. You are lucky you don't have a Mamiya Super 23. Now that has a long list of things to worry about.
philosli
Established
This happened to me several times and unfortunately I don’t have any good solution. I tended to forget to change the meter’s ISO setting. What’s worse is when I carry two or more bodies with films of different ISOs, one always has ISO 100 slide film.
Richard G
Veteran
Slide film: that’s the killer. I once exposed Tri-X thinking it was still Rollei Retro 25 in the camera. Some of the shots were quite useable. I don’t know about Ektar (yet) but Fuji Superia 400 not only copes very well with one or two stops overexposure but 200 ISO does quite well with one stop underexposire - tested inadvertently in the field. A two stop overexposure of Velvia I am hoping never to do.
After Jockos’ post I rethought my method. With an RF the first thing I do is meter, to be ready. I set the variables and wait for a shot. Moving about and with varying cloud cover I might meter again. This is now what I think I should not do with MF when I’m going slow with the tripod. I currently read off the meter on ISO 400 1/250 f5.6 thinking I’ll clverly increase exposure two stops for the Ektar when making the shot, but there’s a bit of fiddling with the tripod and the framing and wondering if I might need to change lenses and the light dims a bit with increased cloud cover so I recheck the light now 1/125s f5.6 and take the shot in a hurry before the kids enter the gate/ dog notices me/ owner wants to shoo me off so I clear off and only then remember that with all that fiddling and fussing I’ve forgotten the two stop compensation. If I now set everything up and only meter as the last step I might achieve Jockos’ level of metering cleverness. Or I’ll be looking for a nice used Sekonic in the classifieds here.
After Jockos’ post I rethought my method. With an RF the first thing I do is meter, to be ready. I set the variables and wait for a shot. Moving about and with varying cloud cover I might meter again. This is now what I think I should not do with MF when I’m going slow with the tripod. I currently read off the meter on ISO 400 1/250 f5.6 thinking I’ll clverly increase exposure two stops for the Ektar when making the shot, but there’s a bit of fiddling with the tripod and the framing and wondering if I might need to change lenses and the light dims a bit with increased cloud cover so I recheck the light now 1/125s f5.6 and take the shot in a hurry before the kids enter the gate/ dog notices me/ owner wants to shoo me off so I clear off and only then remember that with all that fiddling and fussing I’ve forgotten the two stop compensation. If I now set everything up and only meter as the last step I might achieve Jockos’ level of metering cleverness. Or I’ll be looking for a nice used Sekonic in the classifieds here.