Film Speed fun

[J-P]

I need to pick the collective RFFers brains...

Possibly a noobish question - so sorry if I'm repeating something which has already oft been asked...

I'm getting a Yashica Electro 35CCN in the post and I own a Konica Auto S2. Both of these max out at 500asa film-speeds. Now this isn't a massive deal, they've got nice fast lenses...

However, for my last few pics (my first few rolls of film since 1999!) I was using the CV 15mm SWH on my Bessa-L and using 1600 indoors. I was noticably under-exposing / having to push film in order to get adequate shutter speeds.

Now - I don't want to be pushing/under-exposing my film too much, but I'd like to make use of the 1.8 lenses in-doors (especially with our dark evenings in the winter/spring). Do you have any advice? What about shooting with filters? I was thinking of shooting the Yashica with a 52mm yellow (2) filter and HP5+ ... will I start getting problems?

Am I worrying unnecessarily?

Would you over-expose intentionally (set to 320 on 400asa film) if using yellow filter?

Cheers! I have a cable release, just need to buy a cheap tabletop tripod...

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

this is my opinion:

filters aren't necessary indoors. however, a yellow-green filter is very flattering to skin-tones. However, filters reduces the light that goes to your film, so you have to compensate it. How much to compensate depends on the rating of the filter, for example, a Tiffen Yellow-2 8 has a filter factor of 2, ie. 1 stop. My suggestion is that you don't do filter first for indoor shots.

for iso 400, a normal room lighting should have an exposure of 1/30 and f2 ~ f2.8. So with a 15mm f4 lens, you have to shoot at f4 and either 1/8 or 1/15 sec.

With such a wide angled lens, you can probably get away with 1/8s without too much handshake.

raytoei

 

[Sparrow]

... and the sort of point light sources one gets indoors will give some odd reflections off the filters anyway

 

[smasher]

I use my KAS2 indoors all the time with 400-speed B&W film. You'll figure out the exposure pretty quickly, regardless of what the meter tells you is going on. Generally 1/30 @ f2 or F1.8, or down to 1/15 or even 1/8 if it's really dark (say, just a reading lamp). If the meter locks in auto mode, just put it into manual mode and keep shooting. I've had good results with the KAS2 handheld down to 1/8 without problems. The Yashica will be good down to 1/8, too, but you'll never know for sure what shutter speed it's selected, just that it's below 1/30. Both cameras have pretty good metering, IMO.

You'll be able to shoot a little underexposed with better results in B&W than in color.

This was with 400 B&W on the KAS2 wide open at 1/30:

This was with 400 B&W, probably around 1/60 @ f2.8:

You'll get a feel for it pretty quickly, and the meter is good enough to trust, at least in B&W.

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

No filters indoors... Use 400 ISO film at 1600. You'll be able to use your 15 with not too slow shutter speeds... But in other lower light scenes, indoors & 1600 too, you'll need a fast lens anyway...

Cheers,

Juan

 

[J-P]

Really helpful responses. Thanks! I don't quite know what I was thinking with the filter idea... moment of madness, or just not thinking quite logically at the time of posting... It would seem wiser to put a yellow 2stop or ND filter on in brighter daylight to be able to use those wide apertures ey?

raytoei - the CV is f/4.5 and I do indeed find myself going down to 8th or even half second exposures with large scenes and not much light. Which is ok for landscapes / big dramatic interiors - but not so ok for people... I must invest in some kind of baggable tripod device methinks... I haven't seen a tripod that I've liked the look of so far.

Smasher - those pics are tack sharp for 1.8... (nice shots) also really useful. It's great to have an example of what I can expect to see from the KAS2 indoors with 400asa. I'll try to post some shots once I've run off a few reels 🙂 hopefully mine is as good an example as the one you've got there. I'll try to keep those stops / speeds in mind.

Juan - I used the Bessa-L at 1600, with HP5+ but I found the scans to be seriously grainy (lab scans). I'll try again in a different developer some-time, but right now, I can't hand develop my own film (no processing kit at home).

Cheers!

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

j-p, as the lens goes wider and wider, the issue of handshake goes further away. For example, a 50mm lens @ 1/8 has a higher chance of handshake than say a 15mm lens @ 1/8 or even 1/4s.

Of course, while handshake may be minimal, the chance of motion blur from the subject increases.

Many of the 15mm indoor shots are done handheld, with some form of support, eg. elbow on the table support. etc

raytoei

 

[andredossantos]

I'm not familiar with those two particular cameras but is it possible to turn off the auto-exposure? If so, you can just ignore the the max ISO and then develop the film at whatever ISO you shot the film at. Of course this would necessitate a handheld meter or having to estimate mentally.