Christmas Lights and Film

[rover]

Well, tis the season, and I have a 4 year old ready to see decorations...

My question is, what type of film would be best used to capture them? I am thinking color of course, fast, should I look for something Tungstun balanced, or just shoot the same old stuff? Will it matter...I know it will...but in the grand scheme of things?

A nice part of the fact that it gets dark at 4:30 now is that I can take him out and still make his bed time.

This should have been a little article in Pop Photo.

 

[Kris]

Have you ever tried Fuji NPZ800? It's more of an ISO400/500 film for my metering style. Quite punchy colour for such high speed film but flesh tone looks prtty natural. Grain is, IMHO, as big as golf balls, not as fine as some people say.

Personally, I prefer Sensia 400 pushed to 800 for low light colour stuff but like all slide films, it needs colour correction filter.

One crappy shot on NPZ, rated at ISO500.

 

[nwcanonman]

Actually after trying out Fuji's 1600, I can heartily endorse it for good color and low light. After trying 800 speed flim 12 -15 years ago, I never tried it again until recently. Was I happily surprised.
This shot was taken in my living room, one 60watt light, 35mm lens at f4, shutter 60th sec.

 

[rover]

NYIP to the rescue.

http://www.nyip.com/tips/current/holidaylights.php

 

[rover]

Camera Works in the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/essays/vanRiper/021220.htm

 

[RML]

NYIP has some good advice. 🙂 If I take any photos with XMas this year (my wife and daughter aren't here) I'll bring both my CL or R and my flash.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Rover, I'd go with a tripod, as the NYIP advices, and probably a 400 to 1600 film (with a tripod, you could really use any film). As for the film itself... I've considered using tungsten if you're shooting at dusk: it gives a beautiful blue tone to the background skies. It's sold in ISO 64 and 160, and the latter can be pushed one stop (I checked!), so if you rate it at 320, you may be able to handhold the camera.

Now... are you shooting in- or out-of-doors? If it's the latter, I'd try tungsten (believe me, beautifully blue skies!). However, you can always use a cooling filter and daylight film.

Have fun with Sammy! 🙂

 

[rover]

As I have looked, the only thing holding me back from T film is that it is sooooo slow. Dusk will become dark very quickly, so I am figuring best to plan for dark. I like Porta, so the 800 (VC I think) is in the lead right now. I will have to look at the Fuji 1600 too.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

May I suggest a cooling filter too? That'll save your shots from being excessively yellowish.

And then, I'll be lurking the gallery! 🙂

 

[dmeledon]

Kodak Ektachrome 320T is a great film for shooting theatre, and I think it would work well for night time lights as well. I have pushed 160T two stops with success (no detail in any highlights, only about 3 stops of shadows), but only for scanning, the blacks are far too thin for a good projection, there is also a minor hint of red shift, easly corrected in scanning. Having said all of that, I would sooner push 320T one stop, but at the time I only had 160T, so I made do.

 

[EsaS]

To me, allmost anything sensitive enough works🙂
Daylight film gives warmer colours, but in most cases, are we not after that?
If you want slides, that makes things maybe little more complicate, because high ISO films are mainly negative films and exposure cannot be compensated in post-process.
If you scan your negatives (sorry, I am new, maybe "old folks" know your process), you are fortunate to make corrections in computer.
I attach one pic, daylight film, 200 ISO (could have used higher but this was in camera), light comes from shop windows, exp.time little too long, maybe 1/15 (slight unsharpness), 35 mm, f 1,7.
And to you all, I do photograph also other things than dogs
😀
Cheers, Esa