Metering for Polaroid

[Lauffray]

Hi everyone

Do you guys/girls have a reasonably reliable way of metering your exposures for Impossible film/Polaroids ?
I have an SX70 with just a small aperture dial (no f stops, no numbers) and while I know the film speed is 160ISO, my exposure estimates are very often way off.
It’s very possible that I’m doing something else wrong too, but…one variable at a time 😀

 

[MiniMoke]

Polaroids, at least the integral film ones (SX, 600, Spectra), have auto exposure! There's no way to change the shutter speed and aperture.

The dial just allows you to use a bit of exposure compensation - make pictures darker or lighter. It´s about one or two f-stops.

Normally just leave the dial in it´s neutral position and let the camera handle exposure, which it does quite well.

If your pictures come out much too light, you might try to better protect them from light as soon as they are ejected from the camera! The film remains extremely sensitive to light during the first seconds.

 

[mooge]

not sure the relevance to your case, but for my FP3000b / 100c stuff on my 250 and hasselblad, it's really been alot of trial and experience.

my 250 seems to like more light - I can hear the shutter times and with 3000b, it seems to prefer exposure at ~1600. A default exposure is at +1.5 on the L/D scale. If I'm not sure what the meter will give me, I can cover the lens and press the shutter release; I get a pretty good idea of what the meter is thinking from the sound of the shutter. Also the meter is very easily swayed to underexpose.

On the hasselblad on the other hand, 3000b is exposed as normal with the 80mm and +0.5/+1 with the 50mm. Not sure why the difference, but that's just how it's done.

All of this of course is comparing to the Gossen lunasix / mooge's magic eye.

 

[Godfrey]

Hi everyone

Do you guys/girls have a reasonably reliable way of metering your exposures for Impossible film/Polaroids ?
I have an SX70 with just a small aperture dial (no f stops, no numbers) and while I know the film speed is 160ISO, my exposure estimates are very often way off.
It’s very possible that I’m doing something else wrong too, but…one variable at a time 😀

SX-70s are auto exposure, there is no aperture dial. The control dial is the lighten/darken adjustment and operates in the positive sense: turn to lighten and the print will be lighter, turn to darken and the print will be darker.

I've only just received the latest IP B&W for the SX-70 so things might have changed a little, but Silver Shade UV+ and Silver Shade Cool were both rated at about ISO 125. The SX-70 Time Zero film is rated at ISO 80, so with the lighten/darken dial at the neutral point I was seeing about EV +.8 on the prints. The standard correction was to turn the lighten/darken dial about 1/3 of the way to the darken side. This seems consistent on both of my SX-70s and the SX-70 Sonar.

With the latest IP 600 B&W film, I find if I turn the SX-70 lighten/darken control all the way to the darken side, I get normal exposure. That film is rated pretty close to the nominal ISO 600 the 600 cameras calibrated for, which means that the max range on the SX-70 lighten/darken control runs out to about +/-3EV at the end points. This is also consistent with the markings and with the adjustment for the SX-70 Silver Shade films.

G

 

[Godfrey]

not sure the relevance to your case, but for my FP3000b / 100c stuff on my 250 and hasselblad, it's really been alot of trial and experience.

my 250 seems to like more light - I can hear the shutter times and with 3000b, it seems to prefer exposure at ~1600. A default exposure is at +1.5 on the L/D scale. If I'm not sure what the meter will give me, I can cover the lens and press the shutter release; I get a pretty good idea of what the meter is thinking from the sound of the shutter. Also the meter is very easily swayed to underexpose.

On the hasselblad on the other hand, 3000b is exposed as normal with the 80mm and +0.5/+1 with the 50mm. Not sure why the difference, but that's just how it's done.

All of this of course is comparing to the Gossen lunasix / mooge's magic eye.

My Polaroid Land 350 calibration seems to be similarly off a bit ... with either FP-3000b or FP-100c, given that I set the ISO value to 3000 or 75 respectively, I have to turn the lighten-darken dial to between the last two markings on the lighten side for proper exposure. I've got the Hasselblad back too and get decent exposure at the nominally rated ISO values.

I have to say: both the FP-3000b and FP-100c are terrific films!

G

 

[Steve M.]

Since it's a chemical process, I wonder if the ambient temperature you're in would have something to do with it? Would you want to wait longer to peel it apart if it's colder and less time if it's warmer?

 

[Godfrey]

Since it's a chemical process, I wonder if the ambient temperature you're in would have something to do with it? Would you want to wait longer to peel it apart if it's colder and less time if it's warmer?

Ambient temperature certainly affects processing speed. On the integral films, it takes much much longer for the image to appear and finalize in cold weather.

On the pack films, you are supposed to increase processing time before peeling as the temperature goes down... but this is rather irrelevant with the Fuji films as they just stop processing at around 2.5 minutes or so anyway. I guess as temperature gets hotter you have to peel them a bit faster or they'll over-develop.

G

 

[Lauffray]

Aaaaah well that certainly explains a lot of things 😀
Thanks everyone !

I was turning the lighter part of the dial, thinking it meant "close the aperture more because it's sunnier"...doh

I've only just received the latest IP B&W for the SX-70 so things might have changed a little, but Silver Shade UV+ and Silver Shade Cool were both rated at about ISO 125. The SX-70 Time Zero film is rated at ISO 80, so with the lighten/darken dial at the neutral point I was seeing about EV +.8 on the prints. The standard correction was to turn the lighten/darken dial about 1/3 of the way to the darken side. This seems consistent on both of my SX-70s and the SX-70 Sonar.

With the latest IP 600 B&W film, I find if I turn the SX-70 lighten/darken control all the way to the darken side, I get normal exposure. That film is rated pretty close to the nominal ISO 600 the 600 cameras calibrated for, which means that the max range on the SX-70 lighten/darken control runs out to about +/-3EV at the end points. This is also consistent with the markings and with the adjustment for the SX-70 Silver Shade films.

G

Godfrey, I'm using the "regular" Impossible SX70 colour film, which I think is rated 160. Do you have any exposure recommendations for that ?

Also, from what I gather, I can use 600 film in my SX70 without their filter just by turning the compensation dial all the way down ??

 

[Godfrey]

Aaaaah well that certainly explains a lot of things 😀
Thanks everyone !

I was turning the lighter part of the dial, thinking it meant "close the aperture more because it's sunnier"...doh

Don't worry, it's a common error—photographers are used to thinking in the negative direction. I did the same thing first time I tried these films ... ! 🙂

Godfrey, I'm using the "regular" Impossible SX70 colour film, which I think is rated 160. Do you have any exposure recommendations for that ?

Also, from what I gather, I can use 600 film in my SX70 without their filter just by turning the compensation dial all the way down ??

I'm not sure what the "regular SX70 color film" is at this point. I started using the color emulsions at the point when IP released the "color protection" version. It's changed/improved with every order I've gotten, they have been aggressively revising the formulation with each batch they produce.

What I've found with the color film is that it works pretty well at neutral to slightly darken settings. It also works well with the IP electronic flash set to its normal, full output on the neutral dial setting. That says to me that the film speed is pretty close to the nominal SX-70 ISO 80 rating, probably about ISO 100. (Actually, I've gotten my best, most consistent exposures with the flash on this last pack!)

And yes, you can use the 600 film in the SX-70 by twisting the adjustment all the way to darken. It doesn't give you room for adjustment on the darken side, and in sunlight it can overexpose a little. Also, because the film is still a bit sensitive to light coming out of the camera, with the 600 film it's even more important to cover the film IMMEDIATELY with your hand and put it somewhere dark to process; the slower speed of the SX-70 film helps reduce the urgency. Using their frog tongue or other device to cover the ejecting film works well (I use linen hinge-tape to make a flap, the cardboard cover sheet, as a light shield on the camera).

IP and SX70 are a lot of fun and experimentation.

G

 

[Lauffray]

Awesome, thanks !