First outing with my Folder...

[RedLion]

Took my Welta Weltur 6x9 out to the Japanese gardens today for the first time. I also brought along my Gossen light meter and my Canon 5DmkII to compare with.

What I learned:

Must wind pictures slowly! I got too enthusiastic with winding, and wound past one of the numbers in the window... well lost that one... a $2 mistake.

What I did was first take an incident light reading, then put that reading into my Canon 5DmkII and take the photo (at 50mm) and examine the results. What I learned was that (with slide film, I'm sure) I must also take into account the light value of the subject I am wanting to shoot. With incident only reading, my 5D showed me that while I would avoid blowing any highlights, my (landscape/garden) subject typically would appear too dark. So rule of thumb? If my subject looks a bit dark, I need to add 1-2 more stops of light. and if my subject looks "light" I probably need to subtract (stop down) a stop or two to properly expose my subject.

Given that it looks like incident light metering will still need some tweaks (since slide film has narrow latitude like digital), I'm thinking that a better "roaming portrait" method might be this:

1. Set my 5DmkII to iso 100, shutter speed 1/100 and my folder to the same.

2. Take the photo with my 5D, then examine the result. IF I like it, then transfer the F stop reading from my 5D to my Folder, and then take the shot with my folder.

This will avoid me having to guess at the subject's brightness relative to the incident light. BTW, I also tried my Gossen's reflected light meter, and while it did recommend a light change in the right direction, it was still (in some cases) not enough to really fully correct things.

I mailed out my film today, so will hopefully get my final results in a week.

Any thougthts?

Joe

 

[Gumby]

(snip)

What I learned:

Must wind pictures slowly! I got too enthusiastic with winding, and wound past one of the numbers in the window... well lost that one... a $2 mistake.

(snip) Any thougthts?

Joe

Just one thought... get used to rolling past numbers. It is very easy to do with old folders. Especially #1. That is hard to see and looks different depending on the film brand. First frame is aways easier to find when the 2 appears in the red window. 😀

 

[SteveM_NJ]

I, too, dial-in manual settings on a digital camera as a preview, to help me set manual film cameras.
I would guess others use the method.

 

[bigeye]

You're metering at an average 18% grey, so faces do need +1 stop.

 

[monochromejrnl]

not necessarily... it depends on the person's complexion and how close you are... +1 for fair skin, -1/-1.5 for dark-very dark complexion, 0 for tan complexion...

 

[RedLion]

Regarding tweaking the expoure gained by an "incident" light meter, my (admittedly brief) experience is that the darker the subject the more light I need to let in, so that the subject does not appear too dark on the film. So a dark skinned person might need to open the arpeture up a stop to let in one more stop of light, etc....

I will post some examples comparing my incident light meter reading, vs. my adjustments from today's shoot using my Canon 5D.

Joe

 

[charjohncarter]

I, too, dial-in manual settings on a digital camera as a preview, to help me set manual film cameras.
I would guess others use the method.

I've found that my DSLR is not the exposure that I want for my film cameras (and many time not the one I want for my DSLR). I thought about using the DSLR for a backup meter but gave that up 7 years ago. Even a cheap (reflective) hand meter properly used will give you better readings especially if you take the time to learn how to us it. Sorry to differ but why carry an extra lump around with you.

 

[bigeye]

not necessarily... it depends on the person's complexion and how close you are... +1 for fair skin, -1/-1.5 for dark-very dark complexion, 0 for tan complexion...

I avoided the nuances, under the assumption that someone with a 5DII would understand.

John, you're absolutely correct. I joke about it, but the DSLR 'meter' doesn't work for me, either.



.

 

[Wags]

I have a couple of exposure meters and they read different so yours might be "lazy"

 

[Steve M.]

Put me in the "ditch the DSLR" camp too. Your Canon has an electronic shutter and is probably accurate. I would bet your Weltur is a stop slow at top shutter speed, so you'll need to adjust for that. When I hand meter I look for a middle value to meter. The ground will work if you're outside, but watch the sun. Don't want to be metering in a shady spot. This will work for portraits too. Your meter is adjusted to read 18% gray, so if you find something close to that everything should be fine, even if it's a black or white cat (or person).

I bought myself an inexpensive shutter tester some years ago, and test my shutters before putting film into the camera. If you're not going to do that, devote a roll to shooting each subject at several different exposures and write them down, both the meter setting and your actual shutter setting on the camera. This will tell you where you need to be metering. Do this a few times w/ different cameras and you'll be ahead of the game financially to just buy a shutter speed tester.

 

[archeophoto]

Two weeks ago I went to the Yellowstone National Park with my Rolleicord. I had 100ISO Velvia Slide film loaded. As it turned out I forgot my light meter at home. So I was forced to use the Sunny 16 rule. Guess what? I shot 5 Rolls of film and one photo was slightly under, one slightly over exposed. Those can be easily fixed in photoshop.
For outdoors, light meters are overrated (Indoors is a different story). You have to use common sense and compensate for the scene a bit, but otherwise you will be fine just using the Sunny 16 rule. It's proven and works and leaves you time for composition.

Took my Welta Weltur 6x9 out to the Japanese gardens today for the first time. I also brought along my Gossen light meter and my Canon 5DmkII to compare with.

What I learned:

Must wind pictures slowly! I got too enthusiastic with winding, and wound past one of the numbers in the window... well lost that one... a $2 mistake.

What I did was first take an incident light reading, then put that reading into my Canon 5DmkII and take the photo (at 50mm) and examine the results. What I learned was that (with slide film, I'm sure) I must also take into account the light value of the subject I am wanting to shoot. With incident only reading, my 5D showed me that while I would avoid blowing any highlights, my (landscape/garden) subject typically would appear too dark. So rule of thumb? If my subject looks a bit dark, I need to add 1-2 more stops of light. and if my subject looks "light" I probably need to subtract (stop down) a stop or two to properly expose my subject.

Given that it looks like incident light metering will still need some tweaks (since slide film has narrow latitude like digital), I'm thinking that a better "roaming portrait" method might be this:

1. Set my 5DmkII to iso 100, shutter speed 1/100 and my folder to the same.

2. Take the photo with my 5D, then examine the result. IF I like it, then transfer the F stop reading from my 5D to my Folder, and then take the shot with my folder.

This will avoid me having to guess at the subject's brightness relative to the incident light. BTW, I also tried my Gossen's reflected light meter, and while it did recommend a light change in the right direction, it was still (in some cases) not enough to really fully correct things.

I mailed out my film today, so will hopefully get my final results in a week.

Any thougthts?

Joe