newbie questions on GSN

[refinder]

just got an GSN, thank you for getting me hooked!

questions though, the red arrow indicates overexposure, but the yellow arrow only indicates speed slower than 1/30. how is underexposure indicated?

the viewfinder on mine has a blueish tint to it, is it supposed to be so?

is there a way to find out the shutter speed chosen by the camera?

tks for helping!

- refinder

 

[Berk Sirman]

The camera warns for overexosure because it can do max. 1/500 sec. Underexposure warning sign would be of little use since the shutter can remain open for many many seconds. Just go in a dark room and set the ASA dial to 25. At f/16 release the shutter and start counting. You'll see what I mean. It is therefore quite hard to underexpose with this camera unlike overexposing.

Instead the camera warns for SLOW speeds, which would require a tripod. In GSN, because you do not set the shutter speed manually, it is very easy to select an aperture that would give way below 1/30sec. so I find the SLOW warning very useful.

You can usually get an idea of shutter speed like this: In daylight for example, set the aperture to f/1.7. Now press the shutter release button slightly until overexposure warning comes on. Now, while holding the shutter button slightly depressed, slowly start stopping down the lens. At one point the red light will go off. If you shoot with that aperture, the shutter speed will be 1/500.

You can do a similar test for 1/30sec. with the SLOW light, starting with f/16 in a not-so-bright environment.

I cannot comment in the viewfinder but I guess it is ok. I am not a fan of GSN rangefinder, I find the rangefinder spot hard to locate in dim light. The rangefinder on my Yashica Lynx5000 is much better.

Berk

 

[refinder]

The camera warns for overexosure because it can do max. 1/500 sec. Underexposure warning sign would be of little use since the shutter can remain open for many many seconds. Just go in a dark room and set the ASA dial to 25. At f/16 release the shutter and start counting. You'll see what I mean. It is therefore quite hard to underexpose with this camera unlike overexposing.

Instead the camera warns for SLOW speeds, which would require a tripod. In GSN, because you do not set the shutter speed manually, it is very easy to select an aperture that would give way below 1/30sec. so I find the SLOW warning very useful.

You can usually get an idea of shutter speed like this: In daylight for example, set the aperture to f/1.7. Now press the shutter release button slightly until overexposure warning comes on. Now, while holding the shutter button slightly depressed, slowly start stopping down the lens. At one point the red light will go off. If you shoot with that aperture, the shutter speed will be 1/500.

You can do a similar test for 1/30sec. with the SLOW light, starting with f/16 in a not-so-bright environment.

I cannot comment in the viewfinder but I guess it is ok. I am not a fan of GSN rangefinder, I find the rangefinder spot hard to locate in dim light. The rangefinder on my Yashica Lynx5000 is much better.

Berk

tried it, it really works that way! wow, amazing, i didn't know that before!

i left only a 60w desk lamp on at night, pointed the camera to the opposite corner of the room, the shutter opened for 1-1/2 minutes at ASA25! settting the ASA to 100, it opened for about 30 seconds. pointing to a brighter wall, it opened for about 1 second.

man, amazing!

is there an official shutter speed range? if not, how about a well known empirical one? what i'm getting at is the lower limit of its metered shutter speed - will we be able to take pictures just by moonlight?

good advice on getting an idea on the auto shutter speed chosen by the camera, you can tell i haven't been playing with it long. 🙂

- refinder

 

[Berk Sirman]

I would guess what you experienced was about the limit. I read someplace that GSN manual says 30sec or something as the limit, so they are quite conservative. I do not know for sure as I have never seen the manual first hand.

It is hard to know what they actual limit is as the meter goes on reading during exposure. Just try your test again and a few seconds into the experiment turn on the main lights. You'll see that the exposure will be cut short. So it is not a matter of how little light meter can detect and set exposure beforehand, like it is in many other cameras. The same meter would not be able to set the exposure correctly in such low light if it was some SLR meter that read the light off the focusing screen before the exposure.

is there an official shutter speed range? if not, how about a well known empirical one? what i'm getting at is the lower limit of its metered shutter speed - will we be able to take pictures just by moonlight?



- refinder

 

[kully]

I think my GTN is broken if the maximum shutter speed is 1/500.

I'm shooting a roll @ ISO 800, today is (unusually) a sunny day here in England and I cannot get an overexposure warning. I stop down to f/16 come inside and underexposure comes on then take it out into the sun at f/1.7 and it says all is fine (and seems to shoot at 1/500 from the sound of the shutter).

I know the red-light is working as it comes on briefly when the shutter is depressed no matter whether it will report valid, under or over exposure.

 

[refinder]

I would guess what you experienced was about the limit. I read someplace that GSN manual says 30sec or something as the limit, so they are quite conservative. I do not know for sure as I have never seen the manual first hand.

It is hard to know what they actual limit is as the meter goes on reading during exposure. Just try your test again and a few seconds into the experiment turn on the main lights. You'll see that the exposure will be cut short. So it is not a matter of how little light meter can detect and set exposure beforehand, like it is in many other cameras. The same meter would not be able to set the exposure correctly in such low light if it was some SLR meter that read the light off the focusing screen before the exposure.

ok i got you Berk. although the shutter opened for over a minute in my test, it was not metering for a correct exposure. for it to meter correct exposures, the light condition has to be within the meter's working range. the question is what the lower limit of this range is. it seems the camera does not give a signal when this lower limit has been exceeded.

i did read the owner's manual, it says the shutter speed range is from 500 to 30, plus B. but 30 cannot be the lower limit of the meter's working range, for the manual also says when the yellow light is on, a speed slower than 30 is selected. yet, it does not say anything about how low the shutter speed would go, before it stops giving a correct exposure.

i also noticed that the red and yellow lights won't come on without winding the film AND pressing down the shutter release button a bit. does this mean without doing the winding and pressing, the meter circuit is in a switched off state? is there a way of positively turning off the meter, (turning off the power to save battery)?

- refinder

 

[bmattock]

1/30 of a second versus 30 seconds. Very different.

 

[refinder]

1/30 of a second versus 30 seconds. Very different.

thank you for pointing that out Bill, i was just lazy. sorry about any confusions to everyone.

- refinder