Just developed my first roll out of my M3...

[chris00nj]

But the rest of the math, I remember shooting most of it at 1/60-1/30 at f/2 for most of the evening.. That sounds hopefully about right in a typical chinese restaurant setting? I hope?

This all sounds reasonably exposed. I think your results will be fine. I wouldn't push process the film.

With your 5 of your remaining 7 shots, I would do a test for your own edumication. Indoors in your house with the lights on. Put it the camera on a tripod or fixed surface and take pictures of the same subject. Start with 1/8 @ f2 and increase the shutter speed one stop for each shot until you get to 1/125. This way you'll see the effect of -2 stop to +2 stops.


To the other naysayers, one can guess exposure if they want to. Heavy shade is 4-5 stops off sunny 16. A heavy cloudy day is 3 stops off. Indoors under normal lighting is 10 stops off sunny 16. When in doubt, overexpose negative film. The biggest danger is during late afternoon /early evening: light dropoff is much quicker that you image.

 

[neway]

Chris:

Thanks for your feedback.. I ended up taking your advice and took photos of the hallway outside my apartment.. It's all indoor lighting that I stare at every single day when I walk out.. I did it for 1/15- 1/30- 1/60 of at f/2 at 400 speed.. so I think if i did that, I can always gauge how much brighter and darker I need it to be in other indoor situations..

Thanks again for all your help, everyone! When I get the shots developed (hopefully tomorrow) I'll scan some and show you guys any good ones (if any at all exist!) I have!

 

[ironhorse]

The development time for T-max 400 film using T-max developer is the same for both 400 and 800 ASA exposure...

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/support/techPubs/j86/j86.pdf

... so, for a one stop push you don't have to really push it, just develop normally if using that particular developer.

I don"t have experience developing my own film and am having difficulty understanding how you can rate T-max 400 at ASA 400 or 800 without changing the development time or temp.

 

[shadowfox]

neway, for future reference, typical restaurant has EV value of about 4 or 5, some club or wedding can get really dark, EV 3 is not uncommon (isn't in amazing what our eyes can adjust to?).

So the best bet for those situations are ASA 3200 films (Delta Pro or Kodak TMZ). This way you still can shoot from 1/125th of a second to 1/30th (if you have steady hands) and use apertures from wide open up to f/3.5 or f/4 which should give you acceptable group portraits.

 

[neway]

neway, for future reference, typical restaurant has EV value of about 4 or 5, some club or wedding can get really dark, EV 3 is not uncommon (isn't in amazing what our eyes can adjust to?).

So the best bet for those situations are ASA 3200 films (Delta Pro or Kodak TMZ). This way you still can shoot from 1/125th of a second to 1/30th (if you have steady hands) and use apertures from wide open up to f/3.5 or f/4 which should give you acceptable group portraits.

Shadowfox, thanks a bunch for letting me know about the 3200 film.. I saw it at the photo lab, and I did some research on it.. I just couldnt find any examples of the work so I was reluctant to try it.. and I was *somewhat* comfortable in using the ASA 400 so I played it safe

FWIW I actually ended up pushing it 2 stops, I hope it doesnt become too grainy on the TMax. I'll know later today when I pick up the photos

 

[neway]

So I've just updated the first post with two of the images that I have scanned.. Im not sure how this whole scanning thing works or if the quality of the scanner varies.. I just did it on my Brother MFC for now. These were both shot with a Collapsible 50 'Cron. The portrait was shot at 1/250(?) at f/2. And the McDonalds was shot at f/5.6 I believe at 1/250 on TMax 400.

There are some cleaning marks on my lens but at looking at the McDonalds picture, I think I can deal with the limited softness that is present in the lens..