Love Film but Miss EXIF!

[Bill Binns]

New to RFF - First post...

Although I owned a film SLR in the late 90's, I really learned most of what I know about photography in the digital era. EXIF was a big part of that. Being able to review my settings after the fact while reviewing photos really moved me forward by leaps and bounds.

So... I understand that I should be recording the exposure info for every frame of film I shoot in a little notebook and somehow incorporating these notes into my negative archiving system. Does anyone really do this?

I'm also generally interested in how folks who shoot a lot of film are storing and organizing their negatives. I am pretty serious about my digital backup process but my film process is pretty much a couple of three ring binders full of sleeves.

 

[Spanik]

I only did it once. And never looked at it. After that I got a good lightmeter and that solved that problem. You can get a Fuji GA645Zi that records an "exif" on the side of the frame.

Your film process is already more advanced than mine. Still have to get the film in the sleeves.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Welcome aboard.

There's a lot to be said for a notebook. We learn from our mistakes and a notebook makes certain that we don't forget them or repeat the same mistake again.

As for organising negatives. I get a crude scan of the film each time (only about 2 megapixels) and use them to catalogue shots. But I file them by camera used as well.

BTW, for the lazy, the Minolta 7000i takes a little data card like a SD card and records what would be the EXIF on it. Few people seem to know about it but a search on ebay, even, will throw up a lot of useful info. Persoanlly I hate people who do their research on ebay - you can easily spot them and some of the so and so's have written books based on it - but those little cards are one area where you can learn a lot without being led astray too much.

Regards, David

 

[Bill Binns]

Thanks. I had heard that one of the Pentax medium format cameras imprinted the exposure info on the edge of the frame but did not know about the Fuji or this Minolta system. I like the idea of a hybrid system of just scanning everything, entering whatever info I have as metadata and then rolling all of that into my digital workflow. I guess if I do a decent job of scanning there will not be much need to go back to the negatives very often. I will just keep my 3 ring binders organized roughly by date.

 

[jslabovitz]

When I started to photograph seriously, I carried around a little notebook and did indeed note every shot's subject, aperture, and shutter speed (as well as the info about the film, ISO rating, etc.). Then I'd transcribe those settings into a database. Being methodical and intentional about the settings helped me tremendously, especially understanding depth of field, exposure, and film latitude. And it's nice to still have all that info, even 20 years later.

I still sometimes take those notes, but usually only if I'm shooting slowly and methodically. If I'm using a camera in aperture-priority (that is, where the camera determines the shutter), I don't write down the shutter speed.

I've used a lot of different database solutions over the years, including several home-made ones. At the moment I use Adobe Lightroom, where I import the scans of the film. (These scans start out as 800px rough scans, and are replaced when I scan an image at full resolution.)

I try to keep as much metadata in LR as I can. The subject/location/date stuff is easy. I've also found that as long as you find the right EXIF/IPTC tags, you can actually save the same exposure/camera/lens info as you'd get with a digital camera. Of course, you have to first keep it (see above), then save it to the image scan file. I've written my own scripts to do this, but it's based on ExifTool (http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/~phil/exiftool/). PM me if you want more technical details on this.

As for storing negatives: I put them all in mylar sleeves, then put all the sleeves for a given roll in a paper envelope. On each envelope, I write the basic info about the roll -- subject(s), film type, camera/lens, development method. Then I keep all the rolls in a box by year (sometimes additional boxes if I've shot a lot that year). This is the system I use: http://www.archivalmethods.com/product/film-storage-systems . I don't really like the usual slippery binder sleeves, and have gradually migrated away from them.

 

[Oscuro]

When shooting something complex (lighting, astrophotography, etc.), I used a notebook until Nikon film bodies did it for me. Never really checked the data. Wasn't that interested. Grew up with view cameras and SLRs and lenses with manual diaphragms.
The most used control on any reflex camera should be the DOF preview. The practical effect of depth of field at various f-stop/focal length combination varies widely depending on, among other things, subject to lens distance, lens to ground/field distance, subject to background... etc.. Gotta see it.

 

[Godfrey]

A voice recorder (tape in the old days, all solid state today, incorporated into my iPhone now) has been in my camera bag since 1972.

That said, although I've made thousands of notes, I only rarely used them.

Nowadays, when I use film, I scan the negs and use EXIFtool to embed basic metadata about camera, lens, film, and exposure. With Lightroom, I add IPTC annotations for location and other metadata. These are the products I archive.

The scans become my image masters, the film is only for recording purposes. The only exception to that is Polaroid, the film for which becomes prints, themselves finished work. Which reminds me, I need to order some storage boxes for the Polaroid prints ...

G

 

[DCB]

The Nikon F5 always records EXIF exposure data internally, which can be read-out to CF cards with the MV-1 reader.

Peace

 

[Godfrey]

The Nikon F5 always records EXIF exposure data internally, which can be read-out to CF cards with the MV-1 reader.

Yes, I just discovered that the Nikon F6 does the same. Now I need the attachment so I can use my CF cards with it.

G

 

[David Hughes]

Just a point, I always use a note book with a new (to me camera) and make a point of ticking off each aperture and speed used so that all get tested for the first roll.

It also make sure that I don't forget the critical wide open at the closest focus test shot, etc, etc.

Regards, David

 

[rbsinto]

I used to bother with a notebok and pen and record data as I shot.
Today, I can tell reasonably well enough by looking at a slide which camera/lens/ and basic exposure I used.
And for those shooting film who miss the convenience of EXIF data: that's why god continues to allow the production of notebooks and pens.

 

[Paul N]

On my first roll of film (with my ZI) I shot the same pics with an X100T using the same exposure settings then compared later. Now I have learned to trust the camera's meter.

 

[Huss]

Yes, I just discovered that the Nikon F6 does the same. Now I need the attachment so I can use my CF cards with it.

G

The Nikon F6 also records it on the film between frames. I just checked a roll I shot last night. I would recommend using a loupe for that!

 

[chickentender]

I too record exp notes only occasionally if I know I may want to remember later. The best I do normally is note which body/lens I used on each roll and try to change lenses only if very necessary. Then I use AnalogExif (awesome little program much like EXIFTool but with a good interface and easier, for me, to use). I have presets for all my film, body, lens combos and you can batch edit EXIF embeds after scanning. I import to Lightroom AFTER that so that the EXIF is already there. It's an extra step but fairly painless.

 

[tsiklonaut]

Fuji GA645i and GA645Zi both have data writing capability. Best of all: it writes the data in non disturbing way outside the frame. Love it!

You can have multiple ways, i.e. date, time, shooting data (aperture and exposure), flash or not. Really handy when trying to remember certain things.

 

[Eugen Mezei]

The older GA645 (pre i) also record it, but between the frames. (Or was the i between and the older ones uner the frame?)
The Nikon F80s also records this data.
Didn't know about the Minolta, must try it. Does it require a special card?