Help with F3.5 lens

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bwidjaja

Warung Photo
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Not sure if similar topic was discussed before. Here is the situation. Most of the shooting opportunities I have are indoor with artificial lights. I would like to be able to do more general shooting with 2 camera setup:
1. Bessa R4M with 28mm f3.5 lens
2. Rolleiflex TLR 3.5F (also a f3.5 lens)

So far I feel constraint due to the slower nature of the lens speed.
I would like to know what combination of film speed, film EI, development that is recommended. I am planning to use available light without flash, handheld, and B&W only.

Other suggestions also welcome. Thank you.
 
For normal low light situations, like in a restaurant in the evening for instance, you will need at least ASA 800. Daylight inside, like a museum, etc, is much brighter.

You can probably go down to 1/15 on the R4 and maybe 1/30 on the Rolleiflex. Or lower.

Roland.
 
I would go to 1600 ASA right away. It's not going to be too fast and you'll need some practice minimizing hand shake.

Take a look around here and on Flickr for people's results with Neopan 1600. Many rate it only at 1250 or even 800, by the way.
 
Thank you for the reply, would you shoot it at ASA 800 or lower? If so, would you develop it at 800 or push it?
So far I have been shooting ASA400 film at 250, but develop for 400.
 
There are lots of tricks to provide you stability when shooting inside without flash. The TLR should be able to give you 1/15 with out problem. A wall, back of a chair, perhaps a table top tripod (also used as a chest pod). Mini Soft Releases, perhaps a cable release might work well. Lots of ways to skin the cat. Do some research on the network for low light techniques and see how to apply them for your style of shooting.

B2 (;->
 
Reg. Neopan, shoot it at ASA 800, and develop for 1600. My experience at least. Depends on developer of course.
 
bwidjaja said:
Thank you for the reply, would you shoot it at ASA 800 or lower? If so, would you develop it at 800 or push it?
So far I have been shooting ASA400 film at 250, but develop for 400.
Click to expand...

Well, this is where I sheepishly admit that my first roll of Neopan still sits in the fridge. That's why I recommended looking at other people's results.

The need is the same on my end, though: to make f/3.5 work in interiors. Or hopefully more like f/5.6, as I'm talking about my Rollei B35. No RF, so wide open and close up I'll need some DoF.
 
Get used to using a tripod, especially for the Rolleiflex. Even a cheap/light one will do.

I am assuming you are not using 120 films (not cheap) on grab shots, so it's worth the trouble.
 
ferider said:
Reg. Neopan, shoot it at ASA 800, and develop for 1600. My experience at least. Depends on developer of course.
Click to expand...

I second this. if you shoot with a slow lens in low light you'll get reciprocity failure at 1600, meaning f3.5 at iso 1600 is not the same as f1.4 at iso 400, that's my experience anyway.
 
f3.5 is not the best speed for low light photography... but you probably already know that. I don't have enough experience to give you advice on fast film and push processing, but I can tell you that the Voigtlander 28/1.9 doesn't cost much more than the Voigtlander 28/3.5 (if the mentioned lens is Voigtlander color skopar). The fast lens would give you almost 2 stops (4x) more light on the film + lower contrast compared to the rather more contrasty color skopar.
 
Besides Neopan you also can push Tri-X two 2 stops to 1600. You also can shoot Kodak 3200, which is really a slower speed, like 1200, but acheives 3200 with push processing.

Have you considered a monopod. That'll give you 2 stops and there are plenty decent ones for under $100.

This site is good for planning for combinations of ISO, aperture, and shutter speed.
 
You specified handheld in the OP, so the tripod/monopod suggestions may not be to your liking. Still something to consider for static subjects, IMO.

With people in the shot, keep in mind that you'll probably get motion blur at speeds that are still OK handheld, let alone supported. And I'm not talking sports action here. Just animated conversations, someone playing an instrument, that sort of thing. Nice effect but not necessarily what you want.
 
How will you meter?

Incident, camera manual, auto?

Being low light, and if you guess you'll handle different light situations and points of view, AND being b&w, you can do it without external meter and get good negatives.

About equipment, if I had it on the camera I planned to use, I would use autoexposure to give my time to the important things: the subjects.

I would use Tri-X because it is forgiving, so I would push it as much as I can: that's in my case setting camera's ASA to 3200, and developing in Rodinal 1:50 15ºC-20ºC for one hour, with a few inversions every five minutes. Negatives will be great.

If being there you find more light than expected, set camera to 800 and develop for 18 minutes with agitation every minute. Negatives will be great and hold rich shadow detail.

Cheers,

Juan
 
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